A general view of the Squash court as Saurav Ghosal of Team India and Paul Coll of Team New Zealand compete in the Men's Singles Squash at University of Birmingham Hockey & Squash Centre for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

New government report credits Commonwealth Games 2022

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) shared its report documenting the impact of the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham.

The report shows that the Games contributed nearly £1.2 billion to the UK economy. Nearly half of that came in the West Midlands alone and created 22,380 full time equivalent years of employment.

 

Held between 28 July and 8 August 2022, Birmingham brought together 6,600 athletes and team officials from across 72 Commonwealth nations and territories.

 

The Games broke the record for ticket sales at a Commonwealth Games, with a global TV audience of 834.9m, over 215m digital views and 141m social media engagements.

 

It was the biggest multi-sport event in England since London 2012 and delivered the largest-ever fully integrated programme of para sport.

 

It was the first major multi-sport event in history to award more medals to women than men and Team England rose to the occasion and delivered their best-ever performance at the Games, winning 176 medals, 57 gold, 66 silver and 53 bronze to finish second in the medal table.

 

Launching the report last week at SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit, hosted at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre, the UK Sports Minister, Stuart Andrew said:

 

“With over 1.5 million tickets sold, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games was a record-breaking event that is still having a positive impact on the region two years on.

 

“This report shows that hosting major sporting events in this country boosts growth, creates jobs and has a lasting social impact for communities and some of the world’s best athletes will once again descend on Birmingham for the European Athletics Championships in 2026.”

The full report can be accessed here.