SpongeG
Feb 26, 2007, 1:23 AM
Victoria Games made a $5m profit
West Coast event renovated a university stadium but Halifax bid calls for new venues
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter
The history of the Commonwealth Games in Canada stretches back to 1930, when the inaugural British Empire Games were held in Hamilton.
Canada next played host in 1954 in Vancouver. Twenty-four years later, Edmonton put on the 11th Commonwealth Games for 1,475 athletes from 46 nations.
Victoria in 1994 was the last Canadian city to host the Games. Hamilton was the most recent municipality in this country to take part in the international race for the event — it lost to New Delhi, India, in a two-way contest for the 2010 event.
The Victoria Games were smaller and therefore considerably cheaper than the 2014 sports spectacle being proposed for Halifax Regional Municipality. The event, which saw the first attempt by Halifax to win the domestic bid, was preceded by controversy: The former Commonwealth Games Association of Canada granted Victoria the Canadian rights, despite a 1988 ruling by its own selection committee that Halifax had the superior domestic bid.
In 1992, The Canadian Press reported the Victoria Commonwealth Games Society was projecting the West Coast Games would cost about $164 million and break even. Things changed, however.
The Vancouver Sun said in 1995 the Victoria Games were held with a $160-million budget and showed a profit. Organizers expected a budget surplus of more than $5 million, the newspaper said. The Sun said the extra cash was proof that "the many predictions of financial doom and gloom that haunted the Games almost from opening day" were off base.
Hamilton’s bid for the 2010 athletic competition estimated the Games there would cost about $716 million.
The price tag for metro’s proposed Games is more than $785 million but is subject to change. More than $14 million has been earmarked for the bid for the 2014 Games. Halifax city hall, the provincial government, Ottawa and the private sector are to cover the cost.
Halifax regional council is tentatively scheduled to review fiscal details about the proposed project in early March. The politicians are intending to publicly debate the cost on March 20 at a meeting at city hall.
In Victoria, 13 years ago, the opening and closing ceremonies, and the high-profile track events, were held at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium, which was extensively renovated to accommodate the Games. In HRM, some proposed venues will have to be built from scratch.
According to the Commonwealth Games Federation’s website, 63 nations sent nearly 2,450 athletes and 892 officials to the British Columbia capital in 1994. Ten sports were played at the Victoria Games.
Officials from the Halifax 2014 organizing committee are planning to stage 17 sports and are expecting thousands more competitors and officials would come to Nova Scotia for the Games. (The last Commonwealth Games, in Melbourne in 2006, saw 4,500 competitors from 71 countries participate.)
The B.C. government says the 1994 Games were a boon to the economy in Victoria and nearby Vancouver Island communities. A government website says about $40 million was spent on the hospitality industry alone, and the event generated some $500 million in economic activity.
In Hamilton, the 2010 bid projected the economic impact to be in the range of $1.4 billion. Halifax 2014 officials have said about $2 billion in economic spinoffs would be created by the Commonwealth Games.
Promotional material from the committee says the Games would help revitalize parts of HRM, bringing "improvements to roads and public transit, accelerated development of (a proposed) high-speed ferry service and upgrades to many existing facilities throughout" metro. The committee says the Games would lead to increased tourism, business opportunities, immigration and outside investment.
A Halifax 2014 advertisement says: "The positive effects on our economy will begin well before 2014. New businesses will flourish, along with new opportunities for existing ones."
Games foes are worried about the potential for cost overruns — metro’s bid has an undisclosed contingency fund — and the possibility of future tax increases linked to the event. The website for Halifax’s bid committee says there is "no intention or necessity for this to happen." But it acknowledges "it is impossible to predict what will happen to tax rates over the next eight years."
Hamilton’s proposal for the 2010 Commonwealth Games included a $23.5-million contingency account. Hamilton city hall, which was intending to cover 11.2 per cent of the total cost, was planning to provide deficit underwriting, subject to conditions, says a report from the Commonwealth Games Federation’s evaluation commission.
Halifax is competing against Glasgow, Scotland, and Abuja, Nigeria, for the 2014 Games. Bids are to be filed by May 9; the host site will be announced in November.
