2022 Commonwealth Games


The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, is an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that is scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England. This is due to be the third time England has hosted the Games, after London in 1934 and Manchester in 2002.
The Games are now expected to take place between 28 July and 8 August 2022, having originally been scheduled for between 27 July and 7 August. The city was announced as the host by the Commonwealth Games Federation at a press conference at the Arena Academy in Birmingham on 21 December 2017.

Host selection

Two cities initially launched bids for the games; Durban and Edmonton. Edmonton withdrew its bid in February 2015, leaving Durban as the only bid to go forward to CGF General Assembly in September 2015. Durban initially secured the right to host the games, as they were the sole bidder for the event. The city previously considered bidding for the 2020 or 2024 Summer Olympics, but later dropped the idea as it wanted to focus on the 2022 Commonwealth Games. It would have marked the first time the games were held in Africa and the second time a Commonwealth republic would have hosted, following Delhi, India in 2010. The games were set to open on 18 July 2022, coinciding with the birthday of the late South African President, Nelson Mandela. It was reported in February 2017 that Durban may be unable to host the games due to financial constraints. This was confirmed one month later on 13 March 2017 when the CGF stripped Durban of their rights to host the Games.
was lit into different colours to celebrate the winning of the 2022 Commonwealth Games
The bidding process for the 2022 Commonwealth Games was relaunched in March 2017 where English cities Liverpool and Birmingham expressed their interests in hosting the Games. On 14 March 2017, Manchester, who previously hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games, also expressed their interest in hosting the Games. A joint bid from Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Manchester was also considered. But on 27 April 2017, the Manchester City Council announced that Manchester will not be solely bidding for the Games as they deemed it "inappropriate" for the 2002 hosts to compete against other English cities for the event, but could co-host the Games with other English cities. In April 2017, the British Government asked the city councils to submit proposals for hosting the 2022 Games. In May 2017, Mayor of London announced that London would not be hosting the Games as they were focusing on the 2017 World Athletics Championships and World Para Athletics Championships. Only Liverpool and Birmingham submitted official applications to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. In early September 2017, Birmingham was selected over Liverpool for the recommended bid for England. The CGF announced that the deadline for the submission of bids was 30 September 2017 and its executive board was expected to announce the host by the end of 2017. The Commonwealth Games England submitted the Birmingham bid before the deadline to the CGF to host the 2022 Games. However, it was announced that the bid was not fully compliant, and the bidding process was extended until 30 November 2017. The CGF had 170 questions regarding Birmingham's bid.
On 21 December 2017, Birmingham was awarded for the 2022 Games as Durban's replacement host. Louise Martin, president of the CGF, made the official announcement at a press conference at the Arena Academy in Birmingham.

Development and preparation

The Birmingham Organising Committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games is responsible for the planning and operational delivery of the Games. This includes sport, venue and competition management, ticket sales, all ceremonies and the Queen’s Baton Relay. The headquarters of the organising committee is located in One Brindleyplace building and has taken up the office until December 2022.
In March 2018, the BOCCG paid £25 million fee to the CGF for the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The fee included the £20 million for the Games hosting charges and £5 million for the development work in the Commonwealth.
In July 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed John Crabtree OBE as Chair of the BOCCG. In January 2019, Ian Reid was announced as Chief Executive Officer of the BOCCG. On 6 June 2019, the British Government introduced the Commonwealth Games bill which ensured the prohibition of unauthorised sales of Games tickets, effective flow of transport around Games venues, complete protection of commercial rights, and obey of financial propriety rules by the Government’s funding of the BOCCG. The bill received Royal Assent and was passed into law as the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020 on 25 June 2020.

Venues

The venues being used for the Games are mostly located in Birmingham and few in Coventry, Royal Leamington Spa, Sandwell and London.
The Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr, which is scheduled to host the ceremonies and athletics, will be renovated at a cost of £72 million. The stadium's seating capacity will be increased permanently from 12,700 to 18,000 and will allow more than 30,000 during the Games through additional temporary seating. Northern Irish firm McLaughlin & Harvey will redevelop the stadium.
A new aquatics centre, scheduled to host the swimming and diving events, is currently being built in Sandwell and is set to be completed in spring 2022. British firm Wates designed the aquatics centre and is constructing at a cost of £73 million.
The following venues will be used used for the Games:

Birmingham and the West Midlands

The athletes' village is currently under construction on the site of the former Birmingham City University campus in Perry Barr and is due for completion in early 2022. The Australian firm Lendlease is constructing the village at a cost of £350 million The Athletes Village will be home to over 6,500 athletes and officials during the Games and will be converted into 1,400 homes for the community following the Games. It is also the largest infrastructure project directly related to the Games. The village was designed by the British firms Glancy Nicholls Architects and Glenn Howells Architects.

