Commonwealth Games snub for Coventry as Ricoh Arena denied Rugby Sevens
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:55 pmRugby is to be held at Villa Park if Birmingham is successful
Coventry's Ricoh Arena will NOT host rugby if Birmingham wins a bid to host the Commonwealth Games.
The Ricoh had initially been earmarked as a potential Rugby Sevens venue, but it has now been revealed Villa Park will host these matches, with the netball fixtures set to take place at the Ericsson Indoor Arena, if the 2022 bid is successful.
All 2022 netball fixtures, including preliminaries and finals would be held in the Arena, with 5,000 temporary seats installed for the Games if the bid is successful.
Birmingham is going head to head with Liverpool in the bid to become UK’s nomination to secure the Games after original host Durban withdrew.
Liverpool’s bid is based on several new stadia built from scratch - including an athletics stadium.
As well as the city council, sports clubs and venues the bid also has the backing of leading business organisations including the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Local Enterprise Partnership, the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street and neighbouring councils through the West Midlands Combined Authority.
They say hosting the games could boost the region’s economy by £390million and create thousands of jobs.
Sports stars including champion show jumper Nick Skelton, athlete Katharine Merry and the Warwickshire cricket team have also backed Birmingham 2022.
We can always watch the netball instead!
