 Founded in 1992 – 15 members  May, 2003 – 305 members  Networking  Professional development  Best industry practices  Opportunities to meet event owners

 Ticket appeal – spectator driven  Participant driven – value comes from number of visitors, spending

 Opportunities…  Advantages…  Legacy benefits…  Revenue opportunities…  Risks…

 Obtain as much information as possible  Talk with recent host cities  Look at results of similar events in your city

 Spectator appeal  Substantial media coverage  Can use existing facilities

 Local sports programming for children, adults  Visitor spending – jobs  Facilities

 Visitor spending  Ticket potential  Attractive to sponsors  Revenue sharing with event owner

 Research history  Financial commitment  Weather  Another event at same time  Quality of facilities  Availability of staff, volunteers

 Reasonable financial requirements  Can use existing facilities  Strong ticket sales  Minimum need for local financial support – sponsors  A strong history  Delivers visitors who spend money in host city