2014 Commonwealth Games Bid
Halifax Regional Municipality was selected as the Canadian bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, beating other Canadian municipalities such as Hamilton, Ontario, York Regional Municipality, Ontario, and Ottawa, Ontario.
The estimated costs for the games in Halifax were projected at $800 million (CAD), to which the federal government committed $400 million in the fall of 2006. Leaked information projected these costs would escalate to $1.7 billion (CAD) as the bid committee prepared for submitting the final bid information in May 2007 to the Commonwealth Games Federation.
A major cost was projected to be the construction of a 50,000 seat stadium and sports complex, including an athlete's village, on former Department of National Defence property at Shannon Park on the Dartmouth waterfront. Officials had estimated these facilities would cost $163 million alone. Shannon Park was chosen as the most suitable location since it is situated on the Halifax Harbour where proposed high speed ferries could connect to other parts of Bedford Basin and the downtown central business district, as well as being situated astride several major highways and a rail line.
On March 8, 2007 the provincial and municipal governments issued a joint statement withdrawing Halifax from the bidding process for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, citing the projected costs to public finances and lack of available funding.
Halifax's withdrawal left two remaining bids under consideration: Abuja, Nigeria and Glasgow, United Kingdom. The Commonwealth Games Federation announced at a meeting in Sri Lanka on November 9, 2007 that Glasgow would host the 2014 Games.
Read more about this topic: Sports In The Halifax Regional Municipality
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