Mr. Trainor Goes to Gatineau

Nation,

I had an excellent time representing CUPA at the 2008 Sport Events Congress yesterday. Upon the listing of our sport's profile (e.g. major tournaments), the sport business community was greatly interested in speaking with CUPA.

I'll hold back some of the major details until submitting a report to the CUPA board, but here is a brief glimpse of some of the highlights

• We were present for the Government of Canada's major funding announcement of sport events.
• The new policy builds on the Strategic Hosting Framework for Hosting International Sport Events, previously approved by the 14 federal-provincial-territorial governments. With the addition of a $14.7 million annual investment to the current base funding of $1 million, this new policy will help the Government of Canada work with national sport organizations, multisport service organizations, and other orders of government to take a proactive approach to bidding for and hosting international sport events in Canada.
• We had 20 requested appointments yesterday (maximum appointments possible) from cities, athletic groups and hotel chains, and I took extra appointments afterwards.
  

It was an incredibly positive day for CUPA and ultimate in general. I expected that we would not be taken seriously. However, the information provided in the marketplace program outlines the fact ultimate is indeed good business and can have a serious economic impact on potential city hosts and sponsors/partners.

Other things that happened

• Had an excellent chance to speak with people and groups working with the Worlds 2008 organizing committee and get some feedback on the positive things that are being done for the tournament, as well as constructive feedback based on stakeholder respective expertise.
• I heard some excellent reviews of the organizing committee for CUC 2008, being held in Calgary.
• Groups that help the 2007 CUC championships heaped great praise for the TUC organizing committee and plan to feature the tournament as one of their past success stories.
  
• We were able to disseminate business information to these sport tourism groups, and get feedback as to how CUPA can help organize Canadian Ultimate groups in an effective manner.
• There was a lot of interest in our sport from communities that do not have strong local ultimate groups. These organizations seem intent on helping local ultimate groups with fields and hosting opportunities.