The Birmingham bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games was a bid by

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Commonwealth Games England Commonwealth Games England (CGE) is the national Commonwealth Games Association for England. The council is responsible for supporting and managing the participation of Team England at the Commonwealth Games'. Predecessor The Commonwealth Gam ...

to host the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

. On 21 December 2017 it was announced that the bid has been successful.

Background

was actually planning to bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. On 13 March 2017,

Commonwealth Games Federation The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), currently known as Commonwealth Sport, is the international organisation responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games, and is governing body of the ...

stripped

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

of their rights to host the

and reopened the bid process for the 2022 games. On 19 June 2017

announced its bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games along with unveiling of its bid logo. The bid had the full support of:

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

; three regional local enterprise partnerships (

Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership The Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) is one of 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships set up by Government to drive economic development in England. Established in May 2011, the LEP covers the geographical boundaries o ...

;

Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership Black is a color which results from the absence or complete Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of visible spectrum, visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or fi ...

; Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership); the

West Midlands Combined Authority The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is a combined authority for the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom. It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Ac ...

, the West Midlands Growth Company and the newly elected

Mayor of West Midlands The Mayor of the West Midlands is a directly elected political post who chairs the West Midlands Combined Authority, covering the Birmingham metropolitan area and Coventry. The first election took place on Thursday 4 May 2017. Andy Street, th ...

Andy Street Andrew John Street (born 11 June 1963) is a British businessman and Conservative Party politician who was the managing director of John Lewis from 2007 to 2016, when he resigned to run for Mayor of the West Midlands. Street won the May 2017 ma ...

. Four-time Olympic gold medallist and multiple world champion Sir

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...

and CEO of

Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Pa ...

Keith Wyness Keith Wyness (born 26 October 1958) is a Scottish businessman and football executive, most recently he was the Chief Executive of Aston Villa football club. He previously held the same position at Scottish Premier League club Aberdeen and later ...

also supported the bid. Birmingham had also bid to host the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, but

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

was selected.

Previous events hosted

Birmingham has a track record of delivering large international sporting and cultural events, such as: *

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

test matches *

1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Birmingham,Great Britain. There was no team competition at this meet; gymnasts competed in the all-around and event finals only. The opening ceremony took place on 12 April at the Na ...

* Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships since 1994 * 1995 World Netball Championships *

Eurovision Song Contest 1998 The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcas ...

* 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships *

2010 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 29th European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held from 21 to 25 April 2010 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The senior and junior events are different. During the senior's qualification the top eight teams progress to ...

2011 Trampoline World Championships The 28th Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships were held in Birmingham, England, from 17 to 20 November 2011 at the National Indoor Arena. This event was the first qualifying round for the 2012 Olympics which was held in London. The top 8 ...

* 2012 UCI BMX World Championships *

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

fixtures * 2017 ICC Champions Trophy * 2018 World Indoor Athletics Championships *

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

Davis Cup tennis ''Tennis Cup'' is a sports game developed by Loriciel in 1990 for various home computers. It was ported to TurboGrafx-16 in 1991 as ''Davis Cup Tennis'', and to Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, Mega Drive/Genesis in 1993. A Game Boy Advance port w ...

* Aegon Classic tennis championships

Venues

Birmingham has a number of existing sports venues, arenas and conference halls that are suited for hosting sport during the Games. 95% of the competition venues were already in place for the 2022 games.

Alexander Stadium Alexander Stadium is a track and field athletics stadium in Perry Park, Birmingham, England. It hosted the athletics and opening/closing ceremonies of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Other events held there include the annual British Grand Prix ...

which will host the ceremonies and athletics will be renovated and the capacity will be increased from 12,000 to 50,000 seats. A 400-metre warm up track will also be developed. This would leave the stadium well placed to become the home of

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The orga ...

, hosting all the major national and international competitions after the Games. Genting Arena

Venues in Birmingham

Venues outside Birmingham

References

External links

Bid Website
{{Bids for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, state=autocollapse 2022 Commonwealth Games bids Birmingham, West Midlands-related lists Sport in Birmingham, West Midlands 2022 in English sport International sports competitions in Birmingham, West Midlands Sport at the University of Birmingham