ENOUGH is enough.
We have firmly backed the principal of event tourism, whereby the Scottish Government has bankrolled sport and cultural events through Eventscotland. Cost benefit analysis has demonstrated its efficacy. The announcement that Glasgow is bidding to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, though, seems several steps too far.
The lure of being designated "Olympic City" seems to have gone to the heads of those who have approved this. It has been acknowledged for some time at Westminster level and in the corridors of the 2012 Olympic organising committee that, had the current economic climate prevailed when London was bidding, there would have been no 2012 bid.
Well, despite the conditions which prevail now, Glasgow is bidding for the YOG. It may not surprise you to learn that no other UK city wanted them. Glasgow is the sole UK candidate, as confirmed by the British Olympic Association.
The city confirmed yesterday that the cost of bidding would be between £1.5m and £2m but would give no figure for the actual cost of staging YOG. No more could Eventscotland. "The actual figure will come out of the process as we work up the bid," said a spokesman. Both declined to comment on our belief that the cost be close to £200m. Reticence is understandable, but silence is the preserve of those with something to hide.
Are we really to believe that Glasgow and Eventscotland have entered this expensive race with no idea of the entry fee? We do hope not. The cost of hosting Glasgow 2014 has escalated from £288m to £530m. The London Olympics and Paralympics were originally budgeted at £2.37bn. It's likely to cost more than five times that.
So it is prudent to be concerned about the cost of the Youth Olympics in Glasgow. The best guide we can give is the inaugural Olympic Youth Games, in Singapore two years ago. They cost £186m, almost three times the original estimate figure. For Glasgow to consider such expenditure in the current climate, when the potential return is miserable, defies belief. Glasgow has had difficulty in finding a host broadcaster for 2014. That's nothing to the difficulty of finding one for the 2018 YOG, when no identifiable celebrity will be competing. They will be equally unattractive to commercial sponsors.
Spectators? Can you imagine a rush for tickets by Scots when the GB team is likely to contain few, if any, Scots? Team GB in Singapore numbered 39. Only two were Scots: the modern pentathlete Kerry Prise from Aberdeenshire, and the triathlete Andrew Hood, from Fife.
There is every danger that Glasgow could win host status. Thus far, other candidates include Glasgow's former Commonwealth Games rivals, Abuja, where Boko Haram, an Islamist group aligned with Al Quaeda, attacked the UN building last August killing 23 people. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office notes a current "high threat of terrorism in Nigeria". Last month the same jihadist group killed 185 people in Kano, some 200 miles from Abuja, and this week explosions and gunfire were reported there prompting FCO to advise against all but essential travel.
Other candidates are:
l Guadalajara, Mexico. F&CO advises that, nationally, "crime and kidnapping can be a problem, particularly in urban areas". The state of Jalisco, of which the city is capital, suffered 593 drug-related killings in 2010. Guadalajara has witnessed isolated grenade attacks and last year road blockades were set up on the main road between the city and its airport;
l Medellin, Colombia, home of an infamous drug cartel. F&CO warn of "a high threat from terrorism. Continued, violent, indiscriminate attacks targeting government and military installations, embassies, public transport, public spaces, and other areas frequented by foreigners occur throughout Colombia";
l Kaspiysk, Russia. F&CO "advise against all travel . . . because of the security situation . . . terrorism and kidnapping in the region are a serious risk". It is notorious for a street bomb a decade ago which killed 40 people including women and children, and injured 133. Five months ago a police officer was killed and more than 60 injured in a bomb blast just 11 miles away in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala;
l Buenos Aires, Argentina, where anti-British feeling over Falklands issues persist, though there are no F&CO travel restrictions.
Sweden's Olympic Committe have invited Malmo, Gothenburg and Stockholm to consider bidding. If they do, Glasgow might then have a serious rival.
Far better, surely, than forcing Glasgow to sign a blank cheque, would be for this money to be spent as Eventscotland has been doing: by investing in individual events. For the £186m it cost Singapore, Glasgow – Scotland – could host dozens of world, European and Commonwealth championships over a period, all of these would have a far greater beneficial effect on Scotland's economy, and would do far more to establish Scotland's credibility as an international sports venue than the YOG.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article