Gay Games 2010 & 2014

[Sir Rols]

Hmmm. I'm not sure if this is a help or a hindrance in Gay Games battle against Outgames, but Elton John has just been named the latest Gay Games ambassador:

Elton joins Gay Games

[parisphoto]

Less than a week to go, with the winner between Johannesburg, Cologne and Paris to be announced from Chicago November 13.

My tip? Cologne!

Interesting. What makes you say Cologne? Curious to know what elements you used to make this judgement.

[Sir Rols]

Less than a week to go, with the winner between Johannesburg, Cologne and Paris to be announced from Chicago November 13.

My tip? Cologne!

Interesting. What makes you say Cologne? Curious to know what elements you used to make this judgement.

It's a hard onee to call, I'll admit, especially when bid plans are not as  heavily and publicly scrutinised as Olympic bids.

Here;s how I see the pluses for each bid:

Cologne _ Germany's biggest gay metropolis with a big "scene". I plump for Cologne mainly because of that and the fact they hosted the GGF Federation conference last year, so the Federation would have good first-hand knowledge of it.

Johannesburg _ New frontier, and also will be pushing the fact that the South African constitution was the world's first, and still one of the few, to enshrine gay equality in the country's most basic laws.

Paris _ Well, just as for the 2012 Olympic race, it's Paris, a city that is hard to beat for cultural sophistication and cachet.

Really, Cologne is just a guess. I'd like to see Johannesburg get it for sentiment and colour, but realistically I expect one of the European bidders will get it.

Whoever wins, I expect it's back to North America, probably the USA, for 2014. Unless someone like Rio puts in a bid (now THAT would be a colourful Gay Games!)

[Sir Rols]

At the risk of drawing a James reaction to this, just thought I'd post that Vancouver is apparently about to announce a bid for the 2011 Outgames. Of course, the trouble is, this still perpetuates the split between the Gay Games and the Outgames organisations, with both already scheduled to stage rival events (Copenhagen 2009 and Cologne 2010). Enough already, let's get some reconciliation here!

Richard Burnett

rburnett@hour.ca

The last time the world's gay sports movement had a truly feel-good event was the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver, where 7,300 participants from around the world wowed a city that was then just coming into its own.

I arrived in Vancouver for the tail end of those August games but mostly remember the incredible heat wave and bountiful sunshine that bathed normally rainy Vancouver that month.

Next month, in a bid to recapture past glory, especially in the wake of the upcoming 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics, Vancouver will officially bid for the 2011 North American Outgames, the annual smaller cousin of the quadrennial World Outgames, which Montreal hosted in 2006.

While I no longer support the gay sports movement as it is currently structured, it's true that after Vancouver's 1990 Gay Games, the gay sports movement burgeoned with possibility.

But whatever promise did exist was extinguished when the 1994, 1998 and 2002 games in NYC, Amsterdam and Sydney lost millions. Millions. So when the Federation of Gay Games (FGG), which awarded the 2006 games to Montreal, saw what Montreal had planned - 24,000 athletes and a mega-million-dollar budget - they freaked out and pulled the plug.

As I have long said, if the gay-sports movement is Uganda, the FGG is Idi Amin.

As we now know, Montreal ended up hosting the inaugural World Outgames in 2006, which lost a whopping $5.3-million, and the FGG's 2006 replacement games in Chicago broke even after every last piece of office furniture in

their Chicago office was sold before they closed the books.

It is now clear that had Montreal's original plans been accepted by the FGG, this city's 2006 Gay Games - with the extra 12,000 American athletes that went to Chicago - would have been the most successful games ever, and would have been the exact tonic the gay sports movement needed.

Instead, the FGG and Montreal 2006 organizers screwed each other and treated Montreal like a dirty whore.

And the sports movement as it is currently structured will continue to screw other cities as the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA) hosts its second World Outgames in Copenhagen in 2009, and the FGG hosts the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne.

To reinforce their brand, GLISA last year introduced their annual North American Continental Outgames, the "mastermind" of Canadian Olympic gold medallist Mark Tewksbury, who was the public face of Montreal's financially disastrous World Outgames (I say "financially disastrous" because Montreal outclassed Chicago's replacement games in every other way).

The North American Continental Outgames drew 500 athletes to their inaugural games in The Tewk's hometown of Calgary last April, and now Vancouver wants a piece of the pie and is bidding for the 2011 games.

