Vancouver's Olympic city brand takes a hit

Vancouver saw the worst of two worlds collide Wednesday night - the heart-breaking disappointment of Stanley Cup defeat and, worse, the stinging embarassment of public disorder gone wild.

On the ice, the NHL's Vancouver Canucks were shut out 4-0 by Tim Thomas and the Bruins, giving Boston its first Stanley Cup championship in 39 years and denying the Canucks franchise their first in 40 seasons and 41 years.

That in and of itself is disappointing to Canucks fans and the team's corporate, broadcast and merchandising partners, and the many other businesses who rise and fall with the NHL team, let alone the very brand equity of the franchise that had been building at an impressive rate this anniversary season.

Yet disappointment around the Canucks missing a golden opportunity to win the 2011 Stanley Cup paled in comparison to the disappointment – the utter embarrassment – the City of Vancouver suffered off the ice in the aftermath of Game 7.

In three hours of rioting, vandalism, looting and violence, Vancouver saw its global brand – one so elevated by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games – badly diminished. The tremendous global goodwill and image generated by Vancouver 2010, almost all but gone. The local economic impact of two months of Stanley Cup playoff hockey – arguably north of $45 million – fully erased by the negative exposure the city received across Canada, throughout North America and around the world.

The few million dollars in damage and costs directly associated with Wednesday night are mere water drops when juxtaposed against the wave of damage done to the city’s reputation nationally, continentally and globally.

The ugly side of the public celebrations that made Vancouver such a fun place to be for a Stanley Cup spring have undoubtedly bruised the city’s civic pride.

Yet it is that same ugly side -- both the criminals who may have triggered the riots and the other disaffected, angry young people who elevated and sustained the disorder -- which cannot be allowed to shape the future of the city in particular and the region and province in general.

Many are concerned about the public plazas that seemed to anchor the post-game stupidity, but in my view the best defense against hooliganism is to continue building civic pride through public celebration, not reducing it out of fear.

Protecting the city’s capacity to stage big events and hold public celebrations began with those who rose on Thursday to help clean the streets of downtown Vancouver and it is something we should stand behind. The follow through to protect future public events -- Stanley Cup-related and others -- will require smart security measures, inspired public policies and leadership, and creative public-private partnerships, not to mention more of the spirit and community caring shown Thursday morning and into the weekend.

It will also require more of us to embrace sport as an essential element in the fabric of any community and in society at large...belief that the infrastructure of professional sport creates value for a community, ranging from the tangibles of jobs and economic impact to the intangibles of continental and global name recognition and, closer to home, civic pride.

First and foremost, civic pride contributes to our sense of identity. The privilege of gathering to celebrate and share as a community is worth protecting because it’s in large part how we are defined as a civil society. It’s how we feel at home in our community and it’s how most of us best express the pride we take in living in Vancouver and in being Canadian.

It would be senseless to compromise that civic pride and it would be wrongheaded not to continue to leverage the many positives that spin off of professional sport by making the most of hosting opportunities such as the Stanley Cup, the Grey Cup and other special events. 

Losing that would be the biggest cost of all.

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