Saturday

Vancouver 2010: VISA or bust

If you've been watching the Olympics on TV in the last week, you've defintiely seen one of the many Morgan Freeman-narrated VISA TV spots. As one of the main Olympic partners, VISA has created a ton of spots to highlight that the only card you can use at the games is theirs.

While I like the spots (especially the one below - it's a tear jerker) I have to say that only being able to use a VISA card at the games is extremely annoying. I saw a few events in Vancouver last week and quickly realized that if you are trying to purchase anything - from beers at a hockey game to a coffee - you either have to pay using a VISA credit or debit card or cash.

The problem is that there aren't any ATM machines in the venues because VISA has dominated them. I realize that VISA has paid millions to be the title sponsor but as a spectator my reaction is 'damn you VISA' more than it is 'I wish I had a VISA so I could buy this beer'.