To which I say, "Enough already."

But this week when I asked John Boychuk, president of the Vancouver Pride Society (they organize Vancouver's Pride parade) and member of the steering committee behind Vancouver's bid for the 2011 continental games, whether he was concerned Vancouver could turn into a Montreal-style fiasco, he replied unequivocally, "No, not at all. Calgary did it last year. And organizers in Calgary and Montreal have offered a helping hand."

Boychuk continues, "Vancouver hosted the Gay Games in 1990 and there was great enthusiasm. Organizers of those games have also come forward to work on committees for our new North American Continental Outgames."

Boychuk says five cities will declare their bids for the 2011 games in letters of intent that must be submitted to GLISA by the end of March. Then each bid city will make a major presentation to GLISA at the end of August, and a winner will be selected this autumn.

Boychuk says the ballpark budget for Vancouver's games is $2.5-million, including in-kind services. "We'll also make an application [for money] to [british Columbia's] Olympic Legacy Fund, and we'll have access to all those Olympic facilities."

I wish Boychuk and his Vancouver colleagues all the luck in the world. It truly would be amazing to see that city recapture the glory of their 1990 Gay Games.

As Martina Navratilova told me at the 2006 World Outgames in Montreal, "We're all headed in the same direction. So let's please get along."

Except I don't think we will.

We have learnt nothing from history and I expect we'll have to wait for the fallout from the competing 2009 World Outgames in Copenhagen in 2009 and the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne to see whether the gay-sports movement as we know it will continue to even exist.

[Tatsh]

the best place for that games would be Ibiza

[james]

<font color='#000000'>Johannesburg is now officially a GG 2010 bidder _ the first officially declared to my knowledge.

Johannesburg Gay Games Bid</font>

We will remove South Africa from the AU, if that should be the case.

[Kenadian]

I'm sure you have that power. Anyway, this story is almost 3 years old. And didn't the Germans win?

[Citius Altius Fortius]

I'm sure you have that power. Anyway, this story is almost 3 years old. And didn't the Germans win?

Gay Games 2010 - Cologne

[Ms. Winfrey]

Ise hearin that Abuja be tryin to get the 2014 games. Sheeeit yea, buncho fine Afrikan brothas runnin arounds in tiny lil speedos

[Sir Rols]

We will remove South Africa from the AU, if that should be the case.

Sigh! I feared you wouldn't be able to resist.

You should take a leaf from the South African consitution, one of the most enlightened in the world when it comes to sexuality with all discrimination based on sexuality illegal.

[Sir Rols]

So, it looks like Boston is the first to put up its hands for the 2014 GGs:

Gay Games for Boston in 2014?

by Nick Katz

Bay Windows Contributor

Thursday May 22, 2008

Boston may try to host the Gay Games in 2014, Bay Windows has learned.

According to sources, the idea was broached at a meeting with leaders in the LGBT community and city and state officials at City Hall on May 15. The meeting was described as fact-finding and no firm decision has been made yet.

But according to those who attended, the early money is on Boston applying to host the Games.

"The overwhelming sense was that it would be a positive thing for the community," said Linda J. DeMarco, president of the Boston Pride Committee. "All the different communities seemed really interested in making this happen."

In addition to the Pride Committee, there were several other gay organizations involved and several city and state groups, including the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Massachusetts Sports Partnership.

"This was a very early exploratory meeting to gauge whether or not this was an event that was feasible in the city," said Jonathan Paris of the Massachusetts Sports Authority.

The group plans to meet again in the next month to six weeks. The formal deadline to apply for the festival is March 1, 2009, according to Paris.

DeMarco said the group plans to look at the financial packages put together by the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago and the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne. Up until the 2006 games, the athletic festival had lost money for host cities.

"It’s great for Boston to get such a prestigious event," DeMarco said. "We have the facilities to host the games and we have not only the regular tourist things to offer, but [the fact that] gays and lesbians feel comfortable walking in and around Boston and Provincetown."

Paris said part of the research would be to determine what a city needs to bring to the games in terms of athletic facilities, meetings and hotels. He also hopes to hold a meeting with the Chicago Gay Games organizers in the next 30 to 45 days.

Officials will have to decide by this fall whether there is enough support to launch a bid, because there is a lot of work required to put together a bid, according to participants.

