The closure of the 16th Commonwealth Games by the Queen in September 1998 marked the start of a new stage in Manchester’s long and distinguished history.
During the closing ceremony, watched by a TV audience of around 500 million, the ‘Friendly Games’ were passed on to the people of Manchester. The focal point of the 17th Commonwealth Games will be Sportcity, the biggest sporting development in British history. Central to Sportcity, located in Eastlands in east Manchester, will be the 48,000-capacity Millennium Stadium. Just a mile from the City Centre, the £90 million stadium will transform the City’s landscape with its distinctive circular form and 75 metre-high masts.
The Sports Council has contributed £77 million of the £90 million needed to build the stadium with the outstanding £13 million provided by the City Council. The stadium will be built in two phases: 21,000 covered seats will be ready for the Commonwealth Games athletics events in 2002, and the second phase will involve the expansion of the stadium to a seated capacity of 48,000.
Manchester City Football Club will take over the stadium when the Games have finished if shareholders and fans agree to the move. Sportcity will also include a new £3.5 million Indoor Tennis Initiative, the existing Velodrome and a Sports Academy dedicated to nurturing young sporting talent throughout the North West.
The Academy will be a world class venue, boasting a range of facilities including:
- A large sports hall which can be sub- divided into four stand-alone sports halls.
- A Gymnastics High Performance Centre.
- A Sports Injury and Sports Medicine facility.
- A floodlit all-weather athletics track with indoor athletic facilities.
- A floodlit all-weather sports pitch.
- Accommodation and training facilities for the nation’s elite sports squads.
- A resource centre for local clubs/leagues and regional governing bodies.
Sportcity will be one of numerous Commonwealth Games venues throughout the City. The City Centre will be home to boxing, gymnastics and netball, which will be shared between the G-Mex Centre and Europe’s largest indoor area, the Manchester Evening News Arena. Weightlifting events will be held in the Royal Northern College of Music. A new state-of-the-art aquatics centre, one of the most comprehensive swimming facilities in Europe, being built on Oxford Road, will host the watersport competitions.
Manchester’s accessibility and high quality public transport system were key factors in its successful bid to host the Games. Most visitors will arrive in the city via Manchester airport, which will have a second operational runway by 2002 and will be handling more than 25 million passengers a year. Once in the city people can move easily between all venues using public transport, including the Metrolink tram system.
The Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games will be more than just a sporting event, it will ensure the longterm regeneration and sustainability of East Manchester and enhance Manchester’s international standing and profile