The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has entered a bid to be the host community for the 2024 Arctic Winter Games.
The Arctic Winter Games is a circumpolar sport competition for northern and Arctic athletes, celebrating sports, social exchange, and cultures. The Games provide an opportunity for athletes to compete in friendly competition while sharing cultural values from northern regions around the world.
The application was emailed last week and typically it takes about three weeks for completion of the review process before a decision is made, according to the borough’s website.
The 2020 Arctic Winter Games would have been held March 15-21 in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and would have been the 50th anniversary games, but the event was cancelled due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The next Arctic Winter Games are scheduled for next March in Wood Buffalo, located in far northeast Alberta, population 71,000.
Alaska has hosted the games six times; Fairbanks was the most recent host city, bringing the games to the Interior in 2014.
When they abolished riflery I washed my hands of them. I haven’t looked in recent years to see if they brought back shooting.
They abolished riflery?! >:( Very, very sad. I used to compete in high school.
The South Slave Region, you say?
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I’ve been all through Canada and have a funny feeling I might’ve missed out on some good deals. GL to Wasilla and kudos for thinking outside the box.
I was the Executive Director of the 1996 Chugiak/Eagle River Games and it was a tremendous event. I wish the MatSu lots of luck in securing the bid. It really brings a community together, something we could use a lot more of these days.
I don’t like crowds..
How much will this cost taxpayers and what is the ROI?
In 1996 we relied on corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, merchandise and tons of volunteer hours. The Municipality gave a grant of $100,000, which because of our successful fund raising and good money management, we were able to return in full at the end of the Games. Also, dozens of Municipal sports facilities and schools are utilized. The amount of spending by the 2,000 athletes and coaches from around the northern world is in the many hundreds of thousands of dollars which circulates several times around our economy.
Good luck on getting these games. They bring a lot of young athletes from northern communities and to watch some of these events is priceless IMO.
My son traveled to two of these (Whitehorse, YT and Greenland) to compete in alpine skiing. I can’t say enough good about these games.
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