Transport

The A34 flyover in Perry Barr will be demolished in favour of a dual carriageway at ground level, cycle path and improved public transport services which was approved by the Birmingham City Council in October 2019 under its £27.1 million scheme.
The city council announced in January 2020 that the existing National Express Bus Depot in Perry Barr will be demolished as the depot site will be used to construct the phase two of the athletes’ village. A new bus depot will be constructed on a largely council-owned land on Aston Lane. The new bus depot will cost £16 million, eight times its original £2 million cost.
The university railway station, which serves the University of Birmingham, will be renovated and is expected to be complete in time for the Games. The University of Birmingham is due to host hockey and squash events for the Games. The Birmingham based architectural firm Associated Architects designed the masterplan of the station's renovation. Its proposals for the stop, on the suburban line heading south-west out of the city, include a new pedestrian bridge over the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. The practice said the new station would be built adjacent to the existing station that serves the university and would be able to accommodate approximately seven million passengers a year – double the current station’s footfall. The renovation of the station will cost around £22 million. In July 2020, it was announced that the cost of the renovation was increased to £56 million, out of which £12 million will be funded by the British Government.
Transport for West Midlands will provide city's first continuous cross-city bus route in time for the Games. The new Sprint bus route will run an express service along the A34 and A45 between Walsall and Birmingham Airport and Solihull to Walsall via the city centre. The service will be zero-emission with priority signals and extended bus lanes, along with "a swift boarding experience" to improve journey times and reliability. The West Midlands Combined Authority Board will soon approve the £88 million funding and delivery schedule for Sprint, which will offer commuters and the Games visitors services to key venues including Alexander Stadium, Arena Birmingham and the Resorts World Arena.

Cost and financing

At the time of submission of the bid to the CGF, the bid committee announced that the event would cost £750 million. On 25 June 2019, the British Government announced that the event will cost £778 million. The British Government will cover the 75% of the budget and the Birmingham City Council will cover the rest 25%. The budget for the Birmingham 2022 is lower than the £967 million spent on the Gold Coast 2018, but higher than the £543 million spent on the Glasgow 2014. It will be the most expensive sporting event in the UK since the 2012 Summer Olympics in London which cost £8.8 billion.

Ticketing

Over 1 million tickets will be issued for the Games and its sale is likely to start in late 2020 or early 2021.

Security

The West Midlands Police have identified that around 3000 officers will be deployed to patrol the 2022 Commonwealth Games. 1000 of these will come from West Midlands Police and 2000 will come from mutual aid.

Countdown

A countdown clock was unveiled during the Commonwealth Day in Centenary Square on 9 March 2020, 870 days before the Games. The clock was sponsored by the Swiss Watchmaker Longines and also marked the new partnership agreement with the CGF. The clock's structure forms the shape of the "B" logo of the Games and was manufactured in England.

The Games

Sports

The official programme for the 2022 Commonwealth Games was approved by the CGF executive board on 13 August 2019. The Games will feature 19 different sports, with the introduction of para table tennis and women's cricket.
In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
On 22 December 2017, the BBC Reported that the organisers of the games were in talks with the International Cricket Council about the inclusion of women's cricket. In November 2018, the ICC confirmed that they have submitted a bid to include women's cricket in the Games. The bid was made in partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board.
It was also reported that shooting is likely to be excluded from the games citing a lack of facilities around Birmingham. Shooting has been included at every Commonwealth Games since Kingston 1966, with the exception of Edinburgh 1970. In January 2018, the dropping of shooting from the games programme was confirmed by the CEO of the CGF David Grevemberg. In December 2018, The International Shooting Sport Federation delegation including President of ISSF Vladimir Lisin and CEO of British Shooting Hamish McInnes visited Birmingham and discussed with the Birmingham organising committee to add shooting in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In December 2018, the World Archery Federation confirmed that they had delivered a proposal for archery’s inclusion in the Games. The bid was made in partnership with Archery GB and included Aston Hall as a suggested competition venue.
In June 2019, the Birmingham organising committee recommended para table tennis and beach volleyball for the Games and the proposal was approved by the CGF executive board.
The CGF officially announced on 13 August 2019 that the women's T20 cricket, beach volleyball and para table tennis have been included in the Games while archery and shooting have been excluded.
In January 2020, Indian Olympic Association which is also the entity responsible for the country's participation in the Commonwealth Games submitted a proposal to the CGF to host Archery and Shooting Championships in Chandigarh, India during January 2022 and include its medals in the final medal table of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The proposal was supported by the National Rifle Association of India, the Government of India, the ISSF and WA. The CGF Executive Board approved the proposal at their meeting in London which took place on February 21–23, 2020 and also confirmed that the 2022 Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships and the 2022 Commonwealth Games will be two separately organised and funded Commonwealth Sport events. The CGF shall issue a medal table one week following the closing ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games that includes results from the Chandigarh 2022 Commonwealth Archery and Shooting Championships, as a further and final ranking of competing nations and territories from the respective competitions.

Marketing

Emblem

The official emblem was unveiled on 27 July 2019 at the Centenary Square during the Commonwealth Social festival. It was designed by local agency RBL, based in Royal Leamington Spa and the emblem is a jagged, triangular "B" shape formed by blue-yellow gradient lines representing the key connected venues of the Games throughout the West Midlands and bringing them together to form the "B" shape. This emblem is also the first to use the new branding for the CGF, now branded as Commonwealth Sport. It has mainly received positive reaction from locals in the city and on social media and some compared it to the emblem for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Sponsors

The Swiss Watchmaker Longines had signed an agreement with the CGF to be the official partner and timekeeper for the next three editions of the Games starting from Birmingham 2022. The announcement was made when the CGF, in partnership with Longines and BOCCG revealed the Games countdown clock in the Centenary Square on 9 March 2020 during the Commonwealth Day.

Concerns and controversies

Broadcasting rights

A proposal was made for the Commonwealth Games to be added to Category A of the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events as a provision of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act, which would legally guarantee that live coverage would be available on free-to-air television in the United Kingdom. Minister for Sport Nigel Huddleston declined, stating that it could "significantly and detrimentally affect" the negotiation of broadcast rights.
In November 2019, Sky New Zealand acquired the rights to the 2022 and 2026 Games in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. In July 2020, production company Sunset+Vine was appointed as the host broadcaster for these Games.