Counting the cost of hosting

Chief Sports writer Kevin McCallum says South Africa needs to show it can host the Commonwealth Games within budget.

It was the announcement that wasn’t an announcement, which did not stop media outlets all over the land and the world shouting Durban’s victory in the one-horse race for the 2022 Commonwealth Games as “Breaking News”.

The news broke in February when Edmonton pulled out of the running, citing financial concerns. When Durban and Edmonton presented their bids to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at last year’s Games in Glasgow, the Canadians had dismissed the South African offering as leaning too heavily on Nelson Mandela, his memory and his legacy. Well, of course they used Madiba. South Africa will use his magic for years.

In a roundabout way, South Africa have two of their Brics partners to thank for getting 2022 Commonwealth Games. India made an utter mess of the 2010 Games, overspending and under-delivering. The New Delhi games cost an estimated £2.5-billion, 10 times over budget. Venues were barely ready on time, scoreboards fell down and in 2012 pictures of the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, the 60000-seater stadium that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, showed that it was in a state of neglect. The Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium is in a similar state.

There are no final figures for cost of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but the pockets for the organisers were deep to around the tune of $40-billion. This was China’s big chance to put on a smiley face for the world, a once-in-a-century PR exercise to gain the warmth of acceptance the west continues to deny it.

Their stadiums were not allowed to fall to ruin, even if the Bird’s Nest remains little more than an expensive tourist attraction with the occasional athletics meet. It costs them a pretty penny to keep them so.

With the ruins of Athens and New Delhi, and the money-no-object Olympics of Beijing firmly in mind, London and Glasgow set about putting on a modern version of the austerity games. The Olympics costs still spiralled to $15-billion, but the use of temporary structures kept costs down. Glasgow went one step further. Their budget was £575-million, around half of that for New Delhi. They repurposed the two football stadiums in the City, used existing indoor centres and upgraded others.

There was little lavishness, little flash. They wanted to put on a show and to unify a city that had had hard times. They succeeded by putting on what was the best of the three Commonwealth Games I have covered.

And, so, to Durban in 2022. The city has many of the venues in place. Costs must be watched and contracts interrogated. There is much more at stake than merely hosting a Commonwealth Games. South Africa needs to show it can do so sensibly and within budget. - The Star