Calgary shortlisted for “2016 Ultimate Sport City”
Posted Jan 11, 2016 12:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a potential honour for a city whose sporting teams have won the Stanley Cup, the Grey Cup and played host to the Winter Olympics.
On Monday, Calgary was shortlisted as a contender for the prestigious title of “Ultimate Sport City” as named by SportBusiness, along with 30 other cities vying for the award.
“Continued recognition as one of the world’s ultimate sports cities validates a long-term commitment to an ambitious and collaborative strategy that embraces the importance of sport as a key pillar to building Calgary into a great city,” said Doug Mitchell in a statement, Chair, Calgary Sport Tourism Authority. “Whether it’s about promoting the importance of physical and mental wellness, economic and tourism development or grass roots volunteerism, sport and major events continue to be important to the future of this city. We are proud that our city, citizens, venues, volunteers and events are being recognized in this way.”
SportBusiness has published the list ever two years and in 2014, Calgary was named Ultimate Sports City in the best small sports city category and fifth overall.
“Well we’re really pleased and very proud of this designation, I think it’s a great reflection of our city, our volunteers, sporting organizations and the events we host and all the venues,” Executive Director of the Calgary Sport Tourism Authority and Vice President of Sport and Major Events at Tourism Calgary Marco De Iaco told 660 NEWS. “We think it’s an important designation, an important recognition of where Calgary has been over the last 25 to 30 years and also where we’re going as a sport city.”
“The elements that make us relevant in a competition like this is that we’re one of the preeminent winter sports cities in the world, we have an outstanding legacy from the 1988 Winter Olympics, we have a critical mass of winter sport infrastructure that goes beyond just the field of play but also speaks to the high performance of athletes, coaches, volunteers, all the sporting organizations that make their home here.”
De Iaco also spoke of the growing summer sports calendar that the city is seeing and a long term vision for the future.
“It’s a validation that we’re doing the right things and that Calgary is heading in the right direction.”
Criteria includes venues, transportation and infrastructure, accommodation, event strategy, government and public support, legacy, quality of life, security and marketing and branding.
Vancouver was the only other Canadian city to make the city.
Others include Beijing, Dubai, London, Melbourne, Tokyo and Sochi.
