In a related note, the US is actually hosting the Winter WUGs this year at Lake Placid:
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Wait, what happened to…
Oh, I see. We lost 2027 but I guess they liked us enough to give us 2029.
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Since the games will be sporadically. Hopefully maybe that could motivate to get Raleigh and Durham a commuter rail again still everything depends on the merger in the Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel metro. This would be a good time to engage the city on this.
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This is a pretty big deal! The RTP being showcased to the world isn’t something to take for granted. At this rate they might be able to take the sweet new regional rail from Garner to Raleigh 
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So they took all this time to figure out 2027 and then just gave out 2029 like a consolation prize? Lol!
It feels like a consolation, but it’s also becoming the norm to choose the host of international sporting event hosts this way.
Case in point: because not enough places actually put in the effort to bid, the next summer Olympics for 2024 and 2028 were announced simultaneously. In that context, it doesn’t seem like that much of an insult -especially if it becomes more of a trend over time.
Yeah, I would not see this as a consolation prize at all. Choosing host cities for multiple games in one go like this is extremely efficient for both sides.
Tonight we’re going party like it’s 2029! 
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You also have to remember, we still beat out Orlando.
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Ehh that because they have don’t any space, theme parks are there forte, also lost a World Cup bid.
Dates have been chosen! July 11th-July 22nd, 2029. Plenty of time to plan!
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We just passed the four-year mark until we get the World University Games in North Carolina!
For those of y’all who lost track, this is a biannual event for college athletes; it’s in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany this year. Imagine something like a college-level Olympics, where March Madness, the NCAA football national championships etc. are all mashed into one event - and we’re the hosts of that in 2029.
It turns out some senior regional officials went to Germany earlier this summer to learn how they handled logistics for their World University Games. They’re slated to give this presentation in next week’s GoTriangle planning committee meeting.
Click here to see what the German organizers offered delegates (including athletes, coaches, FISU officials, VIPs, and their families) and attendees.
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Dusseldorf (one of the host cities) also had a “decentralized concept (50 plus hotels for delegates)” for how they housed organizers throughout the course of the event
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Event organizers handled all mobility and logistics needs for delegates and their family members - not just for event-specific things, but also airport luggage, shuttles between venues and hotels, VIP private drivers, and picking an official port of entry (this could be RDU - or PTI or Charlotte-Douglas)
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The transportation needs above (which were for delegates only) were run by private vendors under contract to event organizers. Therefore,…
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Germany’s national rail operator, local transit agencies etc. were not involved in event planning - unlike in the Triangle, where GoTriangle is clearly getting looped in.
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However, the general public could use public transit for free if they “showed WUG credentialed badges (paid by the local organizing committee to the transit agency)”. The general public in Germany were not allowed to use the WUG-organized buses and rental cars, but this seemingly offered a better way to let event attendees get around at scale.
The slide deck also had photos of these poster boards that show where the Triangle’s venues will be in 2029:
EDIT - Sep. 6, 2025: this PDF shows the second map in slightly better detail.
Despite how the images have the resolution of a potato, you can still make out that:
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The Raleigh Convention Center will be the home of the International Broadcast Center and main press offices when the games take place.
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There will be two Athletes’ Villages - one in UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus, and another in UNCG’s.
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The opening or closing ceremonies will be at UNC’s Kenan Stadium (aka Bill Belichick’s new home) and the Carter-Finley Stadium. I can’t tell from the pictures which is which, though.
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Judo and table tennis matches will also be held in the Raleigh Convention Center.
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Halifax Mall will be the archery venue.
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Some soccer and basketball games will be on NC State’s main campus. Carmichael Gym will also act as basketball players’ training venues when they arrive before the games.
Click here to see where GoTriangle fits in this picture.
It sounds like GoTriangle was approached by the WUG 2029 organizers to see if they could be the official operator of charter buses etc. for delegates.
Although GoTriangle is the spiritual successor of the private buses that were run during the 1987 US Olympics Festival, GoTriangle itself obviously doesn’t have the experience to pull off anything of this caliber.
Plus, the slide deck notes that, “under FTA’s Charter Bus Rules, [GoTriangle is legally] very limited in what [they] can do with federally funded equipment to compete with private charter operators for business” - implying that GoTriangle, as a government agency that uses federal funding, would probably not be allowed to act as the WUG official charter bus system.
However, it seems like GoTriangle is still offering to help in other ways. The slide deck offered this statement at the end:
The slide deck also recommends that, as soon as possible, GoTriangle, the WUG 2029 organizers etc.:
- Secure funding sources and develop budgets
- Begin working with “an experienced event planner and third-party private bus supplier / charter operator”
- Champion “state-level programs, political and business support and partnerships across North Carolina to include local, regional, state, university, and the private sector’s buy-in and participation.”
- Develop a procurement team to manage the sea of contracts that this event will require
- “Continue to fund service investments related to expansion and frequency that will improve the transit network” throughout the Triangle (esp. around event venues) according to our counties’ transit plans (e.g. more frequent buses, BRT)
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I’m guessing NC is gonna wanna keep it local for the charter company, so Holiday out of the Greensboro area is likely going to be the charter company.
This is great for NC these world university games in 2029. Charlotte is getting the World Military Games in 2027 first time ever in USA https://www.usperformancecenter.com/articles/charlotte-officially-announced-as-host-city-for-the-2027-8th-cism-military-world-summer-games/
and there is already some talk of using Greensboro’s large indoor aquatic center probably the best one the state by far.
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