Wooing the Volvo Ocean Race

 Mexico's tall ship Cuauhtemoc enters the Inner Harbor in Baltimore's June 2012 Sailabration. The event was a huge success, attracting more than 1.5 million people and having an estimated economic impact of $166 million. Such are the facts laid out to VOR organizers as they contemplate Baltimore as a stopover for the 2014-15 event. Photo by Molly Winans

From Candy Thomson's latest Baltimore Sun article:

Volvo Ocean Race officials were whisked to the top of the World Trade Center, honored as guests at a reception and squired to the grassy expanse of Fort McHenry during a 24-hour courtship meant to seal the deal to make Baltimore the event's only U.S. port of call in 2015.

"I think they wanted validation on some things, and I think we delivered," Terry Hasseltine, executive director of the Maryland Office of Sports Marketing, said Tuesday of the previous day's visit. "We had an open dialogue, and I think it was conveyed to them loud and clear that we have a dynamic team in place."

The bid evaluators spent Tuesday touring Newport, R.I., the only other U.S. city being considered, which bills itself as the Sailing Capital of the World. Next week, Volvo is expected to begin announcing the 10 winning ports in a process that will last until mid-February.

Read the full article here. We'll keep you posted...