LAKE LOUISE, ALTa.–There's been a lot of talk about Canada's home advantage at the 2010 Winter Olympics. But what if you can't afford the mortgage?
The high price of renting accommodation in Whistler is making it extremely difficult for the Canadian ski team to afford training on the Olympic course in preparation for the Games.
They're also having trouble nailing down lodging that won't cripple their budget during the Games that run from Feb. 12 to 28.
"The home-field advantage is a bit of a misnomer," said Gary Allan, who took over as president of Alpine Canada when Ken Read resigned. "It's so expensive for us to do business in Whistler that it makes it difficult to spend a lot of time there."
Canadian team members held a training camp in Whistler last spring to better familiarize themselves with the Olympic course. The men will do another 10-day training session in February and the whole team will return again in the spring.
Allan said the team is struggling with the training costs – the Whistler-Blackcomb resort gave the team a huge break by donating some $120,000 in snow-grooming costs – but is really under the gun to come up with accommodation during the Games.
He said that a three-bedroom town home in a good location costs about $80,000 to $90,000 a month, or $3,000 a night.
"As a team, we need about four or five of those," said Allan. "There's your housing costs, about $450,000."
He said it's important for them to have private lodging in Whistler to control their environment as opposed to staying in the athletes village.
"The problem we're having is it (staying in the village) is not optimal and these are our Games so why do we have to compromise," said Allan.
"Unfortunately, it is a compromise for health reasons and food reasons and all of that, where we can't control the venue.
"You've got the Austrians and the U.S. and all the major forces (staying) in controlled environments, so we feel we need the same just to compete."
Allan said they've not been able to get any help from the Vancouver Organizing Committee, because that group doesn't control the venue and the accommodation is owned primarily by private individuals.
"It's kind of like telling Hockey Canada if they want to play hockey, they have to pay $10,000 a day to put the boards up and it's $15,000 a lap for the Zamboni," said Allan. "That's really been our argument is why are we being penalized?"
The bright side for Alpine Canada is their $7 million budget is intact as they haven't lost any sponsors so far despite the global financial crisis. They have taken a $450,000 hit, however, because of the plummeting value of the Canadian dollar.
"My budget is always on my desk in front of me," said Allan. "I'm always assessing risk. That's kind of my job along with the finance guys."
And Alpine Canada can make a claim that Tiger Woods can't – they're still being backed by General Motors.
"GM have told us to sit tight, that things are okay," said Allan. "The marketing department has told us they don't see our monies being at risk. We just need to show them there's good value and we can help them sell vehicles. I know things can change rapidly, but we just have to do our part."
