Let the Games finally end

Over the past 17 days, I drove 1,554 kilometres, ate 9 lunches and 14 dinners, paid $124.50 for parking and shot just over 7,000 pictures. I was covering the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

As expected, the Pan Am organizers, politicians and various Pan Am sponsors are claiming that the event was a runaway success and they’re now giddy with anticipation of hosting a Summer Olympics and even a World Expo. The Pan Am Games were a success only in that no disasters happened (not counting the billions of dollars spent).

To be fair, an event like this takes years of complex planning and every event did happen exactly as planned. So that certainly is a success. Also, the threat to disrupt the opening ceremonies and even Union Station never happened.

But whether or not we got good value for the money spent, whether local businesses made money as promised, whether the Games made the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue as predicted, whether the slow down in traffic actually cost the local economy money, whether there will be any lasting “legacy”, and whether we’re going to be in more debt, are all yet to be determined.

Photographers love big events like this since they usually get to shoot a different sport, or two, or even three, each day. The photography part is always fun. It’s the surrounding logistics and rules that are a pain.

Thankfully it rained only for a few hours during the 17 days and the heat was bearable. Although, a few photographers from South America and Spain said that the Toronto weather was too hot for them.

From my point of view:

• The Pan Am Games had shuttle buses for photographers but:

(1) The buses travelled only between the downtown media centre and each venue and only at set times. This was useless for photographers who did not go to the media centre, who needed to travel venue to venue or who needed to travel at non-standard times (e.g. to catch specific athletes). Most local photographers didn’t bother with the shuttle buses and some out-of-town photographers rented cars.

(2) The buses often left too soon after each event. Photographers weren’t always able to complete their editing if they had to catch a shuttle.

• Using public transit wasn’t really an option especially for photographers carrying a lot of gear or who had to travel from venue to venue. For example, the Games’ online transit planner said I could have taken public transit to one particular venue but it would have involved four buses and a subway and it had a one-way travel time of 2-1/2 hours but no late-night return option. Instead, I drove (about 50 minutes one-way) and easily got home that night after finishing late, around 2:00AM.

• Driving to each venue meant having to find parking. Despite what Pan Am organizers said beforehand (‘No parking!!’), parking was available at or near every venue. But in some cases, the nearest official parking lot was a bit of a hike, up to one kilometre from the venue. That’s not a big deal until you remember that a photographer often carries over 35-lbs. of gear. This might be easy with a roller case but many venues were not roller-case-friendly. In some places, photographers had to carry or drag their cases across a farmer’s field, a hydro field, along a gravel pathway, a dirt pathway, or up and down three flights of stairs.

Also, what photographer doesn’t like walking a few blocks back to their car, alone at midnight, while carrying plus-$30,000 worth of cameras?

Yet at all of these locations, dozens to *hundreds* of empty parking spots were available right next to the venue. But the Pan Am Games refused to let photographers use them and these spots sat empty. At the venue in Markham, photographers were not even allowed to park in the free public parking lot since photographers were not “the public”.

Maybe all of this had something to do with the fact that the Pan Am Games were trying to sell $400 parking passes to photographers.

I spent a total of $124.50 for parking and that included parking in two city-owned parking lots that jacked up their rates (up to 300%) just in time for the Pan Am Games. None of the commercial parking lots I used raised their rates.

At the Games’ final event, the men’s gold medal soccer game, many residents living near the Hamilton stadium sold parking spaces on their front lawns and driveways while two lots next to the stadium were kept empty and one of the stadium’s own lots was only half full.

• It seemed that few Pan Am folks used public transit. While chatting with some volunteers at non-downtown venues, they said they drove since public transit was too slow, too far away or required too many transfers. Pan Am staff used their own cars or drove one of the many available Pan Am vehicles. There was no shortage of free parking spots for them.

• Nikon and Canon loaned out a lot of cameras and lenses. There were a few photographers who had Canon loaner gear dangling from one shoulder and Nikon loaner gear on the other shoulder. Some photographers seemed more thrilled to be walking around with an armful of big lenses and new cameras (all free loaner gear) than actually shooting the events.

The problem with the camera manufacturers’ loaner system was that it was available only to photographers who visited the main press centre each day. Each loan had to be returned the same day or first thing the next morning. For those of us who didn’t pass by the press centre or who worked late-night events, equipment loans were not possible. It wasn’t even possible to do a normal loan direct from the manufacturer’s office.

• Venue lighting was always useable but never really good. The basketball venue had only 60% of its lights turned on. Some other venues had their own lights turned off and special “Pan Am lights” turned on. I wonder if this was all thanks to TV.

• Photo positions were reasonable although the TV broadcaster (the CBC) killed some good photo positions because they didn’t want photographers visible in their shot.

• Some news organizations paid for wired Internet access right next to the field of play but it wasn’t really needed since the free Wi-Fi was usually spectacular. Nevertheless, at some venues, photographers weren’t allowed to use their paid wired access since the particular event thought it looked bad on TV to have photographers editing on laptops rather than shooting. At these same events, they also thought it looked bad if photographers wore shorts, although it was okay for TV people and medal presenters to wear shorts.

