There soon will be some very big men on the tiny campus of Wingate University.

The 2,300-student private school in Union County announced Monday it has agreed to host the MET-Rx World's Strongest Man competition in September.

That means the town of Wingate, population 3,491, will join the likes of Zambia, Iceland, China and Morocco as venues that have hosted the competition, which is in its 34th year.

The games will be televised nationally on ESPN in late December, then rebroadcast in 2012 on ESPN2 and in more than 100 countries and territories.

"We hope to get international exposure and have some fun too," Wingate President Jerry McGee said. "To get international exposure is very difficult for a small school... This will put us on a lot of people's radar."

Previous competitions have included such events as tossing kegs over a wall, lugging anvils, anchors and chains, and being tied to a harness, then pulling a tractor-trailer.

IMG Media owns and produces the event, and a Raleigh sports and entertainment marketing company, PSE-3, helped broker the deal with the university. McGee is a lifelong friend of one of PSE-3's leaders, and they had been looking for a project to work on together.

The games are open to the public, and the university is working with the N.C. Department of Tourism to choose the on-campus sites. Some games will be held off-campus.

Wingate is the first university to host the games. The events are still being finalized, said Laura Paquelet, a partner at PSE-3.

The university expects to break even financially, McGee said, and expects PSE-3 will help line up many sponsors.