North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper presented the state’s official bid to host the 2027 World University Games Tuesday morning. Cooper hosted the games’ executive board at the Governor’s Mansion in Raleigh to “demonstrate the state’s ability and desire to host” the games in the University Hub region, according to a release from the Governor’s Office. The University Hub region includes Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary and Greensboro and features 19 colleges and universities. Organizers say the Games could bring as much $300 million in revenue.

This was the board’s final visit to the state before a host is announced this November. The only other finalist is Chungcheong, South Korea.

“Not only are North Carolina’s universities and colleges great at sports, they are top tier educational and research institutions,” Cooper said in the release, “making our state an ideal location for the 2027 World University Games.”

Cooper also signed a proclamation declaring September 20, 2022 as International University Sports Day, and presented the proclamation and bid book to officials from the executive board. Cooper’s 2022 state budget also includes an allocation of $25 million in state funds to support the Games if the state is selected as host.

The World University Games have been contested for more than 60 years and are the world’s largest event for student-athletes. Recent iterations of the Summer Games have featured as many as 12,000 athletes and visited locations such as Naples, Italy and Beijing, China. The United States has only hosted the Summer Games once, when it came to Buffalo in 1993.

“If we were to get the games, over 600,000 people would come to the Triangle area, which would be great for our economy,” Chapel Hill mayor Pam Hemminger told 97.9 The Hill in August. “There’s other things to do besides the Games, because it brings a lot of visitors to the area as well. So this could be huge. They would put them up in dorms. They were going out, looking at the dorm rooms as well… on a hot day. They had a good walkabout on campus. They had been at NC State and Duke, and they were going to some other campuses as well.”

 

Featured image via The News & Observer/Ethan Hyman

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