UMN prepares venues for Special Olympics USA

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Story and photos by Zach Lebowitz  / Hubbard Reporting Experience

Nine University of Minnesota venues are preparing to host the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games for the first time. Minnesota won the bid to host the games in 2022.

The Special Olympics USA is a sports organization for athletes with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Despite being almost a year away, Special Olympics committees and UMN athletics staff are reviewing crowd control, security and emergency prevention. 

Once a month, staff from the Special Olympics’ planning committee visit the university to review the venues, said Linda McKee, Associate Department Director of Athletics and Director of Aquatics. 

“I think it's great that we've had so much communication with them already because it is a huge event, and a lot of the venues have never hosted anything like this,” McKee said. The Special Olympics expect to draw 3,000 athletes and 75,000 spectators, according to the governing group. 

She feels ready though, bolstered by the experience of hosting the Minnesota Special Olympics in June and the Minnesota volunteer community. 

“With the volunteer core this summer, we had almost a one-to-one ratio of volunteer to athlete,” McKee said. 

McKee said 52 representatives from all Special Olympics USA state delegations and sport-specific groups came to the university last week to scout the venues for their athletes.

Athletes will compete at these venues on the UMN campus:

• Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center

• Baseline Tennis Center

• Maturi Pavillion

• 3M Arena

• UMN Track & Field Stadium

• Ridder Arena

• UMN Fieldhouse

• Multi Activity Court at the RecWell

While not typically a sports venue, the Northrop auditorium will host the powerlifting event.

Some events will be hosted at venues not affiliated with the UMN campus. Softball and soccer competitions, for example, will take place at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Bulut Ozcelik, assistant director of Baseline Tennis Center, said he was looking forward to the university’s Baseline’s venue being used because of its history of hosting yearly local and national events. 

“This facility is built for competition,” Ozcelik said.

McKee said the Special Olympics requires more staging than other events to ensure athletes of all ages know their event positions when navigating venues. She said it was important that younger athletes stay in their heat groups and lanes for swimming, for example, as well as podiums during award ceremonies to maintain the event’s professionalism.

Other arrangements, she said, were mostly typical, such as setting up platforms for camera workers and commentators, preparing accessibility accommodations for audience members, and lunch schedules for crew and event staff. 

“I think in terms of setting up a championship event, we would not look at this any differently,” McKee said.

Brittany Barutt, athlete leadership manager for Special Olympics Minnesota, said this will be her first time selecting volunteers and athletes with disabilities for leadership roles at the national games. 

“We are looking forward to the opportunities to spread awareness of how impactful special olympics programming can be for people with and without disabilities,” Barutt said.

McKee said she was told to expect a packed stadium for the aquatics center, which she considers unique because of its seating on opposing sides of the pool. 

“You can pack the stands to really create a pretty electric atmosphere,” McKee said.

Most athletes will stay in campus dorms during the events, similar to an Olympic Village, and some athletes will be grouped together by sport.

Ozcelik said venues at the University are preparing to ensure the safety of athletes and spectators at events. 

“It’s a lot of communicating, a lot of scheduling, making sure everyone’s on the same page,” Ozcelik  said. “We thought about all the possible scenarios that might go wrong.” 

Ryan Dotson, an athletic trainer for men’s basketball at the University, said he is looking forward to the event highlighting UMN’s athletic resources and campus. 

“It's exciting, man,” Dotson said. “I think any time you can bring eyes to the University of Minnesota is huge.”