London mayor Sadiq Khan has criticized the UK government’s plans to explore the potential of hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in the 2040s in the north of England and ultimately launching a bid that does not include his city.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport commissioned UK Sport to begin working on an initial assessment as part of an “ambitious growth drive” to help revitalize towns and cities in the region.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has already indicated that looking into the viability of hosting the Games is underway, while Khan believes having the Games in the UK should include London and its existing infrastructure from the 2012 Olympics.
“London is the sporting capital of the world and the Mayor has openly expressed his ambition for the capital to be part of a future Olympic and Paralympic Games.” a spokesperson for Khan said on Monday. “Sadiq believes that a potential country-wide bid, using all the assets we have in the UK, including the publicly-owned London Stadium would deliver the very best possible Olympics.”
But process has already moved forward without London as part of the plan with north of England leaders under The Great North partnership lobbying directly to Nandy in February to ensure that major events in the country are allocated in “fairer redistribution” with the Olympics as a main target.
“Northern Mayors and Leaders believe a Games anchored in the North would represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to accelerate regeneration, rebalance the economy, and reset international perceptions of England,” the group said in a joint letter in February. “It could act as a catalyst for long-term investment in transport, skills, housing, grassroots sport and cultural infrastructure, with benefits lasting well beyond the closing ceremony.”
The region has never held an Olympics after two failed bids from Manchester for the 1996 and 2000 Games. But the city landed the 2002 Commonwealth Games and its City of Manchester Stadium was later repurposed for professional soccer.
London would later host the 2012 Olympics, which were viewed as a major success culturally and economically, with the UK government revealing in July 2013 that a $13.5 billion boost in trade and investment was directly tied to the Games along with $3.1 billion of “additional inward investment,” $7.4 billion in sales tied to Olympic-related promotions by the now former UK Trade & Investment plus $1.9 billion in overseas contracts.
Those figures are a compelling case for Khan to take exception with his city not receiving a look toward future bids for the 2040s.
“Using London’s existing world-class infrastructure would help deliver the greenest and most sustainable Games, as well as unlocking huge economic growth both here in London and around the country,” Khan’s spokesperson said. “Not including the capital in an Olympics bid would be a missed opportunity, and mean our country fails to unleash the full benefits of a UK-wide games.”
The government has been ambitious about its ongoing plans to ensure that the UK is being considered for large scale sporting events. Last July, Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally revealed that his administration would support a bid to bring the 2029 World Athletics Championships to London, which last hosted the event in 2017.
