The Government of Alberta has pulled its support for a bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, effectively terminating the effort to secure a bid for the games.
A joint bid had been considered for the 2030 Games, in partnership with the cities of Edmonton and Calgary, the province, the Tsuut’ina Nation, Enoch Cree Nation and Government of Canada.
The plan was to host the games over 11 days in August 2030 with competitions and events between Calgary, Edmonton, Tsuut’ina Nation, the Bow Valley and other communities across Alberta.
Late Wednesday, the province notified the Alberta 2030 Commonwealth Bid Committee, the group working to secure a bid, that it was pulling out of the effort, according to a statement from the group.
Tourism and Sport Minister Joseph Schow confirmed to Global News that financial feasibility concerns prompted the province to pull its support.
“Alberta has a successful history of hosting major, international multi-sport games in our province and any proposal to host major games is considered with the interests of Alberta taxpayers at top of mind,” said Schow in a statement sent Thursday afternoon.
“We promised to remain transparent with Albertans about the costs of hosting international sporting events and clearly demonstrating a return on our investment for the people and communities of Alberta.
“In the case of the 2030 Commonwealth Games, the numbers just didn’t add up for our government to commit taxpayers’ money with the games estimated to cost $2.68 billion.
“The corporate sponsorship model and limited broadcast revenues for the Commonwealth Games would have put 93 per cent of financial burden and risks on Albertans.”
A decision on moving forward with a bid was expected this month as bids for the 2030 Games are due to the Commonwealth Games Federation by Aug. 31.
“In less than a month we were going to share the plan with the public and were eager to have an open dialogue about community priorities, advancing Reconciliation and building a vision as Albertans that we could collectively work towards,” Alberta 2030 Commonwealth Bid Committee officials said in a statement to Global News. “We are disappointed with the unexpected decision by the Government of Alberta and will not be commenting further at this time.”
Source : Global News
