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Tuesday, April 30, 2002

By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Forget the politicians and bring on the past-their-prime athletes.

Three weeks after Pittsburgh officials dropped out of the running for the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the National Senior Games Association announced that Pittsburgh is one of three candidates to host the 2005 or 2007 Senior Olympics.

Des Moines, Iowa, and Louisville, Ky., are the other finalists to host an event that could bring some 10,000 athletes 50 and older to the city for two weeks of summer competition, the association said yesterday.

Officials from the association, based in Baton Rouge, La., are to visit the three cities in May and June and make their site decisions for 2005 and 2007 in October. Nineteen cities submitted proposals to host the event.

"The three cities that will be considered are all outstanding in what they can provide to our event and to our athletes," said association President Bill Bankhead. "We are eager to visit these communities and evaluate how they match our event."

The department of orthopedic surgery of UPMC Health System and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine initiated the local interest in the senior games, based on a research project undertaken by UPMC staff at the 2001 event in Baton Rouge. City and Allegheny County representatives and the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau have joined the effort to attract the games.

Dr. Freddie Fu, director of the UPMC Health System Center for Sports Medicine, said a community hosting the games has to pay a $30,000 award fee and commit to raising $2 million to $3 million in sponsorships to help cover costs of the event. He doubted it would be a problem to gather such contributions; UPMC put up an initial $5,000 application fee.

"It will be a lot of work, but we can do it," Fu said of the prospect of hosting the games. "We've got three years to work on it."

He said Pittsburgh's size and various attractions could give it an advantage over the other two candidates, although the summer Senior Olympics has been staged in many small to medium-sized cities. The 2003 games will be held in Hampton Roads, Va.

Staged every two years since 1987, the event is much smaller than the Olympic Games and might primarily make use of the Oakland and South Side facilities of the city's major universities, as well as regional parks. Participants compete in 18 events in different age groups, including some of the same track and field and team competitions as in the regular Summer Olympics, but with senior-friendly events such as shuffleboard and horseshoes thrown in.

Typically, the National Senior Games Association depends on a local organizing committee to assemble a staff and budget for planning and fund raising. While the Pittsburgh effort has been based in UPMC's offices up to now, Fu said he is open to local government or some other entity taking leadership as the effort progresses.

"It's not like a UPMC or Pitt project -- this should be a whole-community project," he said.

The association's information to host applicants suggests that the summer Senior Olympics could bring in as many as 35,000 participants and guests, generating up to $35 million for the local economy over the two weeks.