International Sports and Entertainment Center

Rex W. Greene

Athens State University

The first thing to be said about this consortium’s idea is either the first time anyone has tried this or that no one had been successful at it.

Still the idea meets with several problems, starting with getting land secured, getting the facilities built, getting the athletes and coaches to the venues, and getting investors in line for the convention, hotel, restaurants and retail outlets.

Securing of land in that area could prove to be difficult. According to the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce website, there are no available properties in the area adjoining I-65 and I-565 (Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, 2011).

Should that hurdle be conquered, the next challenge would be to get the athletes involved.

Currently, the biggest Olympic development campuses in the United State are located in Colorado Springs, Colo. and Chula Vista, Calif., although there are also training centers in New York, Alabama and Michigan.

It is the responsibility of each sport’s National Governing Body (NGB) to select athletes to train at these centers and to administer all coaching and technical training. The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) offers the athletes free from and board, training facilities, sports medicine and sports science testing and analysis. (Osborne, 2008)

The next hurdle would come in getting the private and public backing to construct the infrastructure, buildings and facilities to make the center work.
The Colorado Springs’ campus, born out of the cold war on 1970s, was started with the aid of a supportive conservative culture in the town, which included the U.S. Air Force Academy, several defense contractors and the national headquarters of more than 80 evangelical organizations (Cazeneuve,