Birmingham is to bid for dozens of sporting events – including the World Indoor Athletics Championships – to make up for ‘missing out’ on the Olympic legacy.

City council chiefs will next week formally approve a £2.5 million bid to stage the World Indoor Athletics Championships in 2016 at the NIA – but they also plan a number of other events.

These include world championships in gymnastics, swimming, judo and table tennis – which have all enjoyed a boom in the UK following the London Games last year.

Steve McCabe MP (Lab Selly Oak) welcomed the plans, as he believes the city – which was notable for none of its residents winning a gold medal – has seen little benefit from the billions invested in the Games, and does not receive enough funding.

He said: “All of the talk about the Olympics was about the legacy, and I don’t honestly think we have done terribly well out of it until now, so I think it is a good thing. What matters is that we get proper recognition from the lottery and Sport England and government and other charities, so hard-pressed council tax-payers don’t have to fund this.

“If you look at how London has benefited from lottery funding through the Olympics, then you can see we are due our fair share.”

He added: “We have got some brilliant facilities, like the NIA, NEC, Alexander Stadium and Villa Park, and we need opportunities to showcase them.

“But I have never thought Birmingham gets a fair deal in terms of sports funding.”

The city council sees the championships, which were previously held in Birmingham in 2003, as an ideal showcase event for the arena following the £22 million refurbishment of the NIA.


Birmingham and British Athletics are due to submit the bid to the sport’s global governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations next month.

The winning venue will be announced in November. If selected, more than 1,000 athletes and officials from 170 countries will come to Birmingham, along with more than 25,000 spectators and 1,000 media representatives.

It is estimated to be worth between £20 million and £40 million in economic and media value in raising Birmingham’s profile on the world stage.

Over the next few years Birmingham is hosting major national and international competitions in badminton, athletics and tennis as well as Rugby World Cup matches and the 2014 Horse of the Year Show at the NEC.

Ian Taylor, commercial director at Marketing Birmingham, said the city had staged more world and European sporting championships than any other UK city, citing recent major BMX and badminton events.

He added: “Global sporting events provide an unrivalled opportunity to promote Birmingham as a top visitor destination.

“From Jamaican sprinters to Indian cricketers and Wimbledon winners, we have a growing reputation for hosting the very best in international sport – and where they compete, hundreds of fans and spectators follow.

“The media presence at major events means that footage of Birmingham can be broadcast across the world, particularly in key visitor markets such as India and the USA.”

Council deputy leader Ian Ward said most, if not all, of the £2.5 million costs are expected to be recouped from sponsorship and funding from organisations like UK Sport.

He added: “Birmingham is already seen as a major base for athletics; we have a first-class infrastructure and regularly host major Grand Prix events at Alexander Stadium, and the US and Jamaican track teams were effusive in their praise of the training facilities that the city hosted leading up to the Olympics last summer.

“Winning these Championships would seal Birmingham’s reputation as the pre-eminent athletics city, and would give us the opportunity to showcase the city to a global audience. It would also create a fantastic legacy to inspire everyone in the city to get involved in sport.”