"Table tennis, really?" the town's recreation manager recalls asking in 2002, when local table-tennis gurus came for help with a tournament. "Are there that many people in this area playing table tennis?"

Apparently, yes.

A decade later, Jones' department is set to take over management of the Butterfly Cary Cup, now among the nation's largest table-tennis events.

A vote by the Cary Town Council on Thursday would sweep the event into the town's growing empire of amateur sports, alongside multimillion-dollar investments in soccer, baseball and tennis facilities. Meanwhile, the town is preparing to host the U.S. and North American Olympic table tennis qualifiers, two of the sport's premier events.

The Olympic qualifiers will be a joint effort between the town and several local groups. The Butterfly Cary Cup and its 1,200 matches, meanwhile, would become a fully town-managed event.

Mike Babuin, president of the Cary Table Tennis Association, approached the town hoping to win a permanent future for the Cary Cup. Town staff have recommended that Cary accept because local players and organizers have "proven that it can be a very successful event," Jones said. "It's a time that we can step in and maybe even look at taking it to the next level."

The Cary tournament began with a set of regional players but now draws national and international competitors. While the town provided a facility for the tournament in recent years, it will take over the event's finances, too, though the Cary Table Tennis Association will continue to provide logistics and guidance.

"This is a transition year," Babuin said. "My hope is to work together with them to craft it into a long-term, sustainable event."

The Butterfly Cary Cup usually breaks even, with $30,000 of revenue and expenses projected for 2012. The Olympic qualifiers also are expected to pay for themselves.

The town expects about a thousand people to turn out for the Cary Cup this year, and a similar total for the Olympic events, which are co-sponsored by the Triangle Sports Commission, the Cary Table Tennis Association and the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The U.S. qualifier is set for February, the Cary Cup for March, and the North American qualifier for April, ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.