MEET MINNEAPOLIS

SCORES MAJOR SPORTING EVENT:

2014 USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships

Minneapolis (May 23, 2012) --- Earlier today, Meet Minneapolis announced the securing of a major event that is sure to bump up hotel stays across the metro, set up thousands of jobs and make a spike in local taxes generated: the 2014 USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships (USAV GJNC).

Meet Minneapolis President and CEO Melvin Tennant, along with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Kristy Cox, senior manager of events for USAV, made the announcement that the City of Minneapolis will host the 2014 USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The announcement was made simultaneously at USA Volleyballs Annual Meetings being held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The event will be played between June 25 and July 2, 2014. North Country Region Volleyball will be the host organization.

The USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships attracts nearly 9,500 athletes and over 20,000 spectators annually. The tournament crowns 19 champions in age divisions ranging from 12 to 18. The event, showcasing the top talent from across the nation, also draws hundreds of college recruiters looking for the next stars for their programs.

The event will make an economic impact of $60 million in the metropolitan area with $2,252,000 local taxes generated and 10,200 jobs supported, especially in the hospitality industry.

This is a major score for Meet Minneapolis, says Tennant. Our team worked on this bid for over a year. The competition to land an event of this magnitude is fierce.

In addition to Minneapolis, 13 other metro cities have pre-booked lodging in over 65 hotels and 54,200 room nights, including Saint Paul, Bloomington, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Eden Prairie, Edina, Maple Grove, Mendota Heights, Minnetonka, New Brighton, Plymouth, Roseville and Saint Louis Park.

Minneapolis has proven to be a wonderful host city for our National Events, says USA Volleyball Senior Director Tom Pingel. We know this will continue with the GJNC returns in 2014.

Minneapolis has previously hosted several USA Volleyball events. Minneapolis hosted the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships in 2007. The USA Volleyball Open National Championships have taken place in Minneapolis in 1945, 2003 and 2009. Other signature USA Volleyball national events played in Minneapolis include the 2006 and 2011 USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championships.

The timing of Meet Minneapolis announcement comes on the same day that USA Volleyball declared the sites of its 2013 and 2014 Girls Junior National Championships. The 2013 games will be played June 28 through July 5 in Dallas. Later this summer the City of Columbus, Ohio, will host the 2012 edition of the tournament.

ABOUT USA VOLLEYBALL

Founded in 1928, USA Volleyball is a Colorado incorporated non-profit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) as the National Governing Body for the sport of Volleyball in the United States. USAV is responsible for both the Olympic disciplines of indoor volleyball and beach volleyball. USAV has more than 262,000 registered members, 12,000 teams and 5,300 clubs nationwide. With an annual budget in excess of $18 million dollars, USA Volleyball supports the USA mens and womens senior national team programs, youth and junior national teams, national championship events, coaching education and certification programs, grassroots development, and programs for the disabled and Paralympic Teams. USA Volleyball has a rich tradition of success. www.usavolleyball.org.

ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS

Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to maximize the economic benefit of the greater Minneapolis area.

Online: www.minneapolis.org

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meetminneapolis?ref=ts

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/meetminneapolis

CONTACT USA VOLLEYBALL DIRECTLY FOR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-VOL...