There will be many big sporting events in New Jersey in the next year. NHL Draft, Jets and Giants regular season (including a Tebow to Met Life return in Sept.), Guinness International Champions Cup Soccer, maybe a Red Bulls MLS playoff run, the return to the playoffs for the New Jersey Devils, the last run for Big East rivals Seton Hall and Rutgers, and oh yes, The Super Bowl.
However for impact, perhaps the biggest and in some ways most impactful event will take place after most of those events have been committed to memory. Next June, at sites across the State, more than 3,500 Special Olympics athletes from throughout the United States will come to compete in 16 sports, before tens of thousands of spectators and volunteers.
The 2014 Special Olympics USA Games for the first time will celebrate the Special Olympics movement while promoting the ideals of acceptance and inclusion through sport and highlighting the abilities of athletes with intellectual disabilities in New Jersey.
The event, which is being billed as the largest and most diverse of its kind ever, will not just showcase the athletes competing, but will also serve as a platform to expose to the largest media and brand audience possible all that Special Olympics does for the loves of thousands…programs in education, health and community building that have had transformative powers not just to those competing but to their families and friends and millions who know of the movement from what they have seen, heard and witnessed over the years.
The competitions will be held at venues throughout Mercer County, New Jersey, including Princeton University, Rider University, The College of New Jersey, Mercer County Park and several area private schools. In addition to the many showcased sports, Special Olympics athletes will participate in spectacular Special Events including an Opening Ceremony at Prudential Center, Closing Ceremony at Sun National Bank Center, a board-walk themed Olympic Town, a Special Olympics Unified Sports® Festival, and much more.
The games will also serve as a great cause marketing platform for bands that have committed to supporting the Games… Founding Partners Barnabas Health, Hess, PSE&G, Shop Rite, Toys“R”Us and WWE…to give back to the community and gain exposure that will resonate not just with the athletes, but with casual consumers as well. It will also present great opportunity for hundreds of young people looking to get involved in the global business of sport to gain some first-hand knowledge and do some amazing community service as volunteers to help the Games run smoothly. So many young people now taking countless programs in sports management, marketing, journalism and communications from schools in the northern, central and southern parts of the state, as well as those in New York and Philly, can hopefully jump on a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only give of their time, but to be involved in a life changing work experience that can help define a career just starting out
However most importantly, the Special Olympics USA Games will be an amazing platform for the participants to enjoy and experience a global sporting event the likes of which are rarely seen. It will be a celebration of life whose impact will probably transcend anything that goes on at Met Life Stadium or the Prudential Center or the RAC in the coming year, at least for all those involved in any host of ways.
While it remains true that sport, especially in the New York area, is really big business, it is also nice to see such a mega-event come to the area that can help in ways beyond the bottom line. The business of sport should always be about the triumph of the human spirit, and just about a year from now that triumph will be felt by thousands.
For more information on brand support, volunteering and other opportunities visit www.2014specialolympics.org
Happy 100th Birthday, Coach Lombardi and The Values He Stood For