Bid for Games pivoting to 2026 as a recovery initiative
Commonwealth Games Federation’s independent study emphasizes potential $1.4-2 billion impact locally
While maintaining the option to be Canada’s representative for 2030, two major developments are clearly indicating that the volunteer group seeking the Commonwealth Games for Hamilton has shifted all its focus toward obtaining the 2026 Games.
The first was the creation of “Hamilton 2026 Bid Corporation” as the legal not-for-profit entity to apply for the earlier Games. It comprises essentially the same stakeholders from Hamilton 100, which remains in existence in case the new corporation cannot meet all the necessary 2026 requirements — most importantly agreements from all three levels of government.
The second is that early Wednesday morning the Commonwealth
Games Federation — overseers of the quadrennial Games — will release an independent report done by international professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showing that hosting the Games has boosted the gross domestic product of five recent host cities by anywhere from $1.4 billion to over $2 billion (Canadian equivalent, adjusted to 2018 prices). There were also many harder-to-quantify indirect positive economic impacts.
The Commonwealth Games Value Framework — created from already-existing data and reports from Manchester (2002), Melbourne (2006), Glasgow
(2014) and Australia’s Gold Coast (2018) — was well over a year in the making but the timing of its release is clearly intended to create a softer landing for what will be a very tough local sell for a 2026 bid.
“I think it is fair to say there is an urgency, but that the CGF also is fully cognizant of the world we live in,” David Grevemberg, CEO of the international federation, said during a media teleconference from London, England on Monday.
“We need to be sensitive to the challenge that communities are dealing with right now.”
Both the report, and the resculpting of the original Hamilton 2030 bid into a leaner 2026 proposal expected to be revealed soon, reposition the Games’ top priority as a post-pandemic recovery project, along with its status as a major sporting and culture event.
Grevemberg said that the five mostrecent host cities had wide differences in local short- and long-term priorities, but categorized “emerging” markets like New Delhi (the 2010 host, omitted from the report because of a shortage of good data), “regenerative” markets (such as Glasgow) and “sustained” markets (Gold Coast).
“You can’t take one model and directly compare it, but you can take elements” he said “If you’re looking at the Hamilton market on the regenerative side, there are investments that can be made.
“We felt it was important right now to share that openly and widely, not only with Hamilton but with the wider world of sport. Events like the Commonwealth Games, when run with that kind of investment in mind, can have a good track record.
“It does show that the Games have manifested themselves as being a stimulus package, in whatever context.”
Hamilton 100 spokesperson Lou Frapporti stressed that “the question before our community is whether we will be that Ambitious City that many talk of, or the city that never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It’s a decision we will all have to come to in the coming weeks.”
The Spectator has reported that the 2026 Games are Hamilton’s without opposition if all the agreements can be confirmed in time. Grevemberg stopped
short of that Monday, but did say the international body is invested deeply in working with the Hamilton group to shape its proposal.
Grevemberg said if the local committee moves forward, a formal plan could be built by the end of the year.
The local group hopes to have a basic structure ready for city council to assess within a few weeks. It is expected to come in at about two-thirds of the estimated overall cost ($1.5 billion) of the 2030 Games, rely more upon private investment and less on local government, use some existing facilities in other municipalities, and reduce the number of sports.
“It will be a smaller 2026 CWG, requiring less investment,” Frapporti confirmed Monday.
In its report PwC emphasizes that because of widely varying local circumstances, financial reporting techniques, and long-term priorities, it is difficult to precisely compare four different cities.
But, in general, it reports a range of $1.4 -to-2 billion in increased local GDP, the generation of between 13,600 and 23,000 “full-time equivalent” years of employment, before, during and after the Games, and the attraction of significant funding from state/provincial and federal governments.
Costs can also vary widely, although the CGF has streamlined procedures to reduce the burden of creating and running the Games: the Gold Coast Games had a price tag of over $1.8 billion but estimates for 2022 in Birmingham are about $1.5 billion.