The City of Prince George will submit a bid to host the BC Summer Games for the first time since 1990, but the games are still a long ways off, as the next available host years are 2020 and 2022.
For now, the next step is for an independent bid committee to form.
“Once we’re awarded, and I’m confident we will be, a local host society will be formed,” says Manager of Community Partnerships Brad Beckett, “The bid society will cease to exist and a new host society will be created.”
The City has decided to commit 10 thousand dollars to develop a bidding package, saying these games come with a considerably cheaper price tag than other events.
“These games don’t have the capital dollars attached anywhere near to what the Canada Winter Games did,” says Beckett, “So whatever upgrades we do would be relatively minor overall… It’s relatively small in terms of capital needed to host.”
Hosting would cost an estimated $45,000 dollars, which Councillor Jillian Merrick thinks pales in comparison to the costs Council has had to deal with in the past.
Councillor Garth Frizzell thinks the games would be a perfect gift to leave for the future Council as well.
“These are in high demand, we’ve demonstrated that we are an excellent place to host events, and that we have the capacity here to do it,” Says Frizzell, “I understood that there was a report last week about the Canada Winter Games and the legacy it left behind was in the $70 million range.”
Council also decided to allocate $30,000 a year to a Community Celebrations Program in the form of grants for various projects.
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