Scottish government to stump up another £59m for 2014 Games 17/11/2009
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The Scottish government will contribute almost £60m more to the Commonwealth Games fund after it was confirmed that the budget for staging the 2014 event in Glasgow had risen to £454m.
The organising committee announced that the cost of staging the Games had increased by £81m and that the majority of the extra money would come from the government, which will cough up an extra £39m, plus a further £20m from a reserve fund.
The city council will provide an additional £9m, while a total of £13m will be raised through commercial activities.
Officials said a number of factors, including a rise in broadcasting costs, had led to the budget hike.
Lord Smith, chairman of the organising committee, said the cost of delivering the broadcast signal had increased “dramatically” due to advances in technology, including the introduction of high definition television, and the failure to sell the domestic rights to the BBC.
“Previous Games have been able to offset the host broadcast costs against the sale proceeds for the domestic rights,” he added.
“At this stage, the organising committee has been unable to engage the BBC on this basis and with the current categorisation of the Commonwealth Games as a ‘B list’ event, is unlikely to be able to secure another domestic broadcaster. In effect, the Commonwealth Games is viewed as a ‘BBC event’.”
Speaking at a press conference, Lord Smith continued: “None of the Games’ partners want a position to emerge where the budget keeps creeping up over the period between now and 2014, so we have approached this exercise with a desire to be as realistic as possible.
“We are all united in the belief that these Games can be the catalyst for significant change, and that they will generate enormous sporting, social and economic benefits for the whole of Scotland. We are confident that the budget announced today will enable all those potential benefits to be realised.”
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