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Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Mike Fennell said he believed Glasgow won the 2014 Commonwealth Games bid because its proposals had been “very well prepared”.

He said, “Glasgow put forward a very strong, very professional bid for the games and they were always going to be hard to beat. We are extremely confident that the county, the city, and its organizing committee will deliver excellent games in 2014”.

Fennel added the bid “was thoroughly looked at. They understood the requirements of the game”.

Hundreds of people gathered to hear the result in Glasgow’s George Square and motorists joined in the celebrations by blaring their horns.

But although Glasgow was prepared to host the games there were some at the BBC that weren’t quite prepared. While CGF President Mike Fennel was saying, “I announce that the host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games will be Glasgow”, a special edition of a local Scottish news program called “Reporting Scotland” was interviewing children in a Glasgow school about the bid.

By the time BBC Scotland switched to the Sri Lanka hotel where the vote was taking place it has missed the moment by seconds and instead showed the Glasgow delegation jumping for joy. It seems the nine journalists the BBC sent to Sri Lanka to provide live coverage of the announcement missed the boat and when the BBC realized it, it was too late.

A spokesman for BBC Scotland said, “we were trying to get the announcement itself. But we got little warning when the announcement was made. We were broadcasting live from a school and quickly cut to get the result. They missed the announcement itself by a few seconds”.

He added, “if viewers felt disappointed at not getting the announcement, then that is something we are sorry for. It is a live situation and it is unfortunately that sometimes things like this happen. Overall the program captured the mood in the run-up to it”.

(Source: Gamesbids.com)