CANADA HOPING TO HOST 2030 GAMES

Brian MacPherson would love nothing more than to come back from Australia with a guarantee the 2030 Commonwealth Games will be held in Canada.

“Given that it’s the 100th anniversary and it’s been so long since Canada hosted our international friends, just give us the Games,” the CEO of Commonwealth Games Canada said when asked what the message will be to his counterparts.

In 1930, Hamilton hosted the British Empire Games, which were attended by athletes from 11 countries. The forerunner to the Commonwealth Games, they were the brainchild of a Hamilton Spectator sports editor who had been inspired by a trip to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

Canada also hosted the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 in Vancouver and the Commonwealth Games in 1978 in Edmonton and 1994 in Victoria.

MacPherson admits the chances of simply being handed the 2030 Games are “remote.” Indeed, several cities in Australia have already declared interest.

The Commonwealth Games Federation will hold a general assembly on the Gold Coast next month and a new bidding process should emerge from that meeting, one necessitated by the emergency awarding of the 2022 Games, which went to Birmingham, England.

Durban, South Africa, was stripped of the Games in March 2017 over a financial shortfall. A mad scramble ensued.

“The one learning message that came out of there from our international body is the old bidding process is dead,” said MacPherson. “But they haven’t told us what the new one is. I honestly don’t know what it’s going to be.”