NathanielBorody
New Member
If the bid is successful and both Edmonton and Calgary host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, it makes EllisDon’s Prairie Link High-Speed Rail project even more likely to happen than it already was.
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- Thread starter NathanielBorody
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BASE
Active Member
Would have to be started yesterday to have any chance of opening in time for the games with the way projects seem to go.
CaptainBL
Active Member
Funny that the announcement was made in Calgary and not co-announcements made in Edmonton and Calgary, given that, well you know, its being hosted by both cities. Of course the de facto capital of Alberta gets the announcement.
David A
Senior Member
I'm not much of a fan of these joint city events. It makes it so spread out and logistically challenging.
I get that winter Olympics require mountains, so that requires a location that may be a bit away from the host city, but this is a summer event.
Edmonton has many facilities and could host again with some upgrades. Calgary needs more facilities, but maybe the province doesn't want to pay for too much.
This seems like a compromise forced on the cities by a province trying to cheap out.
Tropical
New Member
Calgary is that much more prominent. And that's ok!
CaptainBL
Active Member
Then why aren't they hosting the event all by themselves?
occidentalcapital
Senior Member
Edmonton just needs to keep growing faster than Calgary and the prominence will shift.
David A
Senior Member
Yet interestingly, it was Edmonton that actually hosted the Commonwealth Games previously. I don't think it has much to do with prominence, just a half baked idea to save money on facilities. For a such supposedly rich province (or is that just until after the election?), Alberta can be both dumb and cheap.
BASE
Active Member
My pessimistic view is Edmonton is being brought in to make it more palatable with respect to provincial support and because of the stadium with the track. Calgary will probably get some nice new facilities and Edmonton might get some money for Commonwealth which is great but I start to wonder if that is best use of our facility bucks. Heck of a facility for the one off events but at this point might not be what is needed for the everyday tenants.
David A
Senior Member
Sounds about right, the "prominence" is political. The province wants a way to add some nice new facilities in Calgary, but don't want to go as far as a new stadium (the cheap out part).
So Calgary will be sold that they are getting some new facilities and a big part of a prominent event. They will be given the impression they are the horses head and Edmonton will be the horses behind. I have been around here a long time and my bs meter is going off big time on this one.
Tropical
New Member
The prominence is $ related. This happens all over the world (not just in Alberta). Vancouver is Montreal's equal these days - which is a little ridiculous considering the very large size difference. Swiss cities smaller than Winnipeg are a known quantity all over the planet. African cities larger than New York are relatively unknown.
Calgary is very slightly more economically and culturally prominent. That is fine.
Calgary is very slightly more economically and culturally prominent. That is fine.
David A
Senior Member
If the main criteria for hosting the Commonwealth Games was being a regional business centre, then I suppose Calgary is prominent enough. However we are not talking about the summer olympics here, this is not this level/type of event that tends to go to major world cities with over 5 or 10 million people.
Vancouver is prominent for other reasons because of its location, geography climate, proximity to Asia. If you are in the francophone world (some commonwealth countries are) Montreal may be far more prominent to them than Vancouver.
Cities have a variety of aspects and it is simplistic and I feel not accurate to divide them into arbitrary categories of prominent or not and only the prominent ones are worthy of events.
Vancouver is prominent for other reasons because of its location, geography climate, proximity to Asia. If you are in the francophone world (some commonwealth countries are) Montreal may be far more prominent to them than Vancouver.
Cities have a variety of aspects and it is simplistic and I feel not accurate to divide them into arbitrary categories of prominent or not and only the prominent ones are worthy of events.
Tropical
New Member
This isn't arbitrary. It's evidence-based: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization_and_World_Cities_Research_Network
Garneau2Go
Active Member
If we're going to host it and have a whole bunch of money going into facilities built or upgraded I'd rather it be held in one city, and that one city be Edmonton almost exclusively because I live here and not Calgary.
David A
Senior Member
We also have more existing facilities from having hosted it before, so cost wise it would make more sense.
It probably is a better experience for the athletes and visitors to have the event focused on one place, easier to coordinate and more efficient cost wise too.