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As Chief Operating Officer at Special Olympics Florida, Meghan McLean has a formidable task preparing her team for the 2026 USA Games in Minnesota next summer.
The travel squad will consist of roughly 165 athletes, 70 coaches and volunteers, along with support personnel. The number of athletes is literally the best of the best, given the scope of Special Olympics participation in Florida, which offers sports and opportunities for roughly 75,000 athletes.
But McClean is fortunate to have the perfect blueprint on how to pull it off successfully. With the support of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission and many other regional partners, her organization served as host of the 2022 Games in Orlando.
Her team has worked closely with GO Sports, most notably President and CEO Jason Siegel and Amy Wise, a member of the Go Sports Advisory Board, who is now the VP of Marketing at Special Olympics International (SOI) but began her Special Olympics tenure as the Chief Development and Marketing Officer for the 2022 USA Games.
“We host our two largest games every year in Orlando, but the 2022 USA Games was a different scale,” McLean said. “What the Sports Commission was able to do is make connections for us with other people in the community that were able to embrace Special Olympics and helped make the games a success. The Sports Commission really wrapped their arms around this and worked with us to make it the best thing that it could possibly be.”
It’s a win-win partnership from the GO Sports perspective.
“First and foremost, it was a community-wide effort from the Opening Ceremonies, downtown activations, ESPN Wide World of Sports and staging at the Kia Center. Disney also played a tremendous role,” Siegel said. “And you are transporting hundreds of individuals who have different and special needs, adding another logistical element.
“I felt like the community did such a great job hosting. And I know we elevated the event because half a dozen cities reached out to us to discuss bidding on 2026 and 2030 for their respective communities.”
So, with the Twin Cities on notice for next summer on how to do things right, McClean and her team will focus those 165 athletes in those 27 sports, and just as important, the travel logistics...
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