What sports events could/should OKC host?

[floater]

My current residence, Cleveland, recently hosted the International Children's Games. With about 2,200 12-15 year olds competing, the city pulled off the largest international event in its history and the largest international sports event event second only to the Olympics (the IOC has endorsed it). The event website is www.childrens-games.org

It occurs yearly, and Cleveland was the first American city to host the event in its 37 years. On the surface, I see no reason why Oklahoma City couldn't follow its lead. The budget for organizing the Games was under $3 million, most of it through corporate/foundation gifts -- and these were easily the most comprehensively-organized games in its history. The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission relied on a volunteer base of 2,000.

We've successfully hosted the U.S. Olympic Festival and shorter term events like Final Four regionals, the OKC Memorial Marathon, and the Davis Cup. To host, we would have to aggressively fundraise, attract thousands of volunteers, and select dorm and competition sites for up to 3,000 athletes/coaches and at least ten sports plus the Festival Village and Opening/Closing Ceremonies area. To pull it off, it would have to be a regional effort and enlist the participation of the local universities and colleges, for use of their sports facilities.

So what do you guys think? Could we host the games? What events (swimming, basketball, soccer, baseball, tennis, table tennis, gymnastics, water polo, volleyball, and track and field, the Festival Village and ceremonies) should go where?

And besides the ICG, what other events could we go for this wide in scope?

[Patrick]

floater, that's great to hear the good news about Cleveland! The childrens' event was definitely quite an accomplishment and honor for Cleveland to host. I'm sure it pumped a ton of money into the local economy and at the same time introduced a lot of people to Cleveland itself.

Seems to me like Oklahoma City could definitely pull something like this off, especialy with the help of Oklahoma City Community College and OU in Norman. Swimming and diving could be held at OCCC while many of the other events could be held at OU in Norman. During the summer, most of OU's dorms aren't in use, so they could be used to house people.

I suppose whatever we didn't have, through fundraising we could build.

We could try to have as many events as possible in Oklahoma City. But, the Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony you could have at Memorial Stadium in Norman. Basketball could be held at either Loyd Noble or the Ford Center (preferable the second option). Tennis could be held at OCU. They have that wonderful tennis facility there.

Track and Field events could be held at Memorial Stadium as well!

Although an Olympics would be nice to see in our city, I don't think we could pull something of that magnitude off, and do a good job of it. But something like this International Children's games might be easier to attract, especially since it's every year.

I suppose the more money we could raise, the more newer facilities we could build. For example, if we have a lot of money we could build a nice village for the participants instead of using college dorms. Later, the village could be coverted into housing or hotel space.
Preferably, this could be built downtown OKC.

Those are just some thoughts!