Games bid backers disappointed with rejection
The New Zealand Olympic Committee and Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey believe Auckland could have won the right to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games if the Government hadn't sunk the bid by refusing to fund it.
Prime Minister John Key said yesterday the games would have run at a projected loss of $600 million.
"It's very, very expensive and we can't see the economic pay back...the loss was so great we couldn't justify it," he told reporters.
But NZOC secretary-general Barry Maister told NZPA the committee was disappointed by the decision because it believed Auckland could have won the bid and successfully hosted the games, although he understood the Government's position.
"We're disappointed, but not totally surprised," he said.
"We know we could have done it."
Mayor Harvey said Auckland should have put in a bid.
"I've always thought we should be in the race, and I think we would get the games for Auckland," he said.
"We thrive as a nation on tourism, and we thrive on showcasing who we are and what we are."
Auckland Mayor John Banks was also disappointed, but told NZPA there was simply no money.
"In the context of the global recession it was always going to be a big ask," he said.
"The cost benefit analysis at this time does not stack up. There is no spare cash from the ratepayers and the Government is borrowing $240m a week for the next 200 weeks."
Mr Maister said he hoped New Zealand could host a future Commonwealth Games after 2018.
The feasibility study had shown it had the capability and the capacity to win a bid.
Christchurch hosted the games in 1974 and Auckland in 1990.
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Comments and questions5
And Auckland hosted the event in 1950 too
Whew! A sensible outcome! We are being shafted by the RWC nonsense - let's avoid another spending binge. Having been in Delhi briefly last week, I was stunned by the amount of spending in evidence. Not just stadia, but also massive infrastructural works. What is it about NZ local government that makes its members think the rates pool is bottomless?
Why do we always think about the annual 2% rate increase limit first.....and then say "No".
The new world is passing us by.
What happened to last month's "back office" idea from Key and Co. You only get to be the back office over 5-10 years, with the rush coming at the end. There will be many other countries/ cities like Singapore etc looking to do the same thing....all higher up on the excitement pole than we are for Europeans and North Americans wanting a good excuse (one their tax man can wear too) to come to a warm clime at the northern hemisphere low.
What a chance to sell Auckland as the world comes out of recession, the blip of the RWC long forgotten....and all for the exaggerated loss of two weeks of current borrowings!
Key was too scared to stand up like a Jafa and tell the rest of the country to live with it.
These things are near invariably a colossal waste; opinion of Key has gone up.
The cost-benefit analyses that back up the cases for these bids are generally terrible: overstate benefits by order of magnitude with dodgy multipliers, lowball the costs....
When both Bob Harvey and the NZOC agree there will always be an immediate need for concern.
Both are anachronisms, and neither has a history of careful use of taxpayers money.
The Commonwealth Games are only worth considering when there are limited facilities for construction and it is clear projected adequate visitor numbers at the pessimistic end of the scale more than justify it.
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