Toronto's Pan Am bid comes to $2.4B

Toronto's bid for the Pan American Games in 2015 will amount to $2.4 billion, and create several new sports facilities and housing units for the province.

David Peterson, chair of the bid,says the price tag includes a budget of $1.4 billion for the Games themselves and $1 billion for an athlete's village.

The original budget was reportedly about $1.8 billion, although Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty slashed that by $300 million in January because of the economic downturn.

The bid includes more than 50 venues, including six new facilities to be built in Toronto, Markham and Hamilton.

Jagoda Pike, president of the bid group, says getting the Games would be a "significant" win for the region.

"It's 10,000 participants.It's second only in size to the Summer Olympics," said Pike.

Peterson presented a copy of the bid book to the premier in Toronto, and will be travelling to Mexico to submit the bid to the president of the Pan American Sports Organization in Mexico on Thursday.

Both Peterson and McGuinty say they believe Canada has a good chance of winning the Games, and they would boost interest in sportswhile leaving the province with dozens of state-of-the art sports facilities.

The other competing cities are Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia.

The final decision will be made by the organizing committee in the fall.