The summer edition of the Special Olympics World Games returns to the U.S. for the first time since ’99 on July 25 in L.A., and after a career spanning local TV and a position on the LA84 Foundation BOD, Games President & CEO Patrick McClenahan is prepared for the challenge. “The local community is really excited about these Games -- Los Angeles is a big city, and there’s a lot going on. But we’re very encouraged.” Just one month from the Opening Ceremony, McClenahan discusses corporate support, what fans can expect from ESPN’s new TV deal and obstacles his organization has faced in the planning process.
Q: It's been 16 years since the Games were held in the States. How have you prepared, and who have you gone to for advice?
McClenahan: I’ve been involved with Special Olympics for about 20 years on a volunteer basis. I’ve been pretty close to the organization and attended the World Games in Athens back in 2011 and also the World Winter Games in South Korea in 2013. I’ve had the great fortune of having Peter Ueberroth as an adviser -- I sat on the LA84 foundation board with him. He’s the first person I met with to seek advice on how to approach this. The previous three World Summer Games were all significantly government sponsored, but like the ‘84 Summer Games, we needed an approach for this that was more privately funded. Peter was a great help in thinking through that strategy.
Q: What does the ESPN deal do for your exposure, and what kind of coverage can we expect?
McClenahan: It’s an unprecedented deal for Special Olympics that goes right to the heart of our mission. The desire was to secure a broadcast partner that was willing to get the courage, determination and joy of our athletes in front of as many eyeballs as possible. ESPN is all in. The Opening Ceremony at the Coliseum will be a three-hour special that they’ll air live. They’re doing 10 hours of programming during the Games, with nightly highlight shows. They’re doing three one-hour specials between ESPN and ABC. They’re helping us build awareness to the Games, and every time they do that, they’re helping us share the message of acceptance and inclusion. From the very top, led by (President) John Skipper and (Exec VP/Int'l) Russell Wolff to (Exec VP & CFO) Christine Driessen. They’ve just been remarkable.
Q: How has corporate support been for the Games?
McClenahan: We’re still raising money, but we have six official partners, Coca-Cola, Mattel, Deloitte, Kaiser Permanente, Bank of America and Toyota. We have some 200 individuals, corporations, foundations that have given us $25,000 or more. We have all different kinds of giving levels -- our top level is a $5M category.
Q: What kind of obstacles have cropped up? What keeps you awake at night?
McClenahan: The two challenges are to get a unique event funded and then to make sure that we have the engagement of the community in supporting the event. Raising money to fund the Games has been something we’ve worked really hard on -- it’s a different model than in the past. We’ve been really pleased with that. What we’re really pushing is fans in the stands. We have 25 sports, competing over nine days, and we don’t charge tickets for those sports. It is a commitment by corporations and organizations and associations. We’ve got over 75,000 and counting of actual fan commitments to come out. We’ll also have dignitaries from around the world, as well as honored guests and families. We have a great message and we have a lot of pro bono advertising that’s running in the market.
Q: What is something new and different we can expect from these Games as opposed to Athens in ’11?
McClenahan: These games are mission-driven. The mission is awareness that leads to acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. We have two ways to accomplish that in Los Angeles. One is the entertainment capital of the world; we have that community to draw on, we have the tech community and the corporate community, the education community. USC and UCLA have been incredibly involved. Another unique quality is the diversity of Los Angeles. All 177 countries that are coming are perfectly mirrored by the diversity of our market. Every delegation will have a community to support them.
