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Three bidders enter the arena; only one will exit victorious.
On Sept. 29, the Federation of Gay Games will announce the winner to host the next worldwide queer sports gathering. Cleveland is one of three finalists, joining Boston and the District of Columbia in reaching for the brass ring that could bring 12,000 hot athletes to town.
The three bids were submitted in this spring; following two rounds of questioning, site visits to the cities will occur over the next few weeks, including the weekend of July 30 in Cleveland.
This past week, we at Spangle waded through all three bids from cover-to-cover. So who’s going to get the games? Here’s our completely unscientific evaluation, based on the documents supplied by the federation and other random factors.
Cost, Part 1
Cleveland’s bid comes in at the cheapest price: $8.2 million. (Boston is $10.4 million and D.C. rings up $8.8 million.) That’s means less money to raise, although Cleveland is one of the poorest cities in the nation, with few Fortune 500 companies based here anymore. That makes fundraising a tough environment. Advantage: A draw.
Cost, Part 2
Unlike Boston and D.C., Cleveland has set a firm rate of $135 for participant registration. Boston’s registration starts at $140 and rises to $200; D.C.’s is between $100 and $275. By keeping it one rate, Cleveland is making participation equitable for all, and it’s likely to be cheaper for most everyone taking part. Advantage: Cleveland.
Cost, Part 3
Living and/or visiting Boston or D.C. is waaaay more expensive than Cleveland. In fact, BestPlaces.net says Boston is 63 percent more expensive, while D.C. is a whopping 112 percent pricier. Eek. Advantage: Cleveland.
Sports, Part 1
Cleveland proposed the most sports — 34, which apparently was a mistake. (A clarification from Cleveland’s organizers has reduced that number by four.) Still, Cleveland has one more than D.C. and four more than Boston. But is that good or bad? More sports means more work and more money to raise. Could be a weakness or a positive. Advantage: A toss-up.
Sports, Part 2
As part of its bid, Cleveland has partnered exclusively to bring rodeo to the Gay Games for the first time. That has potential to bring in a new audience, including a strong showing to our neighbors to the north. Advantage: Cleveland.
Sports, Part 3
The reason D.C. is one short in sports compared to Cleveland is it plans to allow online voting from participants to pick the final one. Genius marketing, and whichever site is selected, it should steal this idea. Advantage: D.C.
Financing
Cleveland is the only committee that has announced the hiring of a development director to date (at least that we can find). D.C. won’t hire one until 2011, although organizers have a development committee already in place. However, D.C. has something major instead: a $1 million commitment from city government. Advantage: D.C.
Opening/Closing Ceremonies
Harvard Stadium, RFK Stadium, Browns Stadium — all three bidders are bringing the big guns. The bids all also note a desire to attract major, internationally known entertainment talent. Advantage: A draw.
Cultural Events
In addition to sports, Gay Games organizers are required to put on a series of cultural events. The four required events include band and choral events competitions — and the basics are what Cleveland has proposed so far. D.C. and Boston have sketched out some awesome ancillary goings-on. Advantage: We’re going to call it for Boston, which plans a film festival, theatrical events and HIV/sports panel.
Location, Part 1
Quick survey to outsiders: Where would you rather travel for a week, Boston, Cleveland or D.C.? Sorry, Ohioans. Advantage: Both Boston and D.C. are close, but with Obama-mania still sweeping the world, D.C. is the hottest address around.
Location, Part 2
Cleveland pushes in its bid that it’s located within 500 miles of 50 percent of the U.S. population, and is also convenient to Toronto and its huge population of Canadian gays. That’s not a bad pitch. (And we think Boston makes a mistake by highlighting its proximity to so many East Coast cities — people who don’t live in the region have quite a chip on their shoulder about the attention that area gets at the expense of the rest of the nation.) Advantage: Cleveland.
Location, Part 3
Do you reward Boston and D.C. for being so progressive around LGBT rights, especially when it comes to marriage equality? Or do you try to harness the energy of the Gay Games to bring change to a less-progressive place? (City Council in Cleveland already passed a domestic partnership registry, partially spurred on by the possibility of the games.) Advantage: A close tie between Boston (for being the true trailblazer) and Cleveland (for being the real laggard), with D.C. too much in the middle for this to be a factor.
Attractions
Boston and D.C. have arts and history, Cleveland has arts and Cedar Point. We figure it’s whatever floats the boat of the selection committee, and a well-designed site visit could push one location over the others. Advantage: A draw.
Weather
D.C. in late summer is hot as balls, and Cleveland is notoriously finicky weather-wise. Advantage: Boston.
Spread
Cleveland has a bunch of venues tightly spaced, yet also has several that are way out of the city’s core, and D.C. has a variety of venues a fair distance apart. Boston looks to be the most walkable. Advantage: Boston.
Theme
“Freedom Games.” “Equality.” “My Games Rock.” Advantage: Even though it’s largely self-serving, we have to give it to Cleveland. The other two are a complete snore.
The Verdict
As if we have a clue.
Honestly, this all comes down to the priorities of each individual on the site-selection committee. So to try to calculate the final decision based on these factors would be foolish.
Our advice to the competitors during these crucial site visits and final presentations:
Boston: 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).
Cleveland: 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.
D.C.: 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.
Good luck to all! (With maybe a bit more luck thrown Cleveland’s way.)
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