2014 Cleveland Gay Games Break Profit Record

It was no "mistake on the lake" for the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland.

The 2014 Gay Games held in Cleveland and Akron which were plagued by days of rain and months of poopooing by fans looking for a more obvious international city to hold the event, turned out to be the most profitable in the 32-year history of the sporting event.

Dispatch.com reports that Gay Games 9 Executive Director Thomas Nobbe said that last year's Gay Games held in August in Cleveland and Akron raised $6.8 million. Its $147,000 net profit makes the 2014 games the most profitable in the event's history.

The medium-sized midwestern cities were widely considered unlikely candidates to hold the event. Past host cities have included New York, Amsterdam, San Francisco and Sydney. Days of rain caused many events to be re-scheduled and/or relocated.

The games turned out to be a boon for the northeastern Ohio cities attracting approximately 20,000 athletes and visitors. In a forum held by the City Club of Cleveland Thursday, Nobbe said that $120,000 of the profits will go toward creating a fund at the Cleveland Foundation to continue to push for an inclusive and diverse northeastern Ohio community. The rest - $27,000 - will go to the Akron Community Foundation's existing Gay Community Endowment Fund.

Founded as the "Gay Olympics in 1982, the games are open to all who wish to participate, without regard to sexual orientation.

According to its sanctioning body, the purpose of the Federation of Gay Games is to foster and augment the self-respect of lesbians and gay men throughout the world and to engender respect and understanding from the nongay world.

The 2018 Gay Games are scheduled to take place in Paris.