A move to host the BC Summer Games in 2016 has been shot down by city council.
In a tight 5-4 vote, which was delayed 24 hours to Wednesday evening to allow full council representation, councillors followed a city staff recommendation to knock back the opportunity to bring the games to Richmond.
In their report, staff indicated the event would cost the city $367,000 to put on and would provide little in the way of revenue.
They also said the BC Summer Games was not the right fit for Richmond in its overall sports hosting strategy.
However, the bid was strongly supported by both Richmond Sports Council and the Richmond Board of Education, which was willing to waive their usual rental fees although the city would still have to pay labour and other costs associated with opening the schools.
And Coun. Bill McNulty, a founding member of the sports council and a vociferous advocate for community sport, branded the decision a disgrace.
If this isnt the right fit for the Richmond community, then I dont know what is, he said. (Staff) talk about the costs, but every BC Summer Games has made a profit, why would Richmond be any different? Weve hosted the Olympics and the Seniors Games, Im pretty sure we could have handled this.
McNulty said the games are a classic grassroots sporting event that offers all kinds of amazing opportunities for young athletes to get a start in their sport. This is a massive opportunity missed for these youngsters to showcase their talents in their own community, he said.
The staff report was extremely negative, despite the community really rallying around this bid.
It seems that were only really interested in hosting the big ticket events at the oval. This is a really bitter pill to swallow.
McNulty that the argument that the city will struggle to get volunteers is null and void, considering they between 2 and 3,000 people wanting to volunteer for the recent BC Seniors Games.
We were turning people away, we didnt have enough jobs for them, he added.
Vern Jacques, the city's recreation director, wrote, "The benefits associated with taking on this complex multi-sport games event are expected to be less than the estimated investment of staff time and resources needed to deliver the games."
The report largely cited cost and lack of resources as the main deterrents to hosting the games.
Facilities needed, according to the report, would already be in heavy use during the summer period, causing many regularly scheduled community sport activities to be interrupted.
