Title
To recognize the 30th Anniversary of the Arnold Classic and the Arnold Sports Festival taking place March 1-4, 2018.
Body
WHEREAS, the Arnold Sports Festival, founded in 1989 by bodybuilding and film star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Worthington, Ohio businessman James J. Lorimer, has grown over the years into the largest multi-sport event in the world with athletes and participants from 80 nations; and
WHEREAS, the 2018 Arnold Sports Festival will feature a record 21,000 athletes - including more than 17,000 youth athletes -- competing in 78 sports & events at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Ohio Expo Center and nine other venues in Central Ohio, making the event larger in scope than the Summer Olympics; and
WHEREAS, in partnership with the Columbus Rotary, the Arnold Sports Festival will award ten $2,500 college scholarships to youth athletes competing in sports such as gymnastics, cheerleading, fencing and boxing; and, since 2006, the Arnold Sports Festival and the Columbus Rotary has awarded more than $200,000 in college scholarships to more than 120 youth athletes; and
WHEREAS, the Arnold Sports Festival is of the city’s largest annual convention and will generate, according to Experience Columbus and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, an estimated $51.4 million in economic impact; and
WHEREAS, in a close working partnership with Experience Columbus, the Arnold Sports Festival helps to fill more than 100 hotels around Central Ohio that combine to have a tremendous impact on the community’s hospitality industry; and
WHEREAS, the Arnold Sports Festival franchise has multiple international events that combine to bring a tremendous amount of exposure to Columbus, Ohio; and
WHEREAS, the Arnold Schwarzenegger Statue that sits outside the Greater Columbus Convention Center has become a city landmark and permanent reminder of the Arnold Sports Festival’s positive role in the growth of our city’s convention facilities, hotels and entir...
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