This programme is designed to attract volunteers who will support the American state's bid, with a vow that those involved will be granted "volunteer opportunity points" that will help them achieve "priority selection" should North Carolina be successful.

Priority status also offers volunteers "preferred position for selection of their choice of volunteer position".

Points will be awarded at a rate of one for each hour of work at a qualifying championship event in any sport that features at the 2027 FISU Summer World University Games, as approved by the North Carolina Bid Committee.

More than 55 major championship competitions are scheduled to be held in central North Carolina by 2026.

The chair and chief executive of the North Carolina Bid Committee, Hill Carrow, claimed that the Volunteer Opportunity Programme offered a convenient opportunity for people to support the bid.

"We currently have several ways that you can support our regional bid for the 2027 [FISU] Summer World University Games," he said.

"These include sponsorships, contributions, and merchandise purchases, to name just a few.

"The addition of the Volunteer Opportunity Programme provides another means of supporting the bid effort, but at zero cost to the participant."

It is estimated by the North Carolina Bid Committee that at least 20,000 volunteers will be required for the state to stage a successful event.

This is based on the more than 20,000 volunteers used when Taiwan staged the 2017 Summer Universiade. 

Of those who have currently signed up to the Volunteer Opportunity Programme, the furthest from the state is Alina de Armas from Simi Valley in California, who worked at the U.S. Masters Swimming Short Course Championships in July.

The North Carolina bid for the 2027 FISU Summer World University Games proposing holding the event in the Raleigh-Durham-Cary-Chapel Hill area, often referred to as the Triangle.

A South Korean bid has also been confirmed, with Chungcheong Province its preferred host region.

FISU is expected to choose a host in January 2023, after it brought back the public bidding races for the 2027 and 2029 editions of the World University Games.

Since 2016, hosts have been chosen using an in-house "networking and research" method.

The delayed 2021 FISU Summer World University Games are due to be held in Chengdu in China from June 26 to July 7 2022, followed by Yekaterinburg in Russia in 2023 and the 2025 edition in Germany's Rhine-Ruhr region.

The United States last held the summer edition of the event in Buffalo in 1993, while South Korea staged it for the second time in Gwangju in 2015.

Lake Placid in the US is scheduled to host the FISU Winter World University Games.