Edmonton, which last hosted the competition in 1978, is currently in  a race against Durban in South Africa, but the Canadian bid team believes the city is the perfect stage for the event in eight years' time.

Reg Milley, chairman of Edmonton 2022, admitted they have also looked at an Olympic and Paralympic bid but the Commonwealth Games is the main focus right now.

Edmonton will continue to chase them if the Commonwealth Games Federation names Durban as the 2022 host city at its General Assembly in Auckland, New Zealand on September 2, next year, he promised. 

"An Olympic bid is something that we have looked at and our Events Edmonton staff are continuingly looking at and analysing this," Milley told insidethegames.

"But right now we are really focused on this [the 2022 Commonwealth Games].

"If we wanted to do an Olympic bid in the future we easily could and I think what's happening now is the potential of a group of countries getting together to host and sponsor the event.

"We've got two great cities in Alberta - Calgary and Edmonton.

"We could host one between us.

"But right now we are not focused on the Olympics.

"This is something we could look at and eventually we may, but right now it's the Commonwealth Games."

Reg Milley has said Edmonton has something to offer the Commonwealth Games Movement ©Getty Images




Milley added: "The first thing that would happen [if Durban is awarded the hosting rights for the 2022 Commonwealth Games] is we would go after the next Commonwealth Games.

"We think we can really offer something.

"When I look at it from a business and cultural perspective there's just so much synergy there that we can capture.

"We would be very disappointed [if we did not win the Games].

"We would also learn a tremendous amount from bidding and be able to take those learnings onto the next Commonwealth Games."

Edmonton city manager Simon Farbrother added that the goal is to not lose the 2022 bid, which is expected to cost about CAD$7-10 million (£4-6 million/$6-9 million/€5-7 million).

Canada last hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1994 in Victoria, while the continent of Africa has never hosted the event, but Nigeria's capital Abuja did bid for this year's edition, which eventually went to Glasgow.

The next Games are set to take place in Australia's Gold Coast in 2018.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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