(ATR) The bid committee and a logo for the Edmonton 2022 Commonwealth Games were unveiled during Canada Day celebrations at Edmonton City Hall on Tuesday.
Reg Milley, former Edmonton Airports president and CEO, has enthusiastically accepted the position of chairman of the bid committee for Edmonton 2022.
"It took me ten seconds to decide I wanted to lead Edmonton's bid to bring the Commonwealth Games back to Edmonton and Canada," Milley told Around the Rings.
His goal for the bidding campaign is to ensure the 71 voters that there isn’t any doubt that Edmonton is the best place to hold the 2022 Commonwealth Games. If selected, Edmonton will host 4,500 athletes from 70 countries for the two-week event.
According to both Milley and Mayor Don Iveson, the bidding campaign will focus on the city’s success hosting the 1978 Commonwealth Games.
"1978 was a game changer for Edmonton, and 2022 is another chance for us to help lift the Commonwealth Games to another level thanks to the passion, spirit, and commitment to sporting excellence that Edmonton will bring to the Games," Milley said.
"We’ve got a great track record of hosting flawless events. We’ve got great community buy-in to do it, and Edmonton is really well-positioned," Iveson told ATR.
"It’s a good size of city to do this, and we have a lot of the facilities already in place."
Bid packages for the 2022 Commonwealth Games are due in March 2015. The host city will be announced on September 2, 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Written by Andrew Murrell
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.