Critics have said the event is too rich for the city’s blood and could leave a legacy of debt. Supporters say the Games would bring economic benefits and have chastised media outlets for focusing too much on the estimated cost instead of the proposed boon.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/561188.html
West Coast event renovated a university stadium but Halifax bid calls for new venues
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter
The history of the Commonwealth Games in Canada stretches back to 1930, when the inaugural British Empire Games were held in Hamilton.
Canada next played host in 1954 in Vancouver. Twenty-four years later, Edmonton put on the 11th Commonwealth Games for 1,475 athletes from 46 nations.
Victoria in 1994 was the last Canadian city to host the Games. Hamilton was the most recent municipality in this country to take part in the international race for the event — it lost to New Delhi, India, in a two-way contest for the 2010 event.
The Victoria Games were smaller and therefore considerably cheaper than the 2014 sports spectacle being proposed for Halifax Regional Municipality. The event, which saw the first attempt by Halifax to win the domestic bid, was preceded by controversy: The former Commonwealth Games Association of Canada granted Victoria the Canadian rights, despite a 1988 ruling by its own selection committee that Halifax had the superior domestic bid.
In 1992, The Canadian Press reported the Victoria Commonwealth Games Society was projecting the West Coast Games would cost about $164 million and break even. Things changed, however.
The Vancouver Sun said in 1995 the Victoria Games were held with a $160-million budget and showed a profit. Organizers expected a budget surplus of more than $5 million, the newspaper said. The Sun said the extra cash was proof that "the many predictions of financial doom and gloom that haunted the Games almost from opening day" were off base.
Hamilton’s bid for the 2010 athletic competition estimated the Games there would cost about $716 million.
The price tag for metro’s proposed Games is more than $785 million but is subject to change. More than $14 million has been earmarked for the bid for the 2014 Games. Halifax city hall, the provincial government, Ottawa and the private sector are to cover the cost.
Halifax regional council is tentatively scheduled to review fiscal details about the proposed project in early March. The politicians are intending to publicly debate the cost on March 20 at a meeting at city hall.
In Victoria, 13 years ago, the opening and closing ceremonies, and the high-profile track events, were held at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium, which was extensively renovated to accommodate the Games. In HRM, some proposed venues will have to be built from scratch.
According to the Commonwealth Games Federation’s website, 63 nations sent nearly 2,450 athletes and 892 officials to the British Columbia capital in 1994. Ten sports were played at the Victoria Games.
Officials from the Halifax 2014 organizing committee are planning to stage 17 sports and are expecting thousands more competitors and officials would come to Nova Scotia for the Games. (The last Commonwealth Games, in Melbourne in 2006, saw 4,500 competitors from 71 countries participate.)
The B.C. government says the 1994 Games were a boon to the economy in Victoria and nearby Vancouver Island communities. A government website says about $40 million was spent on the hospitality industry alone, and the event generated some $500 million in economic activity.
In Hamilton, the 2010 bid projected the economic impact to be in the range of $1.4 billion. Halifax 2014 officials have said about $2 billion in economic spinoffs would be created by the Commonwealth Games.
Promotional material from the committee says the Games would help revitalize parts of HRM, bringing "improvements to roads and public transit, accelerated development of (a proposed) high-speed ferry service and upgrades to many existing facilities throughout" metro. The committee says the Games would lead to increased tourism, business opportunities, immigration and outside investment.
A Halifax 2014 advertisement says: "The positive effects on our economy will begin well before 2014. New businesses will flourish, along with new opportunities for existing ones."
Games foes are worried about the potential for cost overruns — metro’s bid has an undisclosed contingency fund — and the possibility of future tax increases linked to the event. The website for Halifax’s bid committee says there is "no intention or necessity for this to happen." But it acknowledges "it is impossible to predict what will happen to tax rates over the next eight years."
Hamilton’s proposal for the 2010 Commonwealth Games included a $23.5-million contingency account. Hamilton city hall, which was intending to cover 11.2 per cent of the total cost, was planning to provide deficit underwriting, subject to conditions, says a report from the Commonwealth Games Federation’s evaluation commission.
Halifax is competing against Glasgow, Scotland, and Abuja, Nigeria, for the 2014 Games. Bids are to be filed by May 9; the host site will be announced in November.
Critics have said the event is too rich for the city’s blood and could leave a legacy of debt. Supporters say the Games would bring economic benefits and have chastised media outlets for focusing too much on the estimated cost instead of the proposed boon.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/561188.html
