Auckland in sprint for Commonwealth Games

Swimmer Anthony Mosse leads the NZ team during the opening ceremony at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990. Photo / Herald file

Auckland is likely to face competition from Gold Coast and Nigerian capital Abuja in a bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

A decision will be made in February on whether Auckland will officially join the running, but New Zealand Olympic Committee secretary general Barry Maister said it was already clear who the rivals would be.

"It's unlikely at this stage that anyone else would come out of the woodwork," he said.

Abuja, which lost the 2014 games to Glasgow, has already announced its intention to bid, while Gold Coast officials are still weighing up their options.

Maister said members of a "winnability group", set up within Sport and Recreation New Zealand, had canvassed opinion from key countries on Auckland's chances.

The response was positive: "The general feeling we got was New Zealand is a safe pair of hands." A cost-benefit analysis is under way to find out whether hosting would be affordable for Auckland.

An earlier report by consultants Events Knowledge Service was favourable, Maister said.

"They looked at our existing venues and said Auckland's pretty well set up."

Maister said he didn't think