Touchdown: The Games are coming regardless

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Caroline Murphy

A global event that brings together people from every corner of the world, countries spend copious amounts of money and effort in trying to secure the right to host the Olympic Games. When Vancouver won the coveted honour for 2010 there was much celebration, but now with the economic downturn and major 2010 sponsors like GM and Nortel on shaky financial ground, the luster of the Games has faded. That’s why the Veritas team huddle has awarded the Vancouver organizing committee (VANOC) a touchdown. The truth is, there is nothing they can do about the state of the global economy and there was no way to predict this would happen when they were first awarded the rights. Now with the possibility of losing some serious sponsorship dollars and the government pouring money into the funding behind the athlete’s village, while people struggle to stay afloat amidst massive cutbacks and layoffs, the reality is, the Games must go on. VANOC scored this week with transparency and consistent communications during a very difficult time. A press release reinforced that they are in a positive financial position and they will be making the revised budget public in just a few days. Overall, the team felt that they are making the best of a bad situation, sometimes you can still score in the game of communications even if the story itself isn’t a good one to tell.