• There appeared to be far fewer people at the Games than expected. The official claim was that over 70% of the total 1.4 million tickets were “sold”. There’s been no mention of how many of these tickets were actually given away.

At the various events I covered, public attendance size ranged from 0 (no one in the stands) to about 90% capacity. Gold medal games, especially with a Canadian team involved, and weekend beach volleyball games attracted larger audiences. But most other events were 20% to, at best, 50% capacity. Even the seats reserved for media were often empty.

To put crowd size in perspective, the Pan Am Games were hoping to attract a total of 250,000 spectators to its 17-day event. By comparison, about four times that number of people attend the city’s annual Santa Claus parade. The one-day Caribbean Carnival Parade also attracts about four times that number.

The attendance at the 18-day Canadian National Exhibition, which runs at the same location used by several Pan Am events, is almost six times higher.

• I believe there were about 460 accredited photographers but this seemed to include photo editors and photo support staff. It may have also included TV/video people.

At a couple events, I was the only photographer. The largest number of photographers at an event I covered was perhaps 30 at the gold medal men’s basketball game.

• Interesting to note how many photographers never seemed to file any pictures. There were 25 photographers shooting the gold medal men’s soccer game in Hamilton and less than half filed pictures in the media room after the game. At the gold medal men’s basketball match, less than a third of the photographers filed pictures from the press room. Maybe many photographers filed pictures later from the downtown media centre?

At a Mississauga venue, special tables were set up near the field of play for photographers who had to file quickly. Of the 20 photographers shooting the event, only four used the tables. The venue manager said that when he walked through the photo pit, many photographers were busy playing on their cell phones, checking their Facebook page or sending Tweets.

Some photographers didn’t edit at all. They just uploaded everything they shot. Some press accreditations had no media affiliation listed. One just said “Freelance”.

• The Pan Am Games were vastly over-volunteered. There were a ton of volunteers standing or sitting around doing nothing or simply getting in the way. At the basketball arena, for example, three people standing side-by-side each had to look at your credential before a fourth person actually verified it. It wasn’t uncommon to have your camera bag checked by one person and then rechecked by another person three feet away.

Some events had more volunteers than paying public. Sometimes there were more photo volunteers than working photographers. Most volunteers were very friendly.

• The metal detectors used by security didn’t seem to do anything or they were totally unreliable. Sometimes the wand beeped continuously when passed over my camera pouches and pants pockets and other times it was totally silent. I carried the exact same things every day.

After a week, some security checkpoints didn’t bother with the metal detectors. Some even stopped checking camera bags, (“You’re a photographer? Just go in.”). Security appeared to be nothing but theatre.

• Many security people seemed to be high school or college students. They appeared to be only partially trained and most had no idea what they were looking at, or looking for, when they examined a photographer’s camera bag.

At one venue security, they had to check the “focal point” of my cameras. I said, “This camera is a four and that one is a six,” and they were happy with that.

• Concession stands didn’t seem busy at all. The only lineups were when President’s Choice (aka Loblaws), a sponsor of the Games, gave out free frozen yogurt from its bicycle carts.

• All venues had enormous amounts of bottled water and sports drinks available but not for the photographers who had to drink from a water cooler using paper cups. I’m not sure if you know this but it’s somewhat difficult to carry a cup of water in your pocket while you’re out shooting for a couple of hours.

Photographers were told to bring their own water bottle and fill up at the water coolers. The only problem was that some venue security wasn’t allowing anyone to bring in empty or already-opened (plastic) bottles.

• Photographers could be stuck at an event shooting for up to 10 hours or so. This meant they couldn’t leave to get food. Some were able to buy food at a nearby concession stand if there was one. Yet all venues had tons of food for the army of volunteers and some were seen throwing out table-loads of food.

At the target shooting venue in the middle of nowhere, since the return shuttle bus was over two hours late arriving, a volunteer took pity on the photographers who were there all day and got them some food from the volunteer tent.

• At the water polo venue, photographers were not allowed to sit. The event refused to put out chairs or benches even though there was plenty of space. The Pan Am people and volunteers had chairs but photographers had to stand for a few hours. When asked for chairs, the venue chief said, “Sorry, that’s above my pay grade” and walked away.

• Many venues didn’t realize that photographers needed time to edit after each event. One venue kicked photographers out after the competition ended since the staff wanted to go home early. At another venue, the press workroom person growled at photographers “Hurry up, I want to go home!”

However at one venue in Mississauga, the press workroom person stayed until every last photographer was finished and she made sure everyone had a ride home. She arranged for extra shuttle buses and even free taxis.

• At an outdoor event where the temperature was 31°C, volunteers offered handfuls of ice and wet towels to photographers. What exactly is a photographer supposed to do with a handful of ice or a soaking wet towel while they’re shooting?

