Right now there is a lot of talk about bids for Nationals and proposed rules changes on where Nationals can be held.
Why not discuss good places to have Nationals in the future?
For fun, what pool would you suggest as a great place for Nationals? This may help prime the pump with more pools that can/will bid on future events.
I will start things off with my submission, University of Minnesota for LCM.
Why?
I am from MN and have swum in it many times during college and in Masters. It is a great facility and is fast. Plus I have family in the Twin Cities and know my way around.
It is indoors and as anybody from the Midwest knows, the weather can get unpredictable in August.
They did a great job in 1999 for LCM, very well-run meet.
An open water swim could be run at Lake Hariett or one of the other metro lakes.
Airport is a hub for NWA (soon to be Delta) and is accessable from any major metro area.
Location is in Central US, meaning flights from anywhere in the US won't take all day.
Pool is on the U of M campus with lots of places to eat, hotels, and parking.
There have been many meets run at this facility since it opened and I think that the hosts would do an excellent job. I don't know why they have not submitted a bid but would love to vote for it if they ever did.
Just my opinion, go ahead and share yours.
Michael -
If hosting a successful Nationals can lead to a significant five figure net income, then the wrong people are organizing bids - or perhaps USMS can assist with preparing bids. I can't imagine that many LMSCs would turn down the opportunity to earn that type of money for a meet (albeit a massive one to organize). Sign me up for the committee that soliicits/evaluates, etc bids...
LMSCs do not generally run or bid for nationals, it is clubs that host them. That being said, Oregon ran the last LCM nationals but I am not sure if was the LMSC or the club (which are one in the same, another topic of interest) that hosted the meet.
The USMS championship committee is ready to help the meet hosts and prospective bidders wade through the process so there should be no hindrance in that area. I think it is mostly facilities that do not want to put out the work to host the meet. There are meetings and meetings and more meetings starting 2 years before the meet, capped by 5 days of frenzied action of the meet followed by 2 days of cleanup and more days of report writing. The volunteer base can dry up quickly if there isn't something sexy to do, like hand out awards to cute guys, or hand out towels in the women's locker room.
Some clubs structure the financial reports to make it look as if there were no money made at all, charging high rents for the pool time and timing system rentals, when they control all of that and more in the facility. So, yes, 5 figures net is not at all out of the question, and that doesn't even include the decimal point! In 1983, the Stanford SCY nationals reported about 70k.
Michael -
If hosting a successful Nationals can lead to a significant five figure net income, then the wrong people are organizing bids - or perhaps USMS can assist with preparing bids. I can't imagine that many LMSCs would turn down the opportunity to earn that type of money for a meet (albeit a massive one to organize). Sign me up for the committee that soliicits/evaluates, etc bids...
LMSCs do not generally run or bid for nationals, it is clubs that host them. That being said, Oregon ran the last LCM nationals but I am not sure if was the LMSC or the club (which are one in the same, another topic of interest) that hosted the meet.
The USMS championship committee is ready to help the meet hosts and prospective bidders wade through the process so there should be no hindrance in that area. I think it is mostly facilities that do not want to put out the work to host the meet. There are meetings and meetings and more meetings starting 2 years before the meet, capped by 5 days of frenzied action of the meet followed by 2 days of cleanup and more days of report writing. The volunteer base can dry up quickly if there isn't something sexy to do, like hand out awards to cute guys, or hand out towels in the women's locker room.
Some clubs structure the financial reports to make it look as if there were no money made at all, charging high rents for the pool time and timing system rentals, when they control all of that and more in the facility. So, yes, 5 figures net is not at all out of the question, and that doesn't even include the decimal point! In 1983, the Stanford SCY nationals reported about 70k.
