Business View Magazine - August 2023

173 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 NAIA thrills and drama that typify the world of sports. “You’ll get to interact with the best student athletes in the country, each and every day.” Why host? Well, why not? As Westra rhetorically asked: Why host a national championship event? The advantages are many, and certainly they are also enormous. You will see untold benefits from: • an increase in economic activity; • thousands of visitors from out of town, all of them patronizing your restaurants, hotels and other such places of business and interest; • the opportunity to showcase your community, its people and its facilities; • the prestige of having a national championship hosted in your community; • and national exposure on such sports- related networks as ESPN and other outlets specializing in these events. Plus, as Westra noted, you’ll see related benefits to other organizations and their concomitant events, such as the Special Olympics. “It’s a great way to interact and have fun with those kids in our community as well,” he observed. Talking of character, there’s the NAIA’s “Champions of Character” program. This initiative connects communities and NAIA Championships across the United States. “Champions of Character” activities are an integral part of every NAIA Championship, and they have a huge annual impact upon more than 30,000 people. Championship hosts are free to choose the “Champions of Character” activity that best fits their championship and community. The vision of this program is to do nothing less than change the very culture of sport itself. Its mission is to provide training to instill the values that build character, so that students, coaches and parents know, do and value the right thing, both on the field and off of it.