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Gay
Competitors prefer Outgames
Athletes would rather test
their skills in Montreal than Chicago, poll shows
SOURCE: The
Montréal Gazette
MIKE KING
The Gazette
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
The recent score in international
gay sports is Montreal 51, Chicago 7.
Those are the percentages
of participants from the EuroGames 2004 planning
to attend the competing North American events
in 2006.
The European Gay and
Lesbian Sport Federation polled the 5,300 people
who took part in this summer's games, hosted by
Munich, Germany, on whether they will enter the
first World Outgames here or the Gay Games VII
in Chicago.
Of the more than 630
people who answered the survey, 6.7 per cent want
to be part of both sports competitions - which
are being held one week apart in July and August
2006.
It was the third good
piece of news this month for organizers of the
Outgames.
The survey results followed
closely on the heels of announcements from global
Internet media companies pledging sponsorship
totalling $1.425 million U.S.
California-based Hyperion
Interactive Media - a Web site network that receives
1.2 million gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
visitors a month - signed a $1-million deal.
Brazil's leading site,
with 1.4 million monthly visitors, is in for $250,000,
while a Montreal search engine for gays and lesbians
has agreed to a $175,000 associate sponsorship.
"We needed $1.5 million
worth of direct-link publicity and we're already
at $3.8 million with two years to go," Outgames
spokesperson Jean-Yves Duthel said.
Of the $16-million overall
budget, organizers have obtained more than $8
million in cash and in-kind contributions, he
added.
"For the first time in
the history of (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender)
games, we know we'll be able to offer a financially
viable event, thanks to our new sponsors," Outgames
marketing director Tom Czerniecki said in a recent
statement.
Montreal had originally
won the right to host the 2006 Gay Games, but
a disagreement between the local organizers and
the Federation of Gay Games resulted in the event
being moved to Chicago and Montreal establishing
an alternative competition.
© The Gazette
(Montreal) 2004 |
