Halifax's Commonwealth Games bid tops $14M

Halifax's attempt tobecome the host of the 2014 Commonwealth Gameswill cost $14.3 million, organizers said Thursday.

The federal and provincial governments will contribute $3.5 million each, while the municipality will provide $3 million.Corporate donors will add $3.7 million.

The bid committee also expects to raise $580,000 through merchandise and lottery ticket sales.

That budget is several million dollars more than what the city of Hamilton spent trying to land the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

ButScott Logan, chief executive officer of the bid committee, said there are more stringent requirements now and his team wants to be completely prepared.

"It clearly is a different bid at a different time," Logan said.

"We're not going to see the kinds of overruns that other games have seen. That's because we're investing more now to get better numbers for later."

Halifax is competing against Glasgow, Scotland, and Abuja, Nigeria, for the sporting event, which involves athletes from 71 countries.

The final bids must bein by next May. The Commonwealth Games Federation will announce the winner in November 2007.

The Halifax bid committee says the $14.3 million will be spent on planning and designing venues and facilities, as well as hiring experts to sell the bid locally and internationally.

That money only covers the cost of vying for the event, not hosting it.

Reluctance to release figures

The bid committee isn't saying what the cost of staging the Games would be, but estimates range between $800 million and $1 billion.

The federal minister of sport, Peter Van Loan, said Thursday that Ottawa would contribute a maximum of $400 million if Halifax wins the bid.

Bid committee members have been reluctant to release figures, saying they didn't want to tip their hand to competitors.

A delegation will travel to Sri Lanka next year for the final presentation and vote.

Halifax won the right to be the Canadian bid city in 2004. The price tag for that domestic bid was $750,000.