• The various lists of athletes had wrong names, wrong spellings and/or wrong countries. But with 6,000 athletes competing, some mistakes were bound to happen. Some lists were first-name last-name and some were last-name first-name. This meant that with some Spanish names, it was difficult to tell if the listed names were first or last.

All of these lists were on paper which is helpful for many photographers while they’re shooting. Unfortunately, no one thought to also make this information available electronically. The ideal situation would have been to make Photo Mechanic code replacement lists but, sadly, no one at the Pan Am Games uses a computer.

Speaking of Photo Mechanic, that piece of software has the absolute best captioning feature. Its “IPTC Stationary Pad” alone is worth the price of the software. By contrast, Photoshop (in my case, version CS6) has the absolute worst captioning (dis)ability, very buggy and a frustrating waste of time.

• At the start of the Pan Am Games, most venue announcements and printed handouts were in English, French and Spanish. Midway through the Games, it became English and Spanish only.

To further show that it doesn’t seem to like French, if you go to the Pan Am Games’ French photo site, you see that if you click on “Photos Athlétisme” (Athletics), you get archery. If you click “Photos BMX” (BMX cycling), you get beach volleyball, etc. At least 90% of the links are wrong.

• Many events should have had free admission, especially the weekday, non-medal events. The public paid at least $2.5 billion for the Games and expecting folks to pay again to watch was a mistake. Since this was the first effort of a “new product”, some free samples should have been given out to help build goodwill and public support.

• The Games banned the public from bringing in “big” cameras. It also banned “professional or commercial-grade video cameras and lenses”, whatever that means. Sadly, it missed a huge marketing opportunity by discriminating against those with photography as a hobby.

• It also banned outside food and beverages. Folks were forced to buy overpriced onsite food such as a $9 cheese sandwich (a piece of processed cheese, half a lettuce leaf and a tomato slice between two pieces of white bread) and a $4 can of Coke. A few smart food cart and food truck vendors set up near some venues such as the soccer stadium and they seemed to do okay.

• The Games also banned unauthorized recording of any event with a smartphone or tablet. Yeah right.

• There were at least four reports of stolen camera gear. All thefts occurred in areas where a Pan Am credential was required and security was operating. It appeared that one thief had a media accreditation.

The Pan Am Games knew this would happen, or they should’ve known, since it’s happened before. It’s a common occurrence at every big event. My colleagues from South America said a group of thieves worked together at the last Pan Am Games. The Toronto thefts are thought to have been done by a group of four or five people.

At all(?) venues, the Toronto Pan Am Games supplied lockers to photographers but (a) many lockers stopped working after several days, (b) there often weren’t enough lockers and (c) the lockers were too small for some photo bags, backpacks and large lenses.

There’s no easy solution for this other than to warn photographers which the Games did after the fact. Photographers have to remember that camera thieves are at all big events.

From my point of view, the event was a lot of fun despite a lot of minor nuisances. It was nice to meet a number of my foreign colleagues with whom I’ve communicated for years only by e-mail or phone. Plus, it’s always good to meet up with photographers you haven’t seen in months or even years.

Traffic was normal to worse than normal for the Toronto area. Thankfully, I drove into downtown Toronto on a weekday only twice. My slowest drives were 2-3/4 hours to go 97km and just over one hour to travel 36km. Both of these were highway drives on routes which had the Pan Am reserved lanes hindering traffic.

Should Toronto bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics?

No. It’s simply too costly. Most of the city’s Pan Am venues can’t be reused for an Olympics and they would have to be rebuilt somewhere.

Toronto and the province of Ontario have a history of not being able to manage large projects. Both the city and province are in debt and can’t afford splurging on an Olympic luxury. Ontario is about $300 billion in debt. It pays about $11 billion in interest payments each year. Ontario’s 2015-16 budget deficit is more than *all* other provincial *and* federal budget deficits combined.

The cost of these Pan Am Games could have paid off most of Toronto’s $3-billion debt. The money spent on these Games could’ve covered the entire cost of all repairs to all of the city’s public housing. (Toronto is said to be the country’s biggest slum landlord.) The Pan Am money could’ve allowed the city’s transit system to complete all repairs to its entire system and bring it fully up to date. The latter two alternatives would’ve had a much bigger impact on the city and its residents than a 17-day sports event.

The projected cost of one Summer Olympics could pretty much pay for all of Toronto’s hoped-for new transit system which would benefit everyone in the city for many generations to come.

You know that guy, (and it’s never a woman), who drives around with his car windows rolled down and his stereo turned all the way up? He’s not about music. He’s trying to validate himself by yelling “look at me!” Everyone just assumes this guy is really trying to compensate for having a “little deficiency”.

It’s the same with hosting an Olympics. It’s not about sports. Some politicians and other self-important people feel the need to validate themselves or to compensate for their little deficiencies by spending big with other people’s money. The more they spend, the more important they must be.

How about this: let another city host the Olympics and we pay the travel costs of any Canadians wanting to go to those games. These Olympic fans would get to see the games in person and financially we’d still come out way ahead.