MEDICINE HAT, AB — The 2022 Special Olympic Canada Summer Games could be coming to Medicine Hat.
On Monday June 3, city council will decide whether to submit a $300,000 bid to host the event.
An enthusiastic public services committee passed the decision off to city council for final decision during their meeting Monday afternoon.
“We’ve certainly been successful in hosting the 2017 Alberta Special Olympics,” says James Will, general manager for parks and recreation with the city. “And looking forward hopefully for a successful bid for this for 2022.”
If Medicine Hat were chosen as the host city, it would be the first time the games have been held in Alberta in 30 years.
Nearly 1,100 athletes, 300 support personnel and 2,800 out of town visitors would be expected to make their way to the Gas City.
First, the city must provide a grant of $300,000 to the bid committee.
The city is also required to act as a guarantor for the amount of $2.1 million. The guarantee would only be required if the game’s revenues don’t offset its expenses.
However, Will isn’t worried.
“We’re asking for council direction to backstop the overall budget for games of about $2.1 million,” says Will. “Although it important to note that any of the previous games have not realized any loss so we certainly think its a good investment for the city.”
The public services committee referenced Nova Scotia, who hosted the games in 2018. Antigonish was the host city, earning an economic impact of $8.7 million.
“We are actually a bigger community, there’s certainly a potential for us to realize a larger economic impact than they did in Nova Scotia,” says Will. “So that would be a very positive impact for the community for sure.”
Local facilities would be utilized, and provided to the games for free. The city would likely develop partnerships with local school divisions and the track association.
“Utilizing whether its high school facilities, City of Medicine Hat owned facilities like the Family Leisure Centre with our pool and the gymnasium we’ve got a number of places like ball diamonds and the Crescent Heights High School track.” said Will.
Although it’s unknown who else is bidding, the city confident that its reputation of hosting previous sporting events will help its case.
“Well we don’t know who else is bidding, we just think we’re going to stand on our reputation as a community where we’ve hosted successful games,” says Will. “We’ve got a number of really active volunteers in the community and I think its important to note that these games typically are successful because of the volunteers.”
The host community is expected to be announced in September.
