With the 2006 Gay Games just three years away, the location of the largest gay sporting event in the world is in question. In 2001, at a meeting of the Federation of the Gay Games (FGG) in Johannesburg, South Africa, Montréal was chosen as the site for the seventh gathering of gay athletes from around the world. Now leaders of the organization are questioning that decision and no formal contract between Montréal and the FGG currently exists.

After two years of negotiations with the FGG, Montréal has found itself in what it is calling a “crisis situation” because the two groups cannot “agree on a vision of the Games, its scope, and control over the financing it will receive.”

The organizations are currently debating the scope of the games themselves, in particular the number of participants in the games and the total budget for Montréal 2006. Montréal’s original budget included an elaborate cultural program to be held in conjunction with the games and planned for a total of 24,000 participants.

The FGG wants the cultural program separated from the event, considering the Gay Games a sports-only event. In addition, based on talks with Olympic organizers, they feel that the maximum number of participants should be limited to 12,000 competitors. The 2002 Gay Games, held in Sydney Australia hosted 11,000 athletes. The Olympic Games hosts approximately 10,000 participants every four years, and many within the Federation feel that this is a more realistic expectation.

“We’re still negotiating with [Montréal 2006],” Charlie Carson, secretary for the Federation of Gay Games, told gay sports website Outsports.com, “and that’s important to keep in mind. We will continue negotiating until early November, and we’ve set a deadline of Nov. 7. By then, we will have reached a decision to move forward with Montréal or not.”

For the FGG, the future of the games could be at stake. The last three games, held in New York, Amsterdam and Sydney, all suffered major financial hardships, including bankruptcy, which the FGG is hoping to avoid in 2006.

To its credit, Montréal 2006 is being supported by the governments of Québec and Canada, the City of Montréal and Tourism Montréal, which translates into financial commitments of over $5 million. Montréal 2006 has also signed an agreement with a national television network, Radio-Canada, for official event coverage, as well as agreements with private sponsors. However, the FGG insists on having total control over how these resources are spent. According to a press release from Montréal 2006, “it is unthinkable that financial decisions on the Games be made by anyone other than its board of directors, who are legally responsible for the outcome of the event.”

“It is from this perspective,” stated the Montréal 2006 co-presidents, Lucie Duguay and Mark Tewkesbury, “that we requested arbitration with the FGG last week.”

The Federation has rejected arbitration, and the members of the FGG, who will be in attendance at the FGG annual meeting in Chicago, will most likely be the ones to decide on the future of the games in Montréal.

Montréal was chosen by the FGG to host the Gay Games in 2006 based on a highly detailed bid document describing both the sporting and cultural activities planned, as well as the number of anticipated participants and financing.

“It was always on this basis … that we negotiated with the FGG, ” explained Louise Roy, director of the Montréal Games. Today, we are at an impasse due essentially to fundamental differences between our organization and the FGG with regard to our respective visions of these games. In document after document, we have accepted to give in to various demands from the Federation. In particular we have already scaled down our athlete participation forecast from 24,000 to 16,000, and our budget forecast from $20 million Canadian to $16 million. But there are certain basic principles that we cannot afford to ignore without endangering the Games themselves, as well as their financial viability.”

According to Montréal 2006 co-president Tewkesbury, the games will need 15,540 participants in order to break even under the current budget. Additionally, Montréal 2006 is saying that none of its funding partners, public or private, will accept having financial control exercised by anyone other than the Montréal 2006 organizing committee.

“We still hope,” concluded Roy, “that the FGG and Montréal 2006 can come to an agreement and that we will be able to announce this in Chicago. After working on this project for two years, we have now established links with some 500 gay and lesbian sports teams around the world, which means that we can look forward to an edition of the Games on an unprecedented scale, regardless of the outcome of our negotiations with the FGG.”

If Montréal 2006 does not sign an agreement with the FGG by Nov. 7 the FGG will most likely consider moving to another host city and possibly postponing the event until 2007. A decision will likely be made at the FGG annual meeting next month in Chicago. Atlanta, the runner up in the bidding process for the 2006 games has already expressed an interest in hosting Gay Games VII.