Birmingham facing £140m hurdle before clinching UK’s Commonwealth Games bid

Birmingham may have fended off competition from Liverpool to be named preferred UK candidate city for the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games but it still has many hurdles to overcome before landing the event.

Birmingham must now win final approval from Prime Minister Theresa May and the Treasury before it formally applies to the Commonwealth Games Federation to be the host city.

With costs estimated at in excess of £600m, possibility rising to £680m, the city will be expected to provide at least a quarter of this, with the UK Government underwriting the remainder.

The city council has been quick to assure council taxpayers that the cash-strapped authority – still embroiled in a bitter dispute with its binmen – will not be dipping into its own budgets.

Sources close to the city’s bid revealed to TheBusinessDesk.com that around £140m is already pledged to the city from outside sources, much of it promised because of the outstanding economic benefits the Games would deliver to the city.

One example cited has been Glasgow’s staging of the 2014 Games, which were a financial success and considered to have helped raise the city’s international profile.

If it secures Government funding then Birmingham is likely to face competition from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia as its main rival.

The decision to select Birmingham followed an independent assessment panel and officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport finally made the recommendation to Ministers.

The government will now make a final decision, in consultation with Commonwealth Games England, on whether to submit a formal bid to the CGF for Birmingham.

Provided Birmingham’s bid passes this final stage of assessment, then a formal bid will be submitted to the CGF in the coming weeks.

Sports Minister Tracey Crouch said: “I am grateful to the bid teams from both Birmingham and Liverpool for their hard work in making the case for their respective cities as potential Commonwealth Games hosts.

“After a comprehensive assessment process, the government will look at the final bid proposal from Birmingham and decide if a formal bid will be submitted to the Commonwealth Games Federation.

“We need to be completely satisfied that the bid offers overall value for money from hosting the Games and that a strong economic and sporting legacy can be delivered from it.”