re: The 2022 World Games in Birmingham

Le Fresca posted on Instagram today urging people to come to 2nd Ave North and stated that the World Games had done nothing to the demand of restaurants on 2nd.

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There was also a story on Fox 6 yesterday about the businesses at the merchant’s tent were complaining because there was literally no business/foot traffic.

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I walked through the tent next to Protective Stadium. The merchandise had nothing to do with the World Games. It was just clothes and the type of items you see at the kiosks at the mall. Nobody wants to shop for that stuff in an air-conditioned mall, why would they want to shop for it in 100 degree heat in a tent.

We were in town already and went to the opening ceremony. The acts that performed were good and the drone light show was really cool. On the negative side, it demonstrated the need to pay extra for a good producer. The coordination and sequence of events looked extremely unrehearsed and embarrassing to say it kindly. The CEO of the games has two weeks to fix all that crap before the closing ceremony.

We decided to stay an extra day and go to one of the events. My wife chose the dance competition, which was fine with me since it was indoors. Apparently the individual events are all run by the parent group of each sport. The event we went to was very well organized and professional. The dance competition was two separate groups. There was a cheer leading type dance group and ball room dancing group. I've never watched Dancing With The Stars, but guess it was all similar. It was a lot of fun to watch and we stayed the entire 4 1/2 hours. We were on the third row and surrounded by athletes and their families.

The city has done a great job cleaning up everything and making it easy to park and get to events. From the number of international visitors walking around town and at the event we went to, it looks like it will be a success.

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Despite the negativity of some, this seems to be giving Birmingham a much needed boost in attention and self confidence. If the people of the world enjoy it, then there's really no excuse anymore. Birmingham can be whatever it decides it wants to be.

From the looks of the events, this might be the most attended World Games in a while after it's all said and done. The Sumo last night was pretty exciting and was also a sold out event.

The Hawks-Pelicans preseason game in Birmingham this year will be another highlight moment for Birmingham to realize that it can be at that level.

The USFL already did that to a level.

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It's great the the games are doing well but all of that is Birmingham level stuff, like Olympic soccer in 96. It's always going to be tough to step up as a destination when we are surrounded by Atlanta, Nashville and NO.

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It's great the the games are doing well but all of that is Birmingham level stuff, like Olympic soccer in 96. It's always going to be tough to step up as a destination when we are surrounded by Atlanta, Nashville and NO.

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That's the negativity creeping in. Birmingham can do what it wants to do. All I've ever heard from people outside of the South say when they visit Birmingham is that they were surprised at what Birmingham had to offer.

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Apparently several Downtown Bham restaurants had their worst Friday nights of the Summer last night.

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Local news was pushing it hard tonight (after the carjacking story in Trussville!) Downtown businesses must be screaming. No one came (security threats and street closures scared everyone away), athletes are staying in empty UAB dorms instead of paying for hotels, and fifty cases of heatstroke the first day! B’ham is fricking this up worse than the empty USFL games and the glittering new stadiums with no parking. Just like everyone knew they would. More debt to promote something no one has ever heard of. The Olympics rip host cities off too, but at least people have heard of and watch the Olympics. This shite, not so much!
But if you had “fricking up a flea market under an interstate overpass” on your World Games bingo card, congratulations! LINK

Why would I go get heat stroke watching a made up sport? They can re-open Oak Mountain State Park whenever they want!

Reddit begs to differ: LINK
Maybe this is why no one is going: High Ticket Prices
Sounds like they will sell you a seat behind a grandstand, then hassle you if you try to move where you can see. Then refuse to refund your money. Can’t wait until it is over and we can go back to being Birmingham instead of Wannabee Atlanta. If I wanted to live in Atlanta, I would move there!

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Who gives a shite what some fig on reddit says? It's the worst website on the internet and full of bots and retards.

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Well, 172 comments is better than some fig on TD! Like this place is the intellectual salon of the internet?

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As a resident of a Birmingham suburb, I cannot wait to see how this fails in many epic ways.

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I don't like what they've done with some things, but I hope its successful because it will ultimately be good for the city. I don't get rooting for things to fail.