When the cry “Let the games begin” rings out in 2014 for the official start of Gay Games IX, one U.S. city will be hosting the event. But will it be Boston, Cleveland, or Washington, D.C.?
All three metropolitan areas, still under consideration, have LGBT publications. And already, local niche publications have provided coverage, primarily about their respective city’s bid to the Federation of Gay Games, the organization charged with overall stewardship of the global sporting event as well as oversight of the site selection process.
Even national LGBT media, the Advocate and Outsports.com, have taken note.
Which city gets the nod is anybody’s guess; the choice won’t be made until late September. Meanwhile, local LGBT community leaders and allies are making their case.
Read more after the jump.
A recent piece in Boston’s Bay Windows, for instance, reported that Boston 2014, a grassroots organization, pins its hopes for site selection on the city’s reputation “rich in cultural diversity and athletics” as well as the state’s historic first in granting marriage equality.
Cleveland’s Gay People’s Chronicle reported that the Cleveland Synergy Council, the local group behind the bid there, pins its hope on the city’s affordability and compact central downtown location for all events. In addition, “There’s a very, very aggressive effort by the council to make Cleveland the welcoming city it is,” reporter Tony Glassman told Press Pass Q. Like Boston, “Cleveland is a big sports town,” Glassman added.
The Aug. 6 issue of Metro Weekly, based in Washington, D.C., ran a Gay Games-related cover story – a lengthy interview with Brent Minor, head of the D.C. bid committee. Another story focused on local athletes who have competed in previous competitions. “The sports community is big, very big here,” said Sean Bugg, Metro Weekly’s co-publisher. “Also the [metropolitan] area is used to holding large, diverse events. Nobody here is a stranger to people coming to town.”
The July 20 issue of Cleveland-based Spanglemagazine.com ran a comparison-of-bids piece, written by publisher and editor Brian Patrick Thornton and entitled “The Gay Games bids: gold, silver, or bronze,” which offered advice to the remaining contenders:
To “Boston [$10.4 million bid]: Prove your city is welcoming, and not unfriendly as is sometimes perceived outside the region. Prove your games can be affordable to all. Prove your focus is on athletics (there are a lot of ancillary things planned in your bid).”
To “Cleveland [$8.2 million bid]: Prove you have the infrastructure (both people and resources) to pull this off. Prove the location will be a draw to actually get participants to care about coming. Prove the region’s dismal economy can support the funding you need.”
And to “D.C. [$8.8 million bid]: Prove your plan will get things done on time. (For instance, not hiring a development director until 2011? That seems late.) Prove your venues are not too spread out with the notorious D.C. traffic and metro system. Prove you can be affordable.”
Undoubtedly, for whichever city wins out, “It will be a big economic boost to host the Gay Games,” said Wes Combs, co-founder of Witeck-Combs Communications, an LGBT-focused public relations and marketing firm. Witeck-Combs has provided counsel to the committee behind D.C.'s bid. At one time, the Federation of Gay Games was a client.
LGBT media stand to benefit, he went on to say, “especially with some LGBT publications having to shutter their doors these days because there is no advertising.” Here’s why. “Any marketer that signs on as an early sponsor of the games has an opportunity to plant a progressive plan in that city, telling why they are involved.”
One sure-fire cost-effective way to reach the potentially lucrative LGBT market is though local gay niche publications. So marketers can have “a really smart approach,” Combs said, by advertising in LGBT media. From a financial standpoint, Combs added, LGBT media will begin “seeing revenues from advertising sooner than four years out from the games.”
The possibilities of creative opportunities in editorial content also arise for LGBT media, according to Combs. Hosting the Gay Games “offers some of these media outlets a chance to come up with a creative way to partner with mainstream media to provide coverage not only from the standpoint of the local market, but also from the stand point of sports.”
Combs cited one possibility as an example: Outsports.com and ESPN in partnership with local niche publications. Outsports.com, he noted, specializes in gay sports, but does not necessarily know an individual city. “It’s a real opportunity to leverage the connections the gay press has.” Outsports.com could also provide Gay Games-specific content to local gay media at the same time serve as a news source for ESPN, he said.
“Disney is a gay friendly company, and everybody’s doing partnerships these days,” Combs said. “They’re required to make creative ideas work and to make every dollar stretch.” ESPN Inc. is an affiliated corporation with the Walt Disney Company.
Begun in 1982 in San Francisco, the Gay Games is the world’s largest sporting event specifically designed for LGBT athletes with participation open to people of all sexual orientations. Over the years seven cities have hosted the event, including Amsterdam, Chicago, Cologne, New York City, San Francisco, Sydney, and Vancouver. In 2006, Chicago was the last American location for Gay Games VII. (All this is not to be confused with the World Outgames, which were held in Montréal in 2006 and in Copenhagen this year.)
Currently, Federation of Gay Games (FGG) representatives are conducting site visitations and hearing final presentations. The Federation’s announcement of the winner is expected on Sept. 29.
-Article by Chuck Colbert, writing for Press Pass Q
