XVII PanAmerican Games - Toronto 2015

[isaidso]

I believe the CNE grounds south and southeast of BMO Field are going to be converted into temporary beach volleyball facilities.

As far as regular volleyball goes, I'm sure those Canadian national team games could have gone to the ACC, but it was either booked or too big. The men's basketball team played some games against France there 2 weeks ago, but only 2,000 people showed up.

Toronto probably needs a good venue in the 5,000-8,000 seat range, but I suppose Maple Leaf Gardens will end up satisfying that niche.

I do agree that lots of Toronto's sports venues seem to be in outlying areas of the GTA, but I also agree with the comment that the outlying areas seem far more aggressive in courting sports infrastructure than downtown Toronto.

[koolio]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I believe the CNE grounds south and southeast of BMO Field are going to be converted into temporary beach volleyball facilities.

As far as regular volleyball goes, I'm sure those Canadian national team games could have gone to the ACC, but it was either booked or too big. The men's basketball team played some games against France there 2 weeks ago, but only 2,000 people showed up.

Toronto probably needs a good venue in the 5,000-8,000 seat range, but I suppose Maple Leaf Gardens will end up satisfying that niche.

I do agree that lots of Toronto's sports venues seem to be in outlying areas of the GTA, but I also agree with the comment that the outlying areas seem far more aggressive in courting sports infrastructure than downtown Toronto.

We already have that in the city proper (Ricoh Colosseum) plus in the suburbs (Hershey Centre, Powerade Centre, GM Centre).

Also, I think the Leafs have put in a stipulation when they sold the Maple Leaf Gardens that the facility cannot be used to host events that can be hosted in ACC or Ricoh. Because of this, I don't believe that the renovated MLG will be used for anything but Ryerson sports.

[koolio]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

But in terms of lasting legacy of built sports facilities (which downtown Toronto is very short of), what is being built here? I am sincerely hoping we get more than money shots and a week or two of filled hotels, and I am sincerely hoping that the people of downtown Toronto are not simply satisfied with leftover scraps. I for one would like to see some top notch facilities downtown. Recently my partner and his friends went to watch the Cuban National Volleyball team play the Canadian National team, and it had to be held way the hell out in Mississauga.


I do hope I am not going to be told that downtowners have no right to all the goodies when it appears all we are getting is crumbs. No doubt there will be plenty of time for that kind of logic if Rob Ford wins the election.

Why is Toronto entitled to have every sporting event and all the sporting facilities? One volleyball game is held in Mississauga and that grinds your gears? Give your head a shake man. Let this petty regionalism be.

[Taller, Better]

This is not about one event, this is about the fact we desperately need new sporting facilities downtown. This is NOT, I repeat NOT about Toronto should have EVERY sporting event. We are ostensibly holding the Pan Am Games in Toronto, but in fact are really getting sweet tweet in the way of new facilities. Give your head a shake, and explain why Toronto should be shut out of new facilities.

[koolio]

Toronto IS getting new facilities (and I'm not even talking about BMO Field which was funded by the government to essentially host international events like this). Just read what the people have posted. Either way, if you find that those new facilities do not amount to much more than crumbs, than I suppose other places are getting even less than refuse. Aside from Hamilton, who else is coming out with some outstanding brand spanking new facilities? Mississauga isn't getting anything new. Neither is Brampton. Nor most other places that are poised to host events. Most sports are being held in existing facilities. This belief that other municipalities are coming out the winners at the expense of Toronto is nothing more than paranoia.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by koolio

We already have that in the city proper (Ricoh Colosseum) plus in the suburbs (Hershey Centre, Powerade Centre, GM Centre).

Also, I think the Leafs have put in a stipulation when they sold the Maple Leaf Gardens that the facility cannot be used to host events that can be hosted in ACC or Ricoh. Because of this, I don't believe that the renovated MLG will be used for anything but Ryerson sports.

Good god, I really hate the Leafs sometimes! Monopolies aren't good for any of us and I'm not sure why they are allowed to operate as one. Ricoh? That's not exactly downtown, it's a good 1 hour+ walk.

