Next summer, more than 1,000 LGBTs and allies will “Bring the Love” to Philadelphia for the largest LGBT sporting event the city has ever held.
Last weekend, Philadelphia won its bid to host the 2011 World Series of Amateur Sports Alliance of North America, the women’s softball division of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance. Representatives of ASANA’s 26 member cities voted to approve the bid, spearheaded by the City of Brotherly Love Softball League, during a membership meeting in Last Vegas, this year’s host city.
Although no other cities were actively competing for the bid, Cathy Harris, commissioner of CBLSL’s women’s division, said some ASANA members had expressed interest in also keeping next year’s series in Vegas, so they had to make a convincing pitch.
Harris and Bob Leneghan, former commissioner of the men’s competitive division, began filming a promotional video of Philadelphia and CBLSL last summer, with the help of local filmmaker Kelly Burkhardt.
The film showcased CBLSL’s women’s team in play, CBLSL events, the fields on which the series would be played and general shots of Philadelphia, organized under the proposed theme for the series — Bring the Love — an effort that garnered Philadelphia a unanimous vote from the delegates at last weekend’s meeting.
“Philly was the only one placing the bid but certain members wanted to keep it in Vegas, so if they didn’t like what Philly presented, it would stay in Vegas,” Harris said. “And the challenge was that two-thirds of the delegate cities are West Coast teams, so the fact that they voted for Philly and were willing to travel to Philadelphia was really incredible. We made them fall in love with our city.”
About 60 teams are expected to participate in the series, with about 1,000 players and an estimated 200 spectators joining them.
“This will be the largest LGBT sports event ever put on in Philadelphia, so it’s very significant,” said Jeff Sotland, CBLSL commissioner. “This is going to bring together hundreds of people who don’t normally get together and a lot of groups from throughout the city who don’t work with each other on a consistent basis.”
Over the next 30 days, CBLSL will be working with ASANA to finalize the contracts and legalities, Harris said. Then, planning will head into full swing, with CBLSL forming numerous committees to oversee the different components of the process, one of the most important of which, Harris said, is a strong volunteer base from the local LGBT community.
“The first thing we need is just volunteers, to see what people can offer and what they’re willing to do. Besides looking for sponsorships and for money, we want to work with organizations to see what kind of volunteers they can provide, because they’re going to be huge in making sure, when all of these teams come into the city, that they’re shown around, shown a good time and supported.”
That’s not to say that monetary donations won’t also be welcomed.
Sotland said the city has been supportive of the effort but made it clear it can’t assist with defraying the $100,000 cost of the event.
Harris said CBLSL will first turn to corporate and organizational sponsors and also plan community fundraising events this summer.
As the host city, CBLSL will also be able to enter nine or 10 teams in the series — as opposed to four for the visiting cities.
Harris said CBLSL’s intention to host the series already garnered the league new players in the last few months, and she expects that trend to continue now that the bid was successful.
“Our league alone is going to grow in size with women who want to participate and be a part of this,” she said.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].