What is Sportaccord? No, it's not a spiffy little car with off-the-charts gas mileage. Sportaccord is the Super Bowl of Schmooze among the sporting world's movers and shakers, big and small, from around the globe. It's a meeting of minds, a place where international sports federation leaders can trade ideas and get to know the other power players and majordomos of international sport. And it's happening in Denver March 23 "“ 27.

Over the course of five days, the roughly 1,500 Sportaccord attendees "” from organizations concerned with everything from aikido and American football to weightlifting and wushu "” will be inundated with nearly nonstop conferences, workshops, marketing opportunities, and more. Scheduled speakers include tennis champ Andre Agassi, former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, president of NBC Sports Dick Ebersol, and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.

The event itself was born out of three organizations: the General Association of International Sports Federations, the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, and the Association of International Olympic Winter Federations. Taken together, these associations hold the rights to a multitude of world championships, make the decisions about where these championship games are held, and establish commercial partnerships for those same games.

This year marks the seventh annual Sportaccord and the first time the event will take place on North American soil. It was held in Athens last year and is scheduled for Dubai in 2010, so bringing it to Denver is quite a "get" on the part of Rob Cohen, founder and executive chairman of the Metro Denver Sports Commission.

"When I went to my first Sportaccord in Seoul [in 2006], as soon as I saw it, I said, "˜We need this event,'" says Cohen, a relentlessly friendly and persuasive man who usually gets what he wants. "It's an unbelievable showcase for our city. It will help us attract events and championships from a wide range of sports and from all over the world."

Cohen began the bidding process required to get the event here two years ago and rejoiced along with city officials when Denver was announced as this year's site. Neither the London-based organization nor Cohen would say which bidders Denver beat out, but Cohen says the list of contenders was filled with "major, world-class cities."

Denver long has wanted to be known as a big-time, boisterous, can-do city in the eyes of the world. Cohen thinks Sportaccord can help make that happen. "It shocked a lot of people around the world when we got it. I think a lot of people didn't think of Denver as a world-class city like that. But we proved during the Democratic National Convention that our city can do a great job hosting events of all sizes," he says. "Everybody who's important in the international sports community will be here. Just like the DNC people were impressed with Denver, these people will see our city and fall in love with it, and that's a win-win for Denver's future. People from these organizations will want to come back and bring their events here. Denver will be put on peoples' short lists."

Chief officers from virtually every major international sports federation will be here, people from outfits as diverse as the International Baseball Federation and the International Mind Sports Association (think chess and bridge). Representatives from the city finalists bidding to host the 2016 Summer Olympics "” Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo "” will make mini-presentations to the Sportaccord delegates and polish up the final bids they will make to the IOC this summer before the 2016 site is named in October.

Also in Denver to curry favor for their Olympic causes will be representatives from the seven sports seeking to be added or reinstated as Olympic events: baseball, softball, rugby, golf, roller sports, squash, and karate. Aside from the actual Olympic Games, Sportaccord is the only international event where federation leaders have access to so many important decision-makers in the same place at the same time.

It's not a stretch, says Sportaccord executive director Anna Hellman, to call the March gathering at the Hyatt Regency the world's number one networking event for the cream of international sports organizers. Hellman is bullish on Denver. "It goes without saying that Denver is a great sports city. You can feel that in the air," she says. "The downtown has an extraordinary vitality. There's a very green feel to the city and a sense that people are thinking about the future. You really get a sense of a community that takes a lot of pride in the city and its surroundings."

With Cohen as point man and the MDSC as the local organizing arm, Denver has attracted the NCAA Frozen Four hockey championships, the NCAA men's basketball regionals, and the U.S. Curling Nationals. And that's all in the past year. Among upcoming events is the 2012 NCAA women's basketball Final Four at the Pepsi Center.

"It's hard to put a number on the actual economic effect the event will have on Denver, but it will be substantial," Cohen says of Sport-accord. "The true impact will be reflected in how many future events we can draw to the city. That will be the ultimate gauge, and that will take years, but the residual impact will be amazing."