[MysticMcGoo]

So take a streetcar :S

[allurban]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Good god, I really hate the Leafs sometimes! Monopolies aren't good for any of us and I'm not sure why they are allowed to operate as one. Ricoh? That's not exactly downtown, it's a good 1 hour+ walk.

You'd think that for something as important as the Pan-Am Games (wait, is that an oxymoron) they would relax their requirement.

And maybe in the long term Ryerson could open up their MLG sports facilities to the public (as they ought to do)

Cheers, m

[MysticMcGoo]

Don't worry. When I go back to school next Wednesday, I'll set things straight with them.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by koolio

This belief that other municipalities are coming out the winners at the expense of Toronto is nothing more than paranoia.

Ah! I see.

[current]

Globe article:

Toronto unveils Pan Am Games logo



Pat Hewitt

A red and green cartoon sports figure is the official logo of the 2015 Pan Am Games, which launched Wednesday with a street party in Toronto.

The curved figure looks like it's kicking a blue ball across the page. The numbers 20 and 15, written in white, are spread across the image.

The logo is being called the visual face of the Games. The theme of the sports event is “United We Play.”

In Pictures
Gallery: Pan Am Games street party “The folks who designed it spent a lot of time looking at the art and the culture of Pan America, so you've got a logo which I think is fun, it's vibrant,” said CEO Ian Troop.

The design draws on Aztec and Mayan cultures that first used rubber balls in sport, and as burnt offerings to deities, as early as 1600 BC.

“It's inspired by all the Pan American history of native people's art and architecture and sculpture, so we think we've got something very appropriate for Pan America that will be distinctive and people will really gravitate to.”

Organizers hope the logo will score a goal with sponsors hungry to link their names to the Pan Games in July 2015 and the Parapan Games the following month.

Some companies have already expressed “significant” interest in becoming sponsors, especially ones involved in the Vancouver Olympics in February, said Troop.

The Toronto 2015 board will reach out to companies in October to discuss naming rights for venues and signs and the sponsorship of events at schools or multicultural programs. Forging partnerships with companies with ties to Latin America are of particular interest.

Hosting the Games will “reaffirm Toronto's position as a leading city of the Americas,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a videotaped statement played for the crowd at the street party.

Sports infrastructure built across the Greater Toronto Area will be a legacy of the Games, he said.

A new sense of pride, born during the Vancouver Olympics, has swept the country, he noted. It's up to all Canadians to keep the momentum going in the lead up to 2015, he added.

Held every four years, the Pan Am Games, which began in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina have only been held in Canada twice before — both times in Winnipeg, in 1967 and 1999.

The last Games were in Rio de Janiero and the next ones are in Guadalajara, Mexico next year.

With 11,000 athletes from 42 countries competing, Troop said the Pan Am event is twice the size of the Winter Olympics. Only the Summer Olympics are bigger.

The torch relay and public parties engaged people in the Olympics, and the Pan Am Games wants to generate a similar buzz.

Troop would like a Pan Am festival in a public space, similar to the daily party in Vancouver's Robson Square where masses celebrated being Canadian during the Olympics.

At least 250,000 tourists will descend on southern Ontario for the Games. Seventeen municipalities from Welland to Oshawa will host 48 sports and events at more than 50 venues.

Moving all those athletes and spectators around on gridlocked highways in a timely manner for the Games will be a “challenge,” admitted Troop.

Organizers will meet with transportation officials about that in the coming months.

The Toronto 2015 board meets Thursday to discuss venues, which are on track except for Hamilton, where time is running out to build a new 25,000-seat stadium for the Games and CFL Tiger-Cats, said Troop.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...56/?cmpid=rss1

[LEAFS FANATIC]

If that is the logo I am truly disappointed. Are you kidding me? Where's the imagination, the art, etc.? The fonts of the words are horrid! This seriously comes to being almost as bad as London's 2012 Olympics logo....

[Taller, Better]

It sort of looks like the goofy standardized logos of all Games nowadays. They seem to just copy each other. Would it have been so hard to come up with something stylish and adult instead of looking geared to preschoolers? I'll bet the mascots look just like all of the others that have sort of copied Asian games mascots from years back.

[current]

Toronto Star has another reason for the logo design, it is supposed to represent - TO:


Images from: http://www.logodesignlove.com/toronto-2015

Pan Am Games team reveals 2015 logo
Aboriginal-inspired design riffs on city’s nickname, T.O.

