Rochester Will Host Empire State Games ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - Rochester will play host to the Empire State Games in 2011. That's the amateur competition that draws more than 6,000 athletes annually.

The summer games will take place at the end of July, on the campuses of R-I-T, Nazareth, Roberts Wesleyan, M-C-C and SUNY Brockport. Athletes will compete in 28 different sports, including basketball, baseball, gymnastics, track and field, synchronized swimming, kayaking and bowling.

Staging the giant competition takes cash though. The 2009 games in the Hudson Valley never got off the ground because of the state's budget crisis.

In the past, New York has funded 90 percent of the games' $3 million budget, but now the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is waging a fundraising effort to foot the bill, and looking for sponsors to help out with the cost of putting on the competition. Their goal is to raise a million dollars in private funds over the next two years.

The state is predicting that the games in Rochester will have a $10 to 12 million economic impact, and draw up to 20,000 spectators.

Rochester previously hosted the games in 2006, 1998 and 1993. Next year's Empire State Games will be held in Buffalo.
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