We can do the Commonwealth Games – and do it better

transformed the city and laid the framework for the London Olympic bid.

Birmingham is a bigger and better city. We are the nation’s second biggest, with a core population nearly double that of Manchester’s. We have had ambition before, in 1985 the city bid to host the 1992 Olympic Games. We lost the bid to Barcelona, but the ambition should still be there.

If we were bold enough to bid for the Olympics, we should easily be able to accommodate the Commonwealth Games.

The Games are a complex event to organise – yet Birmingham is probably the only major city outside London which could host the games tomorrow.

We already possess the facilities needed to host nine of the ten core sports, with both the Barclaycard Arena and the National Exhibition Centre having world class facilities and a proven track record in holding top class international sporting events.

In sporting terms, the city and wider region has everything needed to be an exceptional Commonwealth Games host venue. The only outstanding question is the main athletics stadium, however, even here, the city has many options.

The Alexander Stadium is home to UK athletics, and could be redeveloped for the games, or the city could follow Manchester’s lead and use the Games to develop a new, purpose-built stadium.

The costs of hosting such an event are hefty but not insurmountable.

The bill for the Manchester games came in at £300 million. However, in return, Manchester got a Velodrome (£9.5 million) which is now the home of the incredibly successful British cycling team, the City of Manchester Stadium (£112 million) now a Premier League football ground, a purpose built Aquatics Centre (£32 million) and a national Squash Centre (£3.5 million). They also got many more visitors.

The transport infrastructure was also significantly upgraded, including the extension of the Metrolink tram system to Oldham & Rochdale.

Importantly, most of the funding for this infrastructure was met by central government, Sport England, the National Lottery and private sponsorship.

Estimates of the economic return for this outlay vary, but some sources report that by 2008, £600 million extra had been invested in the region and around 20,000 new jobs created.

Manchester is the benchmark, but they proved, beyond all doubt that a Commonwealth Games can be a huge success. In sporting, cultural, infrastructure, regeneration, employment and legacy terms Manchester delivered.

I firmly believe that Birmingham can do it even better. Daniel Dalton is a West Midlands MEP and former professional

cricketer for Warwickshire