RALEIGH-DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham market has been selected as a preferred host of the 2027 Summer World University Games by the United States International University Sports Federation (USIUSF).
The World University Games are the world’s largest event for student athletes. The games are held every other year in the odd year, with both a Winter and Summer Games in the same year. The games feature 15 sports including Olympic staples such as athletics (track and field), basketball, diving, gymnastics, swimming, and volleyball. The host city can propose additional sports for inclusion in the games. The Summer World University Games take place over an approximately two-week period during the summer months.
Dan Guerrero, president of the United States International University Sports Federation (USIUSF) said, “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 Summer World University Games have been held in such world cities as Bangkok, Beijing, Mexico City, Moscow, and Tokyo. The Games were founded in the 1950s and 2019 marked their 60th anniversary.
The number of participants at a Summer World University Games typically totals over 10,000, comprised of 7,000 athletes, joined by another 3,000 coaches, administrators, and support staff. The Summer World University Games receive more than 3,000 hours of broadcast coverage viewed by a worldwide audience of over 300 million in 150 countries. Tens of millions of additional viewers follow the Games via internet and social media channels. Independent third-party studies have documented the economic impacts of the Summer World University Games as ranging between $150 and $350 million.
The bid process for the games is expected to continue throughout 2021 and into spring 2022, when it is currently projected that International University Sports Federation (FISU) will announce the 2027 host city.
