In the wake of Durban, South Africa having been stripped of hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, several cities around the world have stepped up to at least express an interest. Among them is another city within the continent already set to host the 2018 version.
Gold Coast, Australia is gearing up for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and now Sydney has joined the list of prospective cities poised to throw in a bid for 2020. In fact, Australia Commonwealth Games Association President Sam Coffa stated this week that a backup plan for an Australian city to host the event has been in the background for virtually the past year.
“As early as August [last year] I put my hand up to say [to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF)] ‘should there be a problem with a host city for 2022, then Australia would consider hosting the Games in Australia’,” he said. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Along with Sydney, the Australian cities of Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne have also vocalized potential interest in taking on the quadrennially held international event, the latter city of which hosted the 2006 edition of the Games. Edmonton, Canada, as well as Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester in England have expressed an interest in recent weeks.
The Commonwealth Games Federation hasn’t released an exact time frame for a replacement host to be announced, although it is expected to be selected by the end of 2017.
Falkland Islands in 2022, the obvious choice.
I suspect the event goes to Canada – England hosted in 2002, Australia in 2006/2018. It would be for the best of the games to send them to Canada.