Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina to bid to host 2027 World University Games

By Chris Price
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved

It is being reported by The Sports Examiner that the International University Sport Federation has designated the Raleigh-Durham area as its candidate in a bid to bring the 2027 World University Games to the United States.

The area in and around Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary, North Carolina, which is referred to in the North Carolina area, as “The Triangle” has previously hosted 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival. The 1987 Festival set numerous attendance records and totaled 464,423 spectators, the most at a U.S. Olympic Festival (also know as  the National Sports Festival) up to that time.

Hill Carrow, who headed up the 1987 Festival organizing committee, and is in a similar role for the 2027 Games, brings invaluable experience to the task of bidding and, if successful, staging the event.

The United States is already slated to host the 2023 Winter World University Games in Lake Placid, New York. New U.S. International University Sports Federation President Dan Guerrero was quoted: 

“We are very excited about the possibility of bringing the Summer World University Games back to the U.S., where it has only previously been held one time, in 1993 in Buffalo, New York. The next available year to bid on the Games, 2027, holds a lot of promise for Olympic sports in the United States as it is the year prior to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California.

In addition, our country has strong momentum for attracting the Summer World University or the ames, thanks to excellent work being done by the Local Organizing Committee in Lake Placid, New York, where they are slated to host the Winter World University Games in 2023 and are receiving very positive reviews for their Games preparations.”

The selection of the 2027 host is expected to be made in the spring of 2022.