Views: Gay Games Wind Down

Views: Gay Games Wind Down
by TRACY BAIM
2006-10-11
Copyright by The Windy City Times


We are three months from the end of Gay Games VII in Chicago, and as one of the volunteer organizers, I can say the whirlwind still has not died down. By most measures we feel the Gay Games were a great success for the City of Chicago, the LGBT sports movement, and our community. Due to such things as weather and protesters, we had some exceptional challenges the week of the Gay Games, but came within 2% of our financial targets, and we are still completing final projects such as the DVD.

Immediately after the Gay Games ended, most of the staff completed their jobs and moved on to new endeavors. We had to close down the four offices, and start the process of reporting to the Federation of Gay Games.

And even three months later, we are still completing the liquidation and final wind-down.

Now with an all-volunteer crew, the former staff, key volunteers and board are still compiling data for this event, which attracted more athletes than the Olympics, and participants from nearly 70 nations.

The wrap-up seems almost as ominous as the two years of planning for the 30 sports, cultural events and ceremonies. We are still getting in final invoices from vendors, and we still have sponsors who owe us their final payments.

Still to come:

1 ) Completion of the Gay Games VII video by early November, with a feature film and special bonus chapters and photos. Wolfe Video will distribute this nationally, and in Chicago there will be several release parties.

2 ) Completion of donor-based fundraising with a $100,000 matching grant by Chicagoans Dick Uyvari and Joe La Pat.

3 ) Hosting a final warehouse liquidation sale at the Halsted and Clark street Brown Elephant Resale Shops, in part to benefit Howard Brown Health Center. The liquidation is Oct. 21-22.

4 ) Hosting a volunteer and participant “Gay Games reunion” party at Goose Island in Wrigleyville Oct. 26.

5 ) A sponsor thank-you event, with Center on Halsted, as an official “passing of the baton” to the community’s next big project to complete.

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The Gay Games final budget was about $10 million. Almost every target was met leading up to the Opening Ceremony of Gay Games VII ( on registrations, fundraising, and expenses ) . During the week of Gay Games, the heat wave and extra security ( due to protesters ) , as well as lower ticket and merchandise sales at outdoor events, led to a shortfall of less than 2% of the entire budget. But because some sponsors have still not paid, and the DVD is just going on sale nationally through Wolfe Video this month, some of the revenues have also yet to come in for Gay Games VII.

The primary focus of this initial wind-down period involved collections of money owed to the Gay Games, and timely payments to vendors for their work done on projects associated with the Gay Games.

The support from Chicago’s GLBT community has been great for Gay Games VII, an event many thought could not be pulled off in the shortened timeframe. Indeed, even with just two years planning, there was burnout of volunteers and board members, especially after the Games had ended. It was amazing to see the tens of thousands of volunteer and staff hours it took to do the Games. The challenge now is to complete reports, fundraising, and payments, and to meet the final matching grant.

Perhaps the longest-lasting legacy of Gay Games VII is the impact on Chicago’s tourism industry—tens of thousands of people from around the world now view Chicago and its suburbs as among the most welcoming communities on the planet. Many said they would return, and a few have even already moved here. We need to make sure to keep that momentum going, by promoting all the great club, entertainment and community events we have to offer—from the new Center on Halsted, to gala dances, theater, International Mr. Leather, Pride, Market Days and much more.

In addition to the volunteers, the most important reason Gay Games VII was able to achieve new heights in GLBT fundraising was due to the record number of sponsors. There were nearly 400 by the time Gay Games VII began at Soldier Field July 15, including multi-national brands and local small businesses. Each took a share of the risk, each helped create a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Chicago to shine for the GLBT world. And now, that will help in Chicago’s setting the sights on hosting an Olympic games event in 2016.

Thank you to the Global sponsors of Gay Games VII, including Lexiva; Logo; PlanetOut/Gay.com; Sirius Satellite Radio; Walgreens; Centaur Entertainment; Fleishman Hillard International Communications; NBC 5 Chicago; Orbitz; McKnight Kurland Baccelli; Illinois State University; The New York Times; Olivia Cruises & Resorts; Pride Nation Network; Windy City Media Group; Absolut Vodka; American Airlines; Apogee Strategies; Athletico; Chicago Free Press; Chicago Sun-Times; Ernst & Young; GLAAD; Genre; Human Rights Campaign; Lambda Legal Defense; Nike; QTG-Quaker/Tropicana/Gatorade; Sydney New Mardi Gras; Mate Magazine; Pink Magazine; QTG ( Quaker/Tropicana/Gatorade ) ; RCN; and Roosevelt University.

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Gay Games Chicago told the community things would not be perfect, but that we were committed to doing the very best for Gay Games VII and the ongoing Gay Games movement. A large percentage of people were excited and motivated, and are now committed to the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Germany.

We appreciate the support as we complete our final phase of the matching grant, the DVD, liquidation, and the tremendous amount of reporting needed to finish the work on Gay Games VII. Any event of this magnitude takes many months to get to closure.

Your help, patience and support during this time is greatly appreciated.

Tracy Baim is co vice-chair of the Gay Games board of directors, and publisher of Windy City Media Group.