Cynthia Vukets
Staff Reporter
Published On Wed Sep 29 2010

What’s green, red and blue all over and gets its own block party?

The new logo for the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.

“It connects to the origins of our city’s name,” said Ian Troop, CEO of the Toronto 2015 organizing committee. “[It] gives a wink to our local nickname — TO.”

The design is based loosely on aboriginal art forms found throughout the Americas, he said. The logo is three separate shapes in red, green and blue. They resemble a “T” and an “O” with a blob over the “T” that transforms it into a human-like figure. The numbers “20” and “15” are in white inside the letters.

A crowd of several hundred high school students was present at the Wednesday launch party. They pushed their way towards the stage at Maple Leaf Square as if they were about to see the Jonas Brothers, not listen to dignitaries talk about “branding.”

But the youngsters were rewarded with performances by Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli, a dancer recently featured on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and singer Chantal Kreviazuk.

“Preparations for 2015 come at a time when Canada is more engaged than ever with our hemispheric neighbours,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a video message. “2015 will truly be a summer to remember.”

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Premier Dalton McGuinty in his own televised spot.

The Pan and Parapan American Games are expected to bring 10,000 athletes and officials from 42 countries to the GTA from July 10 to 26, 2015. The Games will take advantage of 50 athletic facilities in 17 municipalities. The number of venues makes the 2015 Pam Am Games the largest sporting event ever held in Canada, Troop said.

“Sport brings people together, sport overcomes differences, sport builds communities,” he said.

The theme of the Games will be “United We Play.”

http://www.thestar.com/sports/panamg...eals-2015-logo

[Taller, Better]

"Aboriginal-inspired"? **blink blink**

Good politically correct media spin for Canada, but how the heck did they come up with a blob kicking a soccer ball being "Aboriginal-inspired"?

[koolio]

Why does everything need to be aboriginaly inspired these days? We have treated them so poorly throughout history. Their culture has become irrelevant in most of Canada. This kind of "recognition" cheapens their identity.

[current]

Torontoist's opinion:

Pan Am Games Get A Blobby, Klumpy, Blumpy Logo


The Pan American Games' logo.

Get ready to see that design everywhere: it's the logo for the 2015 Pan American Games, unveiled Wednesday morning. The press release accompanying that unveiling describes it as a "vibrant, curved design...inspired by the figurative styles of pre-Columbian aboriginal art forms throughout the Pan Americas. It also draws on ancient sport traditions—specifically the Mezzo-Americans [sic] (including Aztec and Mayan cultures), which are linked to the first use of rubber balls in sport as early as 1600 BC." Noted.

It's hard to see how the logo will translate to the real, non-digital world—how do you put a bunch of blobs on a banner, say, or a flag?—and it looks a little like London's 2012 Olympic logo if that logo was jumbled up and its edges were sanded down. The text chosen for "Pan Am / Toronto / 2015" feels like an afterthought, and a poor fit with the design alongside it.



The Parapan American Games' logo.

But there is something fun and playful about it, and its Parapan American Games iteration (above). There's the way the "T" and "O" become a person and a ball, and the way the perspective on the ball makes it feel closer to 3-D than 2. (You can view it larger here.) It manages to feel active, which is a good characteristic for the logo of a thing that'll bring more than ten thousand athletes here. The question is whether it'll still feel that way five years from now.

Logos courtesy of the Toronto2015 Pan/Parapan American Games.

http://torontoist.com/2010/09/pan_am...lumpy_logo.php

[LEAFS FANATIC]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

"Aboriginal-inspired"? **blink blink**

Good politically correct media spin for Canada, but how the heck did they come up with a blob kicking a soccer ball being "Aboriginal-inspired"?

Maybe to represent the city's next mayor...Rob Ford! hehehehehe...I thought the Ford-haters AND the Ford supportes might like that one....

[Taller, Better]

I'll bet the last time Blob kicked a soccer ball was to get the neighbour's kids ball the hell off his driveway so he could zoom down to the 7-11 in his SUV and pick up a Jumbo Slurpee!

[AndrewJM3D]

Looks like the food stain on Blob Fords shirt.