2014 Commonwealth Games

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XX Commonwealth Games
XX Commonwealth Games
Host city Unknown
Nations participating Unknown
Athletes participating
Events Unknown
Opening ceremony 2014
Closing ceremony 2014
Officially opened by Unknown
Queen's Baton Final Runner Unknown
Main Stadium Unknown
Motto {{{Motto}}}

The venue for the 2014 Commonwealth Games has not been decided yet. The winning city will be announced on November 9, 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Contents

[edit] Candidate Cities

Two cities have confirmed that they will bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014. They are Abuja in Nigeria and Glasgow in Scotland. Halifax had been nominated as Canada's selection, but it dropped out in March 2007, citing unacceptably high cost projections.

[edit] Abuja, Nigeria

Abuja 2014 bid logo
Abuja 2014 bid logo

Former Nigerian leader and now head of Nigeria's bid team, General Yakubu Gowon called for all Nigerians to support the games for the "glory of Nigeria". He suggests Nigeria would be a prime location for the games because of its unity, serenity, topography and availability of standard sporting facilities. Abuja recently hosted the All-Africa Games, The African regional version of the olympics, for which it constructed a world-class olympic stadium and games village. It was a hugely successful tournament with more than 7,000 athletes (and larger in size than any Commonwealth Games ever held).

The 2014 Commonwealth Games would be an integral part of national celebration plans for Nigeria's centenary.

The Abuja bid has received strong support from African commonwealth members (which make up the bulk of the commonwealth) as well as Australia, in what would be the largest multi-sport event to be held thus far on the continent.

Abuja airport will be modernized to cater for the shear capacity of the influx due to the games. This will further boost their bid to host the games. A state of art LRT system is also to feature in the new Abuja getting ready for the 2014 Abuja Commonwealth games. The Abuja Masterplan, a unique city plan including spectacular high rises, artificial lakes and tourist resorts such as Heritage city, a huge roller coaster resort, will featuring Abuja by 2014.

[edit] Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow bid logo
Glasgow bid logo

Glasgow was announced as the Scottish candidate over Edinburgh (which hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986, and the inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in 2000) following a cost-benefit analysis by the Scottish Executive. It is expected that the Glasgow bid will consist of a mix of new and refurbished venues, linked by enhanced roads and public transport network, as well as an athlete's village, built specifically for the games and situated adjacent to key venues.

Hampden Park, Scotland's National Football Stadium, has been earmarked as the main venue for athletics, and the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, on the north bank of the River Clyde, would provide several multipurpose arena style venues as well as the planned Scottish National Arena for events such as gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, and judo as well as hosting associated entertainments events for the duration of the games.

Kelvingrove Park, in the city's West End, already has five bowling greens installed for competitive use. A comprehensive upgrade and refurbishment of the park is underway, and the park is also capable of holding events such as triathlon and hockey, although Glasgow Green could be a possible alternative venue for the latter events. Kelvingrove Park is situated close to the SECC and is adjacent to the Kelvin Hall, which could also potentially host several indoor events. The shooting competition will likely take place at another outdoor venue in the city, such as Pollok Park or the military Dechmont ranges in Cambuslang. If rowing is included as an event, it will likely be held at Strathclyde Park, which hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Rowing Championships.

A new Indoor Arena and Velodrome Complex is planned for Parkhead in the East End of the city, the velodrome itself will be opposite Celtic Park, which may itself be a likely venue for the rugby sevens tournament. These venues will be built regardless of the outcome of Glasgow's bid, and will become the headquarters of sportscotland and Scottish Cycling, and could be expected to host events such as netball, squash, badminton and table tennis, as well as track cycling. Adjacent to this, a potential site for an athletes' village has also been identified in Dalmarnock. The village would be purpose-built to house 6,000 athletes and officials in 2,500 residential units and leave a legacy of regeneration in this deprived district of the city. Nearby Tollcross Park Aquatics Centre, which already has one Olympic standard 50 metre swimming pool, would be extensively upgraded, and a second 50 metre pool would be added for the Games' aquatic events.

The Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council have agreed to underwrite the costs of staging the Games. This will be on the basis of an 80/20 split. It is expected that the majority of the 80% of costs to be covered by the Executive will be new money committed to the sports and major events budget.

If Glasgow is successful in its bid, one billion pounds will have been spent on enhancements to the city's transport infrastructure by 2014, including completion of major motorway links, like the M74 and East End Regeneration Route, the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, improved city centre rail links as a result of the Glasgow Crossrail scheme, light rapid transport to key facilities such as the SECC and improvements to the River Clyde including new bridges and river-based transport.

[edit] Former Bids

There were a few cities who considered putting in bids (listed below). The following cities withdrew their bids at a later stage.

[edit] Halifax, Canada

Halifax bid logo.
Halifax bid logo.

Halifax was selected as Canada's bid for the games, beating Hamilton, York Region and Ottawa in Canada's initial bidding process in 2005. Halifax formed a bid committee that was charged with developing funding proposals and infrastructure requirements necessary for winning the 2014 games. The committee was in the process of finalizing financial details and infrastructure requirements for the bid during the fall of 2006 and winter 2007 and the project received an initial committment of C$400 million from the federal government. Leaked information about spiralling costs from C$785 million to upwards of C$1.3-1.7 billion, combined with the bid committee's secrecy and publicity campaign, caused funding partners in the provincial government to withdraw financial support on March 8, 2007, followed immediately by the withdrawal of funding from the municipal government, cancelling Canada's bid.

[edit] Announcement

The bidding process began in April, 2006. The deadline for bids was set for May, 2007 with the Games' host scheduled to be selected on November 9, 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

[edit] Earlier contenders

Other cities that considered putting in bids included:

[edit] External links

By Bid City

Abuja-

Glasgow-


Commonwealth Games
British Empire Games:
1930 | 1934 | 1938 | 1950
British Empire and Commonwealth Games:
1954 | 1958 | 1962 | 1966
British Commonwealth Games:
1970 | 1974
Commonwealth Games:
1978 | 1982 | 1986 | 1990 | 1994 | 1998 | 2002 | 2006 | 2010 | 2014
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