With the concerns mounting regarding the preparedness of New Delhi for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Cardiff has chosen to announce its desire to put in a bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Working in conjunction with the Council’s in Swansea and Newport means, according to senior Council sources, would mean that the event could be staged without significant expenditure on infrastructure.

This ambitious plan based on the belief that the Commonwealth Games could come to the United Kingdom for the third time in twenty years represents another stage in the emergence of Cardiff and Wales as a major global sporting venue. During the last ten years the City of Cardiff has hosted the IRB Rugby World Cup, the first Ashes Test on non English soil and countless domestic football finals whilst Wembley was built rebuilt, In 2010 the staging of the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor (Newport) will further boost the sporting reputation and organizational capacity of Wales.

However, at a time of ambivalence towards the 2012 Olympics coupled with the lack of perceived Welsh benefit when compared with the budgetary constraints faced as a consequence of funding 2012, championing a bid to maximize Cardiff’s commercial and sporting potential is a high risk strategy when a period of consolidation is probably wiser as the new SWALEC and City of Cardiff Stadia are very much in their infancy