The city of Madison will host the annual CrossFit Games in 2017. Madison competed against hundreds of cities, including Salt Lake City and Indianapolis, to win the right to host the event.
Event organizers from the Madison Area Sports Commission said it will bring $5.6 million to Dane County. The event was held in Los Angeles the past seven years.
“It will make its mark in multiple ways across the city,” said Jamie Patrick, vice president of the Madison Area Sports Commission. “This is a huge feather in our cap. The CrossFit Games have just exploded. We’ll be the first site out of California to host it.”
Patrick said it was “persistence” that helped Madison to prevail as the host city. He said it was a team effort between the Madison Area Sports Commission, Parks and Rec, local CrossFit gyms and other community members.
Patrick said this is the equivalent of a world championship in the CrossFit world.
“Anyone can do CrossFit, but these are the best of the best,” Patrick said. “It’s 500 competitors, the top 40 men and top 40 women pros and then there are 200 masters and 200 teens that come in and compete.”
While the number of competitors is relatively small, the event is expected to bring in about 30,000 CrossFit fans from around the world.
Competitors will have to compete in events like running, deadlifts, and squats.
The event will take place at the Alliant Energy Center and the surrounding area.
“We put together a great bid package focused around the Alliant Energy Center and the rest of our community and natural geographic landscape,” Patrick said.
Patrick encourages people who aren’t necessarily familiar with CrossFit in the area to get involved with the event.
“You can watch it, there is a large expo component of it, and you can volunteer at it,” Patrick said. “I would definitely encourage everyone to go out and watch it. Tickets go on sale in the spring.”
The event will take place Aug. 1-6.