Sue Kennedy, one of the Site Inspectors for the Federation of Gay Games, told a crowd gathered at a public board meeting for Chicago 2006 last week that no matter which of the final four bid cities wins the Gay Games 2006, all of the cities have been transformed by the process.
Kennedy and her colleague Rob Lavery were impressed with the show of depth and unity Chicago exhibited when hosting the Site Visit team last week. There were public meetings and dozens of special visits to sports and culture venues. They met with Mayor Daley, who strongly expressed his support for hosting the Gay Games. They met with politicians from all levels of city, county, state and federal government. They met with sports and culture leaders from the Chicago GLBT community, and they met with business and professional people.
For more than two years, I have been privileged to participate as a founding board member of Chicago 2006. Dennis Sneyers, a former New Yorker, came to the city and expressed a desire to bring the Gay Games here. Several of us joined Sneyers on a Steering Committee and then a publicly elected Board of Directors. We have held numerous public board meetings and Town Meetings to open up the process to more than 400 volunteers and supporters.
The Chicago 2006 bid book was truly a labor of love—and I mean that, because it was like giving birth. While I was in charge of overall bid oversight and production, hundreds of people from the sports, culture, non-profit and business world had a role in completing the bid.
The finance team ( made up of bank executives and CPAs ) in particular paid extremely close attention to detail, based on past Gay Games bids and host cities, and based on the realities of Chicago's community. The 100 pages of the Bid Book included thousands of facts based on hundreds of hours of research. Two aspects that have been questioned: The $2 million broadcast rights, and the $700,000 in support from government. The broadcast rights were based on two major bits of knowledge: first, the Sydney Gay Games received even more than this amount from one internet company, and two, the internet is the wave of the future for broadcasting the Gay Games and similar large events. We believe the $2 million is in line with the market potential, the past reality of funding, and the future of event broadcasting via the internet. As for government support, I personally believe this is a low figure, spread out over five years. After all, the city and state will stand to benefit from hundreds of millions of tourist dollars if the Gay Games are hosted here. City and state tourism, culture and sports personnel have been meeting with Chicago 2006 representatives for two years to make sure the government plays a strong role in the Gay Games.
But after such a wonderful Site Visit, and with so much work ahead before the four finalist cities do presentations in Johannesburg, South Africa this October, we are all focusing on the amazing volunteer efforts of the Chicago 2006 group.
What a wonderful experience the Site Visit was. More than 300 people played some role in the event. Congrats especially to my co-horts on Chicago 2006, the group bidding to bring the Games: Mona Noriega, Suzi Arnold, John Paquet, Kim Hunt, Al Petras and Dennis Sneyers. Other board members who played critical roles include Sue Connolly, Renae Ogletree ( who helped secure the $50,000+ in Miller donations ) , Kevin Boyer, Chris Pries, Rob Hunden, Kelley Henderson, Israel Wright, Renee Brown, and Charles Clifton.
Thanks also to Nan Schaffer and Dima Elissa for hosting "Culture on the Lake" featuring C.C. Carter, About Face Youth Theatre and Jessica Halem. Thanks to The Room for hosting the political and health/community event, and to Circuit for hosting the public board meeting. Subaru provided the cars for the Site Visit, and Miller, Riggs & Forsythe, Ann Sather's, Sidetrack, Shirts Illustrated and Tratorria Dinotto donated items for various events.
Thanks also to all of the city, private venue and university workers who took the time to show their great facilities off to the Federation.
This was and is truly a "team" effort, and there are just so many people to thank for helping Chicago shine, putting our best face forward for the world to see. To the sports and culture leaders, to the businesses who donated, and the volunteers who give so much of their time, you make all the work worth while.
As Sue Kennedy said so poignantly: this process has transformed Chicago. Men and women from all communities, all political, culture and sports backgrounds, have worked together in a way they never have before.
We have shown that it is not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. And in this town, how you all helped play the game has been truly selfless and amazing
Tracy Baim, Publisher
