A powerful winter storm hitting Colorado today has canceled flights, created traffic chaos and turned the Denver Hyatt Hotel into overnight camp for the sports industry. Hundreds of delegates of SportAccord are stranded in the conference’s host hotel and are being treated to casual food and entertainment to while away the hours.
Large projection screens that had been used to broadcast meetings and presentations throughout the day (including bid city presentations) are now showing NCAA basketball games. Delegates are munching on pizza, fries, chicken fingers and chili – and there is lots to drink. Organizers asked delegates to dress very casual for the evening, and most have complied by shedding the black suits and dresses that have dominated this week.
While it’s still early in the evening, conference organizers have rolled out Wii video games and practice putting greens and have promised entertainment throughout the night. However, some delegates have improvised and are using miniature promotional footballs to get exercise.
Earlier in the day, Chairman Rob Cohen of Denver Sports told delgates that some of his fondest family memories occured while snowed-in. Perhaps many more memories will be created tonight.
The weather is expected to clear by Friday morning and it will be back to serious business.