The Gay Games started in 1982 in San Francisco as the Gay Olympics and six different cities from New York to Sydney, Australia, have hosted the games. Montreal won the right to host the 2003 games but backed out, in part, because of concern about the size of the event and the projected break-even point for crowds.

The Chicago Games in 2006 were the first to break even financially, and that was because it expanded its donors and sponsors, and it continued to fund-raise a year after the games finished. Prior to the Chicago event, though the games were a boon to the local economies of their host cities, they lost significant amounts of money for their organizers, threatening the future of the quadrennial sports and cultural festival.

DeMarco said the group has asked Chicago for its budget and other planning documents, so it can copy its success.

The Gay Games are the world’s largest sports and cultural event. It was the brainchild of Tom Waddell, a former Olympic athlete in San Francisco, whose goal was to promote a spirit of inclusion and participation. The Games are open to all regardless of sexual orientation. There are no qualifying events, either, meaning any athlete can participate.

Waddell and other organizers of what had been initially called the Gay Olympics were sued by the International Olympic Committee and its US equivalent and were forced to rename the event the Gay Games three weeks before its first event in 1982.

The Gay Games has faced competition since 2006, when the World Outgames started in Montreal. It remains to been seen if the worldwide communities of LGBT athletes can support the two competitors.

And before you start whining about developed world discrimination, james, I'm hearing rumours that Lagos might bid as well!

[Lee]

So, it looks like Boston is the first to put up its hands for the 2014 GGs:

And before you start whining about developed world discrimination, james, I'm hearing rumours that Lagos might bid as well!

That is a joke, right?

[Sir Rols]

Well, it looks like 2014 GG is destined for the USA (not a big surprise, seeing as it's the main market for them):

Cape Town, South Africa (28 October 2008) -- Groups from Miami (Florida), Cleveland (Ohio) Boston

(Massachusetts), and Washington (D.C.), have submitted letters of intent to bid for the ninth edition of the

Gay Games, to be held in 2014, officials announced at the close of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG)

annual meeting in Cape Town, South Africa.

“Fourteen (14) cities worldwide had expressed interest in hosting the 2014 Gay Games,” said Darl

Schaaff, co-chair of the Federation’s Site Selection Committee. “We are very excited to now have four

highly qualified bidders for the 2014 Gay Games who met the 20 October 2008 letter-of-intent deadline.”

Bid documents are due to the FGG in March of 2009. FGG Site inspectors will then visit each city

between May and August of 2009. After final multi-media presentations, the 2014 Gay Games host city

will then be selected by the Federation of Gay Games Assembly at its 2009 annual meeting in Cologne,

Germany next October. The FGG Assembly is comprised of organisations representing sports clubs, city

teams, and cultural groups from around the globe.

Previous Gay Games have been held in San Francisco, USA (1982, 1986), Vancouver, Canada (1990),

New York, USA (1994), Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1998), Sydney, Australia (2002) and Chicago,

USA (2006). Gay Games VIII will be held 31 July – 7 August 2010 in Cologne, Germany. Gay Games

Cologne registration officially launches worldwide on 31 October 2008 at www.games-cologne.com.

Organisers from Cleveland and Miami had representatives present in Cape Town, South Africa, in

support of their intent to bid for Gay Games IX 2014.

The Gay Games is the largest and longest running multi-sport event on the international LGBT calendar,

with more than eleven thousand participants taking part in approximately 30 sports and cultural events

every four years. Ever since the organisers of the first two Gay Games in San Francisco decided to send

the event to other cities, groups from dozens of cities on four continents have sought the honour of

hosting the Gay Games. A wide range of government officials, Olympic athletes, celebrities and

community leaders now support local bid groups in their efforts to showcase the Gay Games.

“We extend our best wishes to the groups from Boston, Cleveland, Miami, and Washington D.C. who

have entered this stage of the bidding process,” Communications Officer Kelly Stevens said. “The FGG

looks forward to working with them during the bidding cycle.

FGG

[Sir Rols]

I was just trying to look up about Rugby at the gay games, and I came across this. I missed it with the Copenhagen activity lately:

Cleveland Chosen to Host 2014 Gay Games IX

Excellent venues, fiscal accountability and widespread community support cited by Federation of Gay Games: Federation of Gay Games

I'm a bit surprised at that. I wouldn't have thought Cleveland was a big "gay" city. Boston or Miami I would have expected.