London

Gay Games X | Limerick | London | Paris | Other bids | Documents

Bidding organization statement

With Olympic-standard facilities, London is an international and diverse city geared for large numbers of visitors and major events such as the Gay Games.

Promising the fun and excitement of Britain at its best, London looks forward to welcoming the world in 2018 for the tenth Gay Games.

Our bid is owned and supported by London’s LGBT sports and community organisations – working together to demonstrate that our experience and expertise in delivering major sporting and cultural events is second to none.

Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your sport – trust us with the Gay Games in London 2018. We’re ready to play!

Watch our video to see why we believe in the Gay Games.

London 2018 documents

Response to Request for Information
Letter of Intent
Bid Book
Letters of support

London 2018 online

100-out.org.uk
facebook.com/London2018
gaygameslondon2018.wordpress.com
@london2018info
Posts about the London bid on the Gay Games blog (and latest posts below)
<hr

This space free… A blog post on gaygames.org costs nothing.
Hoping that our bidders for Gay Games X will take advantage of their account to post more often about their bids…
Limerick, London and Paris selected as finalists in bidding for Gay Games X in 2018 Federation of Gay Games announces finalists in bidding for Gay Games X
Limerick, London, and Paris continue in race to host the world’s largest sport and culture festival open to all
Today the international Federation of Gay Games announced that groups from Limerick, London, and Paris would continue in the bidding process to host Gay Games X. The three finalists garnered the most votes from among the members of the FGG’s site selection assembly, who for the first time designated this short list by online instant runoff voting. Unsuccessful in the vote were groups from Amsterdam and Orlando.
Dennis Sneyers (Chicago), officer for site selection, thanked the five bidding organizations: “Ever since competitive bidding to host the Gay Games began for Gay Games IV, ultimately won by New York 1994, we have faced the welcome challenge of choosing from among several qualified bidders. This cycle has brought us particularly outstanding bids from Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando and Paris. Each group has brought a truly distinctive take on what the Gay Games can be, and has enriched our own thinking about our event. All have been highly professional and responsive to the demands of our bidding process.”

Dave Killian (Philadelphia), cochair of the Federation site selection committee, expressed his satisfaction with the voting process: “Despite having members in multiple time zones, speaking many different languages, we had exceptional participation in the vote: close to 100%. We worked closely with Jeff O’Neill of OPAvote.com to adapt their online voting system to our needs to choose three finalists using instant runoff voting, which allows us to announce the results in a matter of hours after the close of the three-day window for voting.”
FGG co-president Emy Ritt (Paris) thanked the bidding organizations from Amsterdam and Orlando: “I personally was excited to see a bid from Amsterdam, because my own discovery of the Gay Games took place there at Gay Games V in 1998. Their bid offered an innovative mode of management and administration in which existing organizations would be entrusted with the key components of the Games. Orlando proposed a most exciting vision for Gay Games X, making ...
Voting is open for finalists to host #GayGames2018 Voting is open for the choice of finalists to host Gay Games X in 2018. Electronic voting for the short list of three finalists among groups from Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando, and Paris began on Tuesday 28 May 2013 at 5pm San Francisco time, and will continue for three full days.
The announcement of the results is expected via a video message on Saturday 1 June 2013 at 8am San Francisco time. Visit http://gaygames.org to view the announcement!
IMPORTANT: If you are a delegate of a member organization eligible to vote on site selection and have NOT received your ballot, contact david.killian@gaygames.net immediately.
Federation of Gay Games announces inspectors for Gay Games X site visits #GayGames2018 San Francisco
16 April 2013
Federation of Gay Games announces inspectors for Gay Games X site visits

Team will visit cities vying to host 2018 event in July-August of this year

Today the international Federation of Gay Games announced the names of the three inspectors who will be visiting cities bidding to host Gay Games X in 2018. The veteran of the team is Rob Lavery of Toronto. Lavery was himself part of a former bid team, is a former cochair of the Federation’s Site Selection Committee, and has served as a site inspector on two previous occasions. Joining him will be Cyd Ziegler, Jr. (Los Angeles), founder of Outsports, the leading online media for LGBT sport and sport for LGBT people. Ziegler has undertaken to entrust his partner in Outsports, Jim Buzinski, with all matters dealing with the Gay Games so as to maintain a clear separation between his work as a site inspector and his activities as a journalist and media proprietor. Rounding out the team is Annette Wachter (Cologne), former CEO of Games Cologne, the host organization of Gay Games VIII in 2010. Earlier this year Wachter also served as a site inspector on behalf of GLISA International, visiting Reykjavik and Miami for the selection of the host of the next World Outgames.

Two alternates were also selected in case a member of the primary team is unable to travel. These are Anna Aagenes (Philadelphia), executive director of GO! Athletes, the North American organization of LGBT student athletes, and Sébastien Datiche (Tours, France), FGG sports officer, who offers unparalleled familiarity with the Gay Games Red Book for Sport which defines the obligations of hosts in terms of venues and organization of sporting events. Datiche is also in charge of support for the visits, and in particular for devising the inspection checklist.

