Photo by Eric Taunton Starnes Media
Nick Sellers, president and CEO of World Games 2022, talks to Chamber of Commerce members about the World Games at its monthly luncheon at Vestavia Country Club on March 8, 2022. Photo by Eric Taunton
The Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce welcomed Nick Sellers, president and CEO of The World Games 2022, as he talked about the multi-sport event coming to Birmingham this summer at its monthly luncheon on March 8.
“We talk about once in a lifetime and we talk about the chance to witness history and I will submit to you, folks, it truly is,” Sellers said. “Birmingham, Vestavia, the state of Alabama, your great state is going to play host, I believe, to an unbelievable reconnection to humanity - our community to our state, our state to our country and, quite frankly, our country to our world.”
Sellers said The World Games 2022 will lay claim to the first major international multi-sport event in the world that has competitions for athletes with and without disabilities on the same platform. Sports like wheelchair rugby, kickboxing and men’s and women’s sumo wrestling will be featured in the Games, he said.
The Lakeshore Foundation is leading the World Games’ disability access inclusion initiative, Sellers said.
He said the International Olympic Committee defines The World Games 2022 as the new generation of growing sports.
“These are the fastest growing, emerging and, in some cases, the most extreme sports in the world and there really is something for everyone,” Sellers said.
The IOC committed a $55 million investment in associated organizing committees to The World Games 2022 early in the planning process, he said. Sellers said 70% of that investment has come from the private sector and 30% from the public sector.
He said the IOC has also been committed to spending $10 to $12 million to female- and minority-owned businesses. They created a database, Sellers said, called the World of Opportunity (WOO) to further invest in female- and minority-owned businesses.
“Ms. Kathy Boswell leads that effort for us and I’m telling you, whether we’re buying pencils and erasers or contracting for large construction work, Kathy asks the question, ‘Iis somebody from the WOO applying to this and if not, why?” Sellers said. “This is the notion of a rising tide raises all boats. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it the right way.”
The Iroquois Nationals, the lacrosse team that represents the Haudenosaunee Nation, will also be one of the eight teams to compete in lacrosse at The World Games after initially not being recognized as a sovereign nation by the International Olympic Committee.
The men’s Irish lacrosse team withdrew from The World Games so that the Nationals would be able to compete in the Games, he said.
Sellers said the organizing committee for The World Games along with international groups, such as the Canadian Women Committee, started a petition to present to The World Games Committee and the IOC to allow the Iroquois Nationals to compete.
As a result, the Haudenosaunee Nation will instead hold a refugee status with the IOC so they will be able to compete, Sellers said.
At the press time, Sellers said they sold 400,000 tickets for World Games 2022 and had more available for purchase.
The World Games 2022 will be this summer from July 7 - 17.
