Another costly gamble?
Despite eventful last-minute lobbying, Hambantota received just 27 votes, while Games-ready Gold Coast was endorsed by 43 Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) members. The CGF described Sri Lanka’s bid as “largely virtual” and offered medium to high risk.
The bid to host the Games in deeply rural Hambantota was only based on an elaborate dream. The proposal was conjured out of thin air by Namal Rajapaksa, the former President’s sporty oldest son who incidentally now hold the position of the Minister of Sports.
NOC now thinks they could convince the minister to go for it once again, despite questions being asked about the feasibility of such multi-billion rupee projects.
“The 2018 bid failed because we did not plan it well in advance,” said NOC Secretary General Maxwell de Silva. “They should know us. At that point we were not very well-known with them. Now we have the majority (nations) with us.”
The NOC Secretary General floated the idea after the organisers of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games announced this week that athletes and team officials will be housed in three ‘campus’ villages at The University of Birmingham, The University of Warwick, and The NEC Hotel Campus.
“This is a good model for Sri Lanka to emulate for future Games by building a good university with high level accommodation and then bid for 2030 Commonwealth Games,” said de Silva.
“For me it’s a new trend I feel most of other countries and organisers should emulate. Then the cost comes down drastically. You don’t have to specially build an Athletes’ Village. My way of looking at it is to build a super quality university with hostel facilities where we can accommodate Commonwealth Games athletes and officials numbering 6,500,” he explained.
He shot down the idea of having a separate Sports University when there are similar faculties in Colombo, Sri Jayewardenapura and Sabaragamuwa universities.
“I think it’s a premature thing to talk about it. For me the important thing if you are looking at projecting the image of the country, if we can afford to do it, we should look at building a university in some area with top-end residential facilities. The new (Sports) minister can look at it. This could be a great idea to look at if you put in one place. If we have some facility in Colombo or Diyagama we can develop them or a university in Hambantota according to international standards. That way you kill two birds with one cost,” he said.
Maxwell de Silva also proposed co-hosting the Games with Maldives and doing away with conducting the event in a single city.
“One way to look at it is part of the Games could be held in Maldives. They will be interested to do three or four disciplines, maybe some indoor sports. Then you can do part in Colombo and some in the outstations. They (Maldives) will be interested because they can’t hold the Games alone. I think it will become easier. Even SAF (South Asian) Games we are going to hold it this way since Maldives is interested in hosting a few sports,” he said pointing out that co-hosting Games is nothing new just like Japan and South Korea organised the 2002 Football World Cup.
The NOC Secretary General boldly proclaimed that Sri Lanka could bid for either 2026 or 2030 Commonwealth Games.
“I think if somebody is coming forward we can beat them. We are fairly known in the Commonwealth. For 2026 they are still talking about it and not finalised anything,” said de Silva, who has been with the NOC since 2009 and has nearly two decades of experience in sports administration.
The CGF has given the city of Hamilton, a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, a September deadline to secure the necessary government backing to bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, according to some reports.
Canada had originally planned to try for the 2030 games to celebrate the centenary of its hosting of the inaugural edition of the event in 1930 – then called the British Empire Games – but the CGF requested it consider a 2026 bid, reassuring it that it is unlikely to be challenged for the earlier event.
Significantly, Sri Lanka’s bid is being revived when those who participated in the 2018 Hambantota venture are back in the driving seat. Hambanthota District parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa is now the Sports Minister while former co-chairman of the bid committee Ajith Nivard Cabraal is the State Minister for Finance and Capital Markets and Public Enterprise Reforms.
Since 2017, the CGF has tried to provide more commercial support and guidance to potential host cities through CGF Partnerships, a joint venture with the Lagardère Sports agency. Under the new model, the CGF acts as a ‘host city partner’, helping cities to refine their delivery models and produce more sustainable events that are better aligned with their own development goals, it was reported.