Dennis Sneyers (Chicago), cochair of the Federation’s Site Selection Committee, explained that his was the first time site inspectors were chosen through an open application process. “In our ongoing pursuit of transparency and democracy, we decided to invite all interested parties to apply for these positions. In the past, site inspectors were ...
Federation of Gay Games closes first phase of questions to organization bidding to host #GayGames X #GayGames2018 Federation of Gay Games closes first phase of questions to organization bidding to host Gay Games X
Over 300 questions submitted by interested parties from around the world
The international Federation of Gay Games announced the close of the first phase of questions for organizations bidding to host Gay Games X. Five cities – Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando, and Paris – are bidding to host the 2018 event, the world’s largest sport and culture festival open to all.
Dennis Sneyers (Chicago), cochair of the FGG site selection committee, explained that the process used was a first for the FGG: “While we have always made the bid books public, for the first time we have chosen to open our question submissions to all interested parties. The process has been totally transparent and very successful. Over 380 questions were submitted via an online form. After editing, consolidation, and removal of duplicate questions, more than 300 questions remained, all of which have been posted on our blog at 2018.gaygames.org, where they can be consulted by bidder and by theme.”
Sneyers’ cochair, Dave Killian (Philadelphia) spoke of the next steps: “Bidding organizations have until the end of April to respond to these questions. Their answers will be added to the questions posted online so that FGG voters and the public in general can judge the responsiveness of the organizations involved. But this isn’t the end of our exchanges with bidding organizations, which will continue along the same lines through the FGG Assembly’s vote on a shortlist at the end of May, and then on to October’s in-person site selection meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, the host of Gay Games 9 in August 2014.”
Ken Hundrieser (Chicago), an FGG volunteer processing the Q&A, discussed the breakdown in questions asked: “There was not a significant difference in the number of questions asked of the various bidding organizations, despite their very different backgrounds and orientations. Sport is of course an important topic, representing a third of all questions. Among the sports, cycling and triathlon received the most questions, in large part because these are particularly complicated events, with road closing issues, multiple ...
Federation of Gay Games receives bid books for Gay Games X: Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando, and Paris continue in race to host 2018 event #ggx #gaygames #gaygames2018 San Francisco
1 March 2013
Federation of Gay Games receives bid books for Gay Games X
Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando, and Paris continue in race to host 2018 event
Today the Federation of Gay Games announced that it had received bid books from groups in Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando, and Paris vying to be chosen to host Gay Games X in 2018. The documents can be found online at 2018.gaygames.org.
Officer for Site Selection Dennis Sneyers (Chicago) expressed the Federation’s pleasure at these submissions: “Bidding is an intensive and costly process, mobilizing dozens of volunteers in each bidding city. We began this process with over twenty expressions of interest. Groups from seven cities submitted letters of intent to bid. Five responded to our Request for Proposals. Now all five groups have completed this most recent major step on the road to Cleveland where our site selection meeting will take place in October 2013.”
Cochair of the Site Selection Committee David Killian (Philadelphia) noted the months of communication between bidding organizations and the FGG: “We began by providing these organizations with our RFP which lays out the requirements for hosting the Gay Games and for presenting their bid. The Gay Games are a major endeavor, the largest sport and culture festival open to all in the world. For an event with over 10,000 participants and 40 sport and culture events, just producing a bid book is extraordinarily demanding. We have provided as much pertinent information about past hosts as we could, and have remained in constant contact with these organizations, holding weekly teleconferences to respond to their questions and requests for information.”
FGG co-president Emy Ritt (Paris) spoke of the excitement among FGG board members, delegates, and volunteers: “After the Gay Games themselves and the site selection meeting, the submission of bid books is one of the most important moments in the life of the Federation. It’s a bit like unwrapping a present when we discover the very different visions these organizations have of producing the Gay Games, which have changed thousands of lives since 1982, and which will be celebrating their 36th anniversary in 2018.”
Ritt’s male ...
Bidding for the #GayGames: Q: Which cities have bid to host the Gay Games? Q: Which cities have bid to host the Gay Games?
A: The first two editions of the Gay Games were hosted by the founder of the event, San Francisco Arts and Athletics. SFAA decided to take the Gay Games to the world with the third edition, hosted by Vancouver, and to transorm itself into an international organization, the Federation of Gay Games. As of Gay Games IV, hosts were chosen by means of a bidding process (hosts in bold):

Gay Games I 1982 – San Francisco (no bidding)
Gay Games II 1986 – San Francisco (No bidding)
Gay Games III 1990 – Vancouver (No bidding)
Gay Games IV 1994 – New York, Sydney
Gay Games V 1998 – Amsterdam, Atlanta, Sydney
Gay Games VI 2002 – Dallas, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Montreal, Sydney, Toronto
Gay Games VII 2006 – Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal
Gay Games VIII 2010 – Cologne, Johannesburg, Paris
Gay Games 9 2014 – Boston, Cleveland, Washington, DC
Gay Games X 2018 – prospective bidders: Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo

For Gay Games X, informal expressions of interest were received from groups in over 20 cities.
Groups proposing to host the Gay Games in seven cities filed official expressions of interest.
Of these, all filed letters of intent, including a first payment of bidding fees, with the exception of the group proposing to host the Games in Brazil.
By the end of today, we will know which of the five remaining groups files a bid book, launching the official competition to host Gay Games X in 2018.
If Amsterdam and Paris bid, they will join the group of multiple cycle bidders, which includes Montreal, Sydney, and Los Angeles. Montreal succeed on its second attempt, but no license agreement was signed. Sydney succeeded on its third attempt. If Amsterdam bids and is chosen, it would be the first city to host multiple editions of the Gay Games since San Francisco in the early days of the event, and would be the first city to be chosen twice in an open bidding process.
The FGG has already received multiple expressions of interest in hosting Gay Games XI in 2022, the 40th anniversary of the event.
More ...