Council passes pair of resolutions to begin process of recruiting several major sporting events

Two resolutions were approved on Tuesday by the Birmingham City Council related to the recruitment of major sporting events — the World Police and Fire Games as well as the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament beginning in 2023.

The Council approved a resolution that will allow the City to potentially submit a bid to host the 2025 World Police and Fire Games, an Olympic-style sporting event for roughly 10,000 active and retired police and fire personnel. There are more than 70 countries that are represented and teams will compete in over 60 sporting events. Past host countries include, China, Spain, Australia, Sweden, and Canada.

“Bringing the World Fire and Police Games to Birmingham would give us the opportunity to see and celebrate first responders in a different way,” said Birmingham City Council President William Parker. “This fits into the Council’s vision of adding more sports and tourism activities to the Magic City.”

The games bring over $80 million in economic impact to host cities. With the World Games coming to Birmingham in 2021, city officials believe Birmingham is well-positioned to host this highly-touted event with new facilities set to open in the next few years.

Both resolutions were approved by the Budget and Finance Committee at Monday’s meeting. The item dealing with the NCAA tournament was a resolution of intent to provide funding for the event beginning in 2023 and to open the bid process.

“If you look at the larger conversation as we continue to talk about Birmingham truly being a sports destination city, these are just examples of laying the groundwork for the NCAA Final Four and other major tournaments,” Parker said. “We’re building blocks and showing we can address the needs and handle a larger tournament.”