Canucks & Beyond
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New Ways to Make Money at GM Place
by Alanah McGinley on 08/25/08 at 06:16 PM ET
Comments (6)
The Vancouver Canucks may not lead the league in on-ice performance (like the Wings), or corporate branding (like the Leafs) or pretty much anything else, but it seems like they’re always on the cutting edge when it comes to new ways to make money.
In Forbes, I saw this today:
[Two] major league sports franchises, baseball’s New York Mets and hockey’s Vancouver Canucks, have signed deals with Nortel Networks to upgrade their in-house voice and data systems, likely leading to instant concession stand ordering from all over the arena.
Sounds convenient. But of course, this isn’t just about convenience for the fans, but about profit for the team.
If all goes according to plan, company execs see teams providing PDA-carrying fans with food- and merchandise-ordering options first, then expanding into features like instant replay and stats. Eventually, they envision fans replaying a home run to zoom in on a player’s brand of cleats and then ordering their own pair with a few more clicks.
“This will open up new revenue streams and create a whole new fan experience,” says Wes Durrow, Nortel’s VP of enterprise marketing.
Sigh. Vancouver may not have its finger on the pulse of a Stanley Cup in my lifetime, but I dare anyone to argue that the Canucks organization doesn’t know just about everything there is to know on the subject of new revenue streams.
If only their hockey operations guys had such a successful track record.
The new system will be set up for employee communications within the arena initially, but some experimentation with the fans using the system is expected to happen this season.
Filed in: vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: gm+place, marketing, nortel,
Comments
Too funny…sounds like more of a tie-in to the 2010 Olympics (as VANOC picked Nortel as the equipment supplier) than the Canucks actually making a technology decision. Hope GM Place didn’t get bent over…
Posted by oiler in van on 08/25/08 at 09:19 PM ET
Laker - every time someone mentions Perez to me, I think they’re talking about a Pez dispenser for some reason. It takes me a minute to remember the existence of that horrible website. 
Your comment about the bluetooth makes me wonder why that’s not already more common around the league already.
Oiler in Van - You’re absolutely right - it’s definitely tied into the Olympics prep. But don’t worry about them getting bent over. I believe we read earlier today that ticket prices for the gold medal match alone run between $350 to $775. No doubt, GM Place will be getting their share.
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 08/26/08 at 12:45 AM ET
Oh. Joy.
Yet MORE resons for people to pull out their nefarious communication devices instead of paying attention to the damn game they (presumably) paid money to attend.
(At least they won’t be standing up and waving to the camera behind them like minimally trained monkeys, so that’s a plus.)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 08/26/08 at 11:16 AM ET
I like your thinking Baroque - my thoughts exactly.
Posted by TriniD from VanC on 08/26/08 at 12:25 PM ET
Zoom in on a player’s brand of cleats??? If the Canucks were wearing cleats last year, that would explain a lot.
Posted by BobTheZee on 08/26/08 at 07:07 PM ET
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About Canucks & Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003 (with a notable gap in time through 2010, kicking it with new baby Lucy while living knee-deep in chaos while reading “parenting for complete idiots” during every spare minute) sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen.
In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah was one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
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Quite interesting except the part about you reading forbes. What like you took time off Perez??? LOL
Actually that sounds kind of cool. Except when I went to a kings game last year they had some deal going on inside if you had a bluetooth enabled phone where you connected and I think stats came through… (I didn’t have a phone with me)
Posted by Laker from Loops on 08/25/08 at 08:42 PM ET