The Forks will be central location for the celebrations, broadcast booth and artist performances. The sports themselves will be played at various venues including the newly minted Sport for Life centre in the Exchange area. Some sports will be played in Gimli and Kenora as well. It has been decades in the making but Winnipeg's ability to carry off Canadian and international events, an army volunteers, fan support and sports and recreational legacy venues makes it a natural as a host city.
This year's games run form July 28 to August 13, feature 16 sports, 250 events, have 4000 athletes and nearly 20,000 visitors and is expected to bring in $150 to $160 million in revenue. All sports will streamed and Canada's English and French channels TSN and RDS are running 40 hours each of broadcasting.
The Canada Games is an athlete friendly event and the village at the University of Manitoba will make them feel at home while The Forks will make them feel like celebrating with their families and fans. The artists attending will find a receptive audience as people migrate from the Fringe Festival and first week of Folklorama to sporting events. If this summer has seemed busier than ever from beaches, to theatres to festivals to concerts, it is. Many Canadians have stayed home this summer even with a surging dollar.
The new Winnipeg sign at The Forks will have a lot of pictures taken in front of it even if it has its critics about how original it is not. Word has it that even some major construction projects on central routes will take a break to allow for smoother flow. We'll see about that. However, if there is one thing that is a guarantee, it is that Winnipeg will do this big event well.
Welcome athletes, families, friends and fans!
No comments:
Post a Comment