Significant changes to the format of the Alberta Seniors 55+ Summer Games. has one Alberta city no longer interested in hosting the event
The games whill have less athletic competition and more card games, prompting City of St. Albert staff to recommend that city councillors shelve their bid for the 2027 games.
The changes to Alberta's Senior Games also include a merging of the summer and winter games to one event, indeed, the Summer Games that city council asked staff to bid on no longer exists.
The active events have been reduced from seven to just four – cycling, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Others were dropped in favour of more passive activities such as card games and billiards. In fact, eight in 10 events offered are more social pastimes than athletic competitions now and despite there being more of them, city staff projected they would attract smaller crowds. Cultural events are now optional, and with an increase from 14 to 18 mandatory events, may have been left out entirely.
“This is a pretty massive change, from doing sports to playing cards,” St. Albert Coun. Sheena Hughes said. “Watching people play cards is not as exciting as you think. I have seen no television shows about playing cards.”
Sporting venues that were consulted would not have even been utilized. Games organizers are now more interested in large halls than tracks or fields.
All this would increase the cost to the city, hamstring its ability to recoup with ticket sales, and decrease the participation of established St. Albert non-profit organizations.
Who wants to pay to watch dozens of people play cribbage?
Denise Podlusky, the city’s director of recreation, said no real reason was given for the change by the games’ organizers. She said the city was informed of the change in October.
St. Albert investigated hosting the games as celebration of sport, art and culture through enriching social activities.
“There was a desire for a games or major event that would impact a number of non-profits and allow relationships to renew and grow,” she said.
