World University Games faced challenges
Games cost $57M, organizers struggled to find enough staff, report says
LAKE PLACID — Organizers of last winter’s World University Games spent $57 million, reached just less than 60 percent of their ticket sales goal and dealt with funding, housing and hiring problems.
Last year’s World University Games put on by a local group named Lake Placid 2023 told the International University Sports Federation (FISU) it “faced enormous challenges finding staff, let alone engaging qualified, Games-experienced workforce,” according to a 268page report on the event.
The organization’s report, released to the Explorer more than a year after the 12-day event in January 2023, offers a look at things that went well and those that could have gone better.
The report was due to the Swiss-based FISU six months after the close of the Games but the deadline was missed by months.
Part of the wait involved the need for much rewriting and accuracy-checking after some of the planned authors left before submitting their sections, according to the report.
The report helps document how the Games brought highlevel winter sports competitions to facilities run by the Lake Placid-based Olympic Regional Development Authority, such as Whiteface Mountain, Gore Mountain and Mount Van Hoevenberg. ORDA paid $4.6 million to FISU after the state won the bid for the Games in 2018.
The Games also used ice rinks at North Country colleges and the Saranac Lake civic center.
The report is also meant to inform and advise future host communities. “If proven, experienced people are available, hire them, even if it costs a bit more money,” it said.
The Lake Placid organizing group, led by Ashley Walden, former head of the Adirondack Sports Council and now head of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, disclosed in the document that the Games came with substantial staffing challenges as well as limited revenues from sales of tickets and goods.
A sports council spokesman said the group isn’t disclosing revenues from sponsors, marketing, ticket sales and athlete fees, but may consider doing so later on.
It did report $203,300 in merchandise revenues, most coming from sale of 756 hoodies and 896 plushies — keepsake toys of Adirondack Mac, the moose mascot.
The group reported selling 57,645 tickets to sporting events, 7,049 of which were sold at an average discount of 47 percent.
Almost two-thirds of the tickets purchased were for hockey (43.1 percent), figure skating (13.2 percent) and curling (8.6 percent), events that comprised 83 of the 129 competition sessions. Combining tickets with accredited people, total attendance exceeded 100,000, its ticket sales goal, the report states.
The top-attended event was a combination ticket for the gold medal hockey game and closing ceremony. Other attractions in order of popularity were the USA/Hungary hockey game; the opening ceremony; the USA/Slovakia hockey game; and the women’s short program figure skating. Eleven events sold out.
The organizers experienced trouble finding and keeping help. It listed 119 paid staff and 1,499 volunteers. “The biggest challenge ... throughout the Games lifecycle was identifying and engaging staff for LP23 roles, particularly senior team and middle management positions,” the report states.
“With such a small local workforce, historically-low employment rates, and a lack of local or regional multi-sport event experience … LP23 faced enormous challenges finding staff, let alone engaging qualified, Games-experienced workforce.”
The group attempted to keep personnel by deferring compensation until the end of the Games, paying 10 to 20 percent higher salaries than the area average and covering relocation costs for those experienced in key jobs.
New York State government’s compensation policies didn’t help, the report said: “LP23’s inability to attract and retain qualified candidates was significantly exacerbated when NYS officials denied funding for these potential solutions to the staffing challenges, using the rationale that such benefits were not available to NYS employees so they should not be available to LP23.” New York State employees are paid under a rigid salary schedule based on job classification and seniority. Spending money to hire people outside of that schedule could have been problematic for the state bureaucracy.
Significant state share
Jon Lundin, a spokesman for the organizer, said he could not say how much of the $57 million tab was picked up by the state but estimated it was the majority. He said the organizing group, a nonprofit, is not obligated to provide a balance sheet. Chris Cooper, who directed marketing for the organizers for a period, also estimated that the lion’s share of the expenses were paid by the state.
Expenses listed in the report were topped by workforce management costs of $13.8 million followed by accommodations, $7.4 million, broadcasting, $5.27 million, technology, $4.55 million, transportation, $4 million, and food and beverage, more than $3 million.
The report noted that the state provided 250 troopers and dozens of others from multiple state agencies for security. ORDA did not charge for use of the sporting facilities owned by the public and which had received over $500 million in upgrades.
The report’s narrative is mostly positive, despite several mentions of difficulties. It said 2,150 people: 1,417 athletes and 733 officials from 46 nations, took part in competitions.
“Collaborating and integrating with some of the key stakeholders, in particular a handful of officials from New York State and ORDA, proved more challenging than expected,” the report said.
Other impacts
Housing problems forced the organizers to shift from an athlete’s village approach, with room and board concentrated, to “Plan B” — the option for hotels, lodges and dormitories. That switch came after a devel
oper was unable to build apartments to sleep 1,700.
As a result, the group relied heavily on area hotels, and lodging costs rose. “With the high demand for hotel properties, supply dropped, and prices escalated, impacting the ability to attract spectators to the area and to sell tickets,” the report said.
Key hotels included the Golden Arrow, Lakeside Resort, and Lake Placid Inn, Mirror Lake and Hampton Inn in Lake Placid and Great Escape Lodge in Queensbury. Dorms at North Country colleges and schools were also used. Other area hotels lodged officials.
Downtown merchants reported feeling let down by the business generated by the Games. “I know that overall the community felt underwhelmed,” said Molly McCarthy, co-chair of the North Creek Business Alliance.
The need to provide food and housing
caused “problems and friction” as several stakeholders, such as TV crews, had specific requirements, the report said.
The Games’ climate change-themed conference, “Save Winter,” failed to attract desired turnout, the report said. Organizers were pleased with the discussions and presentations but said three days may have been one too many for the talks. And distance from the athletes to the conference location hampered attendance by the collegians.
“Used as a marketing tool,” the report said, “Save Winter” drew about 900 people during 14 sessions. Another 1,236 joined virtually and 3,000 watched on FISU TV.
The report advised: “There is no substitute for valuable experience, especially when it comes to planning appropriate operations and services.”