Chicago is making plans to host the first annual North American Polo Championships to coincide with the 2008 North American Cycle Courier Championships. Mark your calendars, make your travel plans, get off of work. The Tournament will be happening Labour Day weekend of 2008. Saturday will be a day of round robin competition followed by a 16 team bracketed final competition on Sunday.

Here are my thoughts:

Within this next year, I expect--based on what I've been reading on myspace pages and in articles from local papers--that many cities who do not already have the luxury of a perfect place (NYC, Dayton) will begin working toward the establishment of a designated place to play which would lend some basic recognition and legitimacy within our respective cities. Yes, a low-profile status can be to our advantage in many respects. But if we want dependable, well-lit places to play or, in Chicago's case, to be able to reserve an area within the parks for an event worthy of all of you, we will need to have the option to do so. In my mind, this is crucial to making the N.A.P.C. the glorious event it should be.

So, here's what we need from all of you and furthermore what would most likely be beneficial to polo in your city in creating a proposal and making a similar case. Rough estimates are fine:

1. Stats. How many people play? How have your numbers grown in the last year? How many days a week do you play? Is there a spectator element? If so, how big and has it grown? Anything that would point to rising growth and interest.

2. What sort of attention have you gotten from the media? Send me articles or links to articles, movie clips, DVD's, whatever....

3. What has sponsorship been like? I'm sure everybody's got their thoughts on this but for the moment let's simply acknowledge the fact that simply demonstrating interest is often good leverage. To be more clear, if we can just SHOW that businesses would have an interest in a polo tournament, you see......

4. Participation as a group in community work or in a volunteer capacity, i.e. parks clean-up, bike advocacy, work with kids, etc.

Once I have this information compiled and a proposal written, if you'd like, I'll email a copy of the proposal to you at which point you could tailor it to fit your specific needs.

This being a national event, I want this process to be one of national collabortation if possible. Let's begin. Post concerns, questions, complaints, compliments and, last but not least, the information I need.


-Ben