Establish confidence. Catalyst for the 21st century. Yadda yadda yadda.

Every time you hear how an event, building, or business is promised to “restore Buffalo’s confidence” or “propel Buffalo into the 21st century” keep in mind how long people have been saying that.

New York Times
July 4, 1993

“Our confidence is lacking and we’re a little unsure of ourselves,” said Dennis Gorski, the Eric [sic] County Executive. “We’re just a blue collar town on Lake Erie. But having this kind of event will not only establish our confidence, but we can take pride that we beat bigger cities to do this.”

Backers of the World University Games Buffalo ’93 portray the 11-day event as a local feel-good extravaganza to expand Buffalo’s image to the world, where the Games are esteemed as the next best thing to an Olympics.

Gretchen Sorensen, marketing director of the Games, said: “There’s a real hope that this will be a catalyst to take Buffalo into the 21st Century.”

Whether a flood of tourism, trade or events sparked by the World Games will come Buffalo’s way is impossible to measure now.

Not impossible to measure now. I hope nobody built an arc.