2026 Commonwealth Games

It’s reported that the 23^rd edition of the Commonwealth Games are expected to get a bid from Liverpool.

The City’s Mayor Joe Anderson indicated and announced that he plans to explore the possibility, depending on if he wins a re-election next month.

Following a recent letter to Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, he (Anderson) indicated he wanted the Merseyside city to follow some of the recent British hosts (Manchester and Glasgow) in staging the event in 10 years.

Glasgow held the games two years ago and in 2018 they will be held in Gold Coast in Australia (2018) and Durban in 2022.

Being focused and pro-active Liverpool Mayor Anderson has made it one of his election ambitions to look into the possibility as a host city.

Mayor Anderson is seeking a second term in office and mentioned if he keeps his position as Mayor he will begin assessing the cost around hosting the 2026 Games in Liverpool.

Mayor Anderson has already spoken with the team that brought the Games to Glasgow in 2014 about the process, while he has also held preliminary discussions with Communities Secretary Greg Clark.

‘I look at the city of Liverpool and what we’ve done in cultural terms and I don’t think anyone does culture, sport and events like we do,’ he said.

The neighboring City of Manchester hosted the 2002 Games in what is now Manchester City’s stadium can still be seen after the Eastland’s area of the city was completely transformed.

Mayor Anderson believes certain areas of Merseyside would also benefit from regeneration should the Games be staged in Liverpool, but knows he will need to discuss the level of funding with the government.

In preparing the event for Glasgow two years ago, the Scottish Government provided 80 per cent of the public cost.

‘With TV rights, sponsorship, the private sector, I’m sure we could put a package together of funding that enables us to go ahead.

It’s interesting to note that Edmonton officially announced (February 11/2015) it withdrew its bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, citing financial reasons and a fall in oil prices.

Apparently the bid team will focus time and resources on the 2026 event, which by then the Province and City should be better suited financially to host the games.

Other bidding Cities include Birmingham Papua New Guinea, so it’ll be interesting to see who gets the bid?