The Richmond Olympic Oval could be considered as a venue for tenniss Davis Cup next year.
Tennis B.C. will put in a "really strong bid" to host February's Davis Cup World Group tie between Canada and France, CEO Ryan Clark said Thursday.
Buildings that Clark is sure to be looking at include Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Richmond Olympic Oval, Pacific Coliseum and the Doug Mitchell Sports Centre at the University of British Columbia.
Clark, who is looking at potential venues in Vancouver, said the city should be leading candidate given the province's increased tennis participation numbers and the fact Vasek Pospisil, who was the hero for Canada in this month's dramatic 3-2 win in Israel, currently calls Vancouver home.
"It was an unbelievable effort from Vasek," said Clark of the performance of the 21-year-old from Vernon in three match wins - two in singles, one in doubles - that moved Canada back into the World Group for the first time since 2004.
Tennis Canada will likely require a venue of 5,000 seats as a "barebones minimum," said Clark. It will also need access to the building for five or six days prior to the actual competition for setup and practice.
Montreal, which had large crowds for the ATP Tour Rogers Cup in August, would have been a logical choice to host the tie if it wasn't again France.
"That would be like a neutral site," said Clark. "Why would we make it easy on them? As much as Canadians can be great hosts, we don't want to make [the French] feel warm and comfy."
With Toronto being down the list when the players were asked for input on where they'd like to play, Clark figures Vancouver's toughest rival could be Calgary.
"That would be the bid I'd worry about the most," said Clark. "They just seem to find ways of getting money to things like this."
