Time to bring back Games, mayor says
Mayor Stephen Mandel enthusiastically backed plans Tuesday to explore an Edmonton bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
"I think 1978 (the last Edmonton Games) was a watershed moment for the city, and 2022, almost 45 years later, it would be a nice re-coming out party," Mandel said.
"It's a chance to showcase Edmonton. We have great facilities in the city, so I don't think there would be a huge capital investment with these games other than some expansion. We would obviously have to do some upgrades."
Edmonton is replacing the seats at Commonwealth Stadium, which has a new field house, and there is also the University of Alberta's GO Centre for court sports and a 50-metre pool in the Terwillegar recreation centre, he said.
Such competitions bring people together as well as leaving a construction legacy, Mandel said.
"That's the big benefit. Few cities do them as well as Edmonton does - a huge cadre of volunteers comes together, not just for the sports events, but for the cultural events too. It makes a great time for the entire city."
Edmonton officials say they will look at bidding for the games now that Commonwealth Games Canada has indicated it's considering trying to bring them back to this country for the first time since 1994.
Mandel said he isn't deterred by the fact the city failed in its last two attempts to host big international events, the 2015 summer World University Games and Expo 2017.
"You win some, you lose some. Just because you don't succeed, you don't stop trying. Universiade, we probably would have won the next one if we had tried."
Coun. Jane Batty, who argued un-successfully to boost this year's city budget by $350,000 to help attract major events, said any bid should involve the University of Alberta and other post-secondary institutions.
"There are many benefits coming from it aside from some great new facilities. It's more the opportunity to be seen on the world stage," she said.
"Nowadays, when you do business, you don't just do it locally."
Brian MacPherson, chief executive of Commonwealth Games Canada, estimated the operating cost to mount the 2022 event at $1 billion, plus any construction required.
However, the 71 Commonwealth Games delegates generally favour reusing facilities when possible rather than building something new, he said.
Cities would probably spend less than $1 million seeking the nod as the proposed Canadian site, while the price of campaigning for inter-national support is currently $8 mil-lion to $10 million, he said from his Ottawa office.
The non-profit group will decide by this fall whether Canada has the federal backing and a sufficiently good chance of winning to justify pursuing a bid.
Any cities that want to take part will have a few weeks to respond to a call for expressions of interest, then in 2013 submit a formal bid, MacPherson said.
The Canadian Games organization would choose a national representative by the end of next year, with the winning country being picked in 2015.
South Africa, New Zealand and Malaysia are also rumoured to be interested, but Canada's advantages include good time zones for broad-casting international sports and the fact it hasn't held the games in 18 years, MacPherson said.
They've grown from the 2,500 athletes and 10 sports Canada last saw in Victoria, and are now likely to draw 4,000 athletes in 17 sports, he said.
"Any city or country that wants to host them has to put on a bigger event than in the past," he said.
"We're optimistic for lots of different reasons. We would love to host these games in 2022."
Edmonton Journal 
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Sir Rols, on 06 February 2012 - 09:39 PM, said:
