Team D.C. lines up for the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Cleveland/Akron Gay Games which kicked off a week which resulted in $52.1 million of increased economic activity to the region. (Photo by Kevin Majoros)

Sitting in a region that has been tagged the “Rust Belt” and possessing a nickname that has been hard to shake (“the mistake on the lake”) it was obvious to everyone that Cleveland was going to have a hard time drawing athletes and spectators to the 2014 Cleveland/Akron Gay Games.

Thankfully, the LGBT masses came anyway and experienced firsthand what the region has to offer as arts, sports, food and nature were in abundance. Cleveland has been experiencing a renaissance period of late and was recently voted into the third spot of America’s most underrated cities for millennials.

According to the 2014 Gay Games Economic Impact Study, released this month by two Kent State University professors, the economic impact from the Gay Games, held Aug. 9-16, for the Cleveland/Akron region was $52.1 million.

The Games attracted roughly 20,000 people from around the world, with about 7,000 being competing athletes. Approximately 75 percent of those who participated or attended were from outside of the Cleveland/Akron area.

The two Kent State economics professors who completed the study, Shawn Rohlin and Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley, used a regional input-output multiplier model to measure the impact.

Rohlin used the same model to measure the economic impact of running marathons and the 2013 National Senior Games that were held in Cleveland.

The National Senior Games are a similar type of multi-sport event and in 2013, they drew about 25,000 athletes and spectators to the area but the economic impact was much lower at $36 million.

“There could be several reasons for the larger result from the Gay Games,” Rohlin says. “The Gay Games held people in town longer with their opening and closing ceremonies, the athletes were younger and there were people in town from other countries, unlike the National Senior Games.”

The Team D.C. athletes were among the many who were unsure as to whether they wanted to spend the entire week in Cleveland. As the opening ceremonies and the first few days of competition unfolded, several of the Team D.C. athletes returned home.

Many of those same athletes returned to Cleveland a few days later, unable to resist the lure of the Games and the welcoming feel of the city that was hosting them.

“We are one of the smallest cities to host the Gay Games and were able to provide a more intimate response from the local community,” says Tom Nobbe, executive director of Gay Games 9. “The atmosphere was ripe for people to have a good time along with the competitions.”

Among the factors driving the numbers from the economic impact study was the direct spending figures by non-locals which accounted for $38 million. Direct spending is factored from expenditures of non-local guests and participants at hotels, restaurants, car rentals, bars and so forth.

Both Cleveland and Akron received a huge economic boost and according to the survey results, both cities can expect long-term rewards from hosting the event.

For Akron, the Flair Fest, which was headlined by the Indigo Girls, was such a success that it will return next year. The International Gay Rodeo Association also expressed a desire to return to Akron.

In Cleveland, the streets are filled with vendors selling, “Return of the King,” LeBron James T-shirts and this past summer it was announced that the city would host the 2016 Republican National Convention.

The renaissance is clearly in full swing.

“Cleveland is still feeling the afterglow of the Gay Games,” Nobbe says. “Everyone just fell in love with the place and we expect them to come back.”

Cleveland’s iconic Tower Terminal was floodlit in rainbow colors for the International Gay Games. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)