Pictured Christee Snell is the Gay Games VII managing director. Photo by Jeremy Lawson. Kevin Boyer is Co Vice-Chair of the Gay Games board. Photo copyright G. Thomas Ward. Cyndi Lauper performs at Closing Ceremony July 22.
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The end of the rainbow, no pun intended, is finally within sight. A little more than two years of preparation for this quadrennial sports and cultural extravaganza are now down to a matter of days. The pot of gold that is Gay Games VII comes to life July 15 with the Opening Ceremony at Soldier Field.
About 12,000 registered participants from around the world will invade Chicago for the first Gay Games on American soil since 1994's Games in New York City.
'We had three goals within our planning process. Our official target and our public number was 12,000. Our budget number was 10,000. Our break-even number, even with the contingency, was 8,000,' said Kevin Boyer, co-vice chair of the Gay Games Chicago board. 'When we picked those numbers two years ago, we had good reasons for each number, including analysis of past Games [ and ] the impact ( that the OutGames ) in Montreal would have, along with the economy, the support of Chicago and the Midwest as a whole, etc. Well, all of the planning paid off … we met all of our targets.'
Softball has the most registrants ( 1,200 ) of all 32 sports, followed by swimming ( 1,000 ) , tennis ( 900 ) , volleyball ( 800 ) , and bowling and soccer ( 600 each ) .
'We had very few surprises in terms of registration, other than perhaps doing so well in sports like badminton, ice hockey and racquetball. I don't think we expected those sports to grow as fast as they did,' Boyer said. 'Another last-minute surprise was the huge increase in numbers in team sports, specifically softball, volleyball, basketball and flag football.'
With close to 1,200 people registered for softball, Chicago will be the largest Gay Games softball tournament ever.
The running events, in reality, have the most registrants. There are more than 2,000 combined registered for the triathlon, road races ( 5K and 10K ) , marathon and half-marathon, and track and field.
'We did very well [ in registration ] in all of the sports that we thought we'd do well in,' Boyer said.
Rugby was, though, the one disappointing sport in terms of registration, he said. 'The rugby registration just never really took off. Why? Well, rugby really isn't a summer sport and the gay men's rugby community never really grabbed hold of [ the Games ] in the U.S. and supported it as much as we would have thought.'
So, rugby will simply be an exhibition sport next month.
There were 40 participants registered for diving and 25 for synchronized swimming, and though those numbers might sound small, their events might be the most popular and best attended.
The Opening Ceremony, set for 8 p.m. at Soldier Field, is shaping up to match the hype over the event's glitz and glamour. James Hormel will give a keynote speech while former NFL standout Esera Tuaolo will sing the anthem of the Gay Games. Fellow former NFL player David Kopay will administer the participant's oath, while former major league baseball player Billy Bean will administer the officials' oath.
The lineup of speakers and performers for the opening ceremony includes Margaret Cho, Kate Clinton, Matthew Cusick, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Greg Louganis, Megan Mullally, Billy Porter, George Takei and others.
More than 1,400 people will be performing in some capacity at the Opening Ceremony, not to mention the athletes' processional of 12,000.
'The talent lineup is incredible. It's going to be an amazing night,' Boyer said. 'We don't need to fill Soldier Field in order to meet our financial target. We just need to make sure the stadium is full enough to have a successful event fiscally and a good experience. Ticket sales are going briskly. Surprisingly, it's the higher-priced tickets that are selling out, such as the Gold Packages.' Plenty of tickets for the opening ceremony are still available at $50.
'Chicago is a great sports town, and it's a city that truly appreciates a great show. So we fully anticipated the Gay Games to be a great success,' Boyer said.
The Closing Ceremony, scheduled for 3 p.m. at Wrigley Field on July 22, will be every bit as dramatic as the opening event. The Wrigley show will feature DC Cowboys, Ari Gold, Eric Himan, Jason & DeMarco, Cyndi Lauper, Chuck Panozzo and many others.
'The experience at Wrigley is going to be incredible,' Boyer said. 'I think people truly will realize that this is one of the very few opportunities to get into Wrigley for an event like this—something really special, something really different. And who wouldn't want to see Cyndi Lauper perform at Wrigley?'
The processional for the Opening Ceremony is organized by country, state and city. The processional for the Closing Ceremony is not organized that way; the athletes all come in together as a group to symbolize unity, togetherness and inclusiveness.
The athletes will enter Wrigley from the corner of Waveland and Sheffield, entering through the doors under the bleachers, march on the warning track, then across a covered pathway in the outfield, to the infield, ultimately into the seats. Athletes will be in the 100-level seats.
Mainstream media will cover the Games from around the world, Boyer confirmed. 'The coverage throughout the U.S., particularly in Chicago, has increased exponentially over the past few weeks,' he said. During the first two weeks of June, there were 75 separate media inquires.
Boyer said that all Chicago-area media will provide daily coverage of the Games. The Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan, will serve as the media center, where scores, results and statistics will flow in daily from the various sites, sport managers, Sports Village press officers and others. Headlines will be made available numerous times throughout the day. There will be a press briefing every morning at the Hilton.
There will be sporting events during the days and nights throughout the eight days, from soccer games at 8 a.m. to figure skating at 8 p.m. Plus, there will be about 120-affiliated Games events.
'Basically, if you want to do something associated with the Gay Games any time, any hour between July 15-22, there's something out there for you.' Boyer said.
