7 DECEMBER 1995
VANCOUVER – Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment today officially launched Orca Bay On Line, its worldwide Internet web site providing all of the latest information on the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, Vancouver Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association, General Motors Place and Winning Spirit retail stores, along with the PGA TOUR’s newest event, the Greater Vancouver Open.
According to John Chapple, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment, the address http://www.orcabay.com will become synonymous with the vision of the Vancouver-based sports and entertainment group, which is to create new horizons of community excitement and involvement by consistently delivering customer satisfaction beyond expectations.
“What better way for us to reflect our commitment to community excitement, community involvement and customer satisfaction than through the interactive power of our own web site” said Chapple. “We like to think Orca Bay On Line will give fans of the Canucks and Grizzlies direct access to game statistics, player profiles and team trends. It will also provide our customers with details on upcoming events at General Motors Place and special offers from Winning Spirit.
Orca Bay On Line is comprised of the main orcabay.com home page, vancouvercanucks.com for the established NHL franchise, gmplace.com for Vancouver’s new downtown sports and entertainment arena, and winningspirit.com for B.C.’s leading retailer of licensed sports apparel and consumer products. It also provides direct access to nba.com, where Grizzlies fans can access the latest facts, figures and images about the 29th and newest franchise in the NBA. Information on the Greater Vancouver Open PGA TOUR Golf Tournament, to be held August 19-25, 1996, at the Northview Golf & Country Club in Surrey, BC, will also be available on the Orca Bay web site.
“The orcabay.com web site is the first of its kind in professional sports and entertainment” said Chapple. Part of that flows quite naturally from the uniqueness of our common ownership of the Canucks and Grizzlies and our new arena. But the uniqueness of Orca Bay On Line stems mainly from the depth and scope of the web site and our resident home pages. At orcabay.com, our fans can access captain Trevor Linden’s scoring statistics, find out when he’s playing next and how to get tickets to see Trevor at Canucks’ home games at General Motors Place and order a No. 16 jersey through Winning Spirit.”
The Orca Bay On Line project, which will make the organization and its properties accessible around the world, was developed under the direction of Bob Kerstein, Chief Information Officer of Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment. As head of the organization’s management information systems team, Kerstein supervised the registration of the home page addresses, the layout and flow of the home pages, compilation of information and images and liaison with the NHL and NBA. The web site was developed in conjunction with Columbus Group Communications, Inc., a Vancouver based Internet Marketing company who led the page layout and graphic design programming for the site. All aspects of the orcabay.com address were made in Canadaî.
Orca Bay On Line to provide electronic access to all of the latest information on the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL, Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA, General Motors Place and Winning Spirit retail stores
The launch of the orcabay.com address is another important step forward for Orca Bay in our pursuit of service excellence on behalf of the Canucks, the Grizzlies, General Motors Place and Winning Spirit,î said Kerstein. It is quite literally on line in terms of our overall strategy of providing interactive information and entertainment. We’re convinced one of the ways in which we can improve as an organization is by listening to what our fans have to say and Orca Bay On Line will make that easier than ever for a company of our size and scope.
Kerstein noted Orca Bay On Line is another way in which Orca Bay will appeal to young people of all ages: We recognize the increasing importance of computer skills, especially for young people, and hope our web site will enhance those skills by making things fun. The simple connection between sports and computers is a natural one for those in primary and secondary school.
In addition to accessing information on all aspects of the Canucks, Grizzlies, General Motors Place, Winning Spirit and the Greater Vancouver Open, Kerstein noted fans will be able to e-mail comments through the new web site.
The information we post on Orca Bay On Line will include game notes, media releases, advisories and team statistics, explained Kerstein. But the outgoing information is only a small part of the value of orcabay.com. Weíre placing a premium on what we expect to hear from our fans. By adding electronic mail to the communications mix alongside personal, telephone, fax or mail contact with our customer sales & service and guest services personnel, we’re doing our part to facilitate that feedback.
Kerstein pointed to regular columns by Pat Quinn, the President and General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks, and Stu Jackson, the President and General Manager of the Vancouver Grizzlies, as among the special features of Orca Bay On Line. See Bob Kerstein in video discussing the launch of the first NHL and NBA websites.
We plan to add other special features to the orcabay.com address, said Kerstein. Our commitment is to keep it at the leading edge of professional sports and entertainment. Orca Bay On Line will be as dynamic as the technology that makes it possible and the community and fans it represents.
The Columbus Group will continue to work with the Orca Bay On Line project in developing new interactive features such as Seat Sightlines, where users can preview the view from their seat, and Live Chat, where users can talk in real time with one another online.
The orcabay.com address is comprised of more than 150 pages.
In addition to ordering tickets, merchandise and publications produced by Orca Bay, fans of the Canucks and Grizzlies can subscribe to an e-mail service that provides updates on their favourite teams.