ESPN games will shine spotlight on Reno

It's official: The 2003 ESPN Great

Outdoor Games are coming to Reno.

Executives from the sports TV network

and city officials, including Mayor Bob

Cashell, gathered last week to announce

that the event will take place in Reno's

Rancho San Rafael Park and on the

Truckee River next July 10-13.

With it comes close to 50 hours of

national TV coverage, on ESPN, ESPN2

and ABC Sports, and tens of thousands of

visitors to the area.

"This will have a tremendous economic

impact on Nevada," said Lt. Gov. Lorraine

Hunt, who was on hand for the announcement.

"All of our small businesses are very

happy."

"In the last three years we have built this

event into a premiere outdoor event," said

Michael Rooney, senior vice president and

general manager, ESPN. "We're taking it to

a higher level here and I don't just mean

altitude."

Rooney said only an NFL fan is more

avid than fans of hunting and fishing

events.

"We doubled attendance at Lake Placid

to 60,000, and we expect to be significantly

north of that number here," said Mark

Quenzel, senior vice president of programming

and production for ESPN.

The three year-old games have until

now been held in Lake Placid, N.Y., and

include 20 events spanning timber and target

competitions, sporting dogs and fishing.

According to ESPN, Lake Placid estimated

that the games brought in over $10

million annually to the area.

But the event is outgrowing its East

Coast venue, said Quenzel, and the network

wanted to move out west.

That's one reason Reno beat out all the

competition for the games, including

Madison,Wis., which was the other final

contender for the site.

"We started out looking at a large number

of sites and got it down to five, then

narrowed it to Reno-Tahoe and Madison,"

said Quenzel. "Both places had a lot to

offer. But we were impressed with the

enthusiasm and community spirit here.

And their goal of repositioning Reno-

Tahoe as an adventure destination fits

well."

The announcement of the upcoming

ESPN games was made at the Governor's

Conference on Tourism, in Reno, where

local and state tourism officials strived to

build up Nevada's image as a haven for

sports and recreation, and not just a gaming

oasis.

To win over ESPN, local hotels and

casinos promised to provide 3,000 complimentary

rooms for staff and participants

during the four-day event. And the Reno-

Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority

guaranteed that it would spend $300,000 in

advertising on ESPN to promote the event

in key, regional markets such as

Sacramento, said Jeff Beckelman, president

and CEO, RSCVA.

The wooing of ESPN took over six

months, according to Beckelman.

"I don't think we've ever had such an

opportunity to highlight Reno-Tahoe," he

said.

And if all goes well, the games will keep

spotlighting the area.

"We both agreed to put on the best

event in 2003," said ESPN's Quenzel.

"Then we'll take stock and see if it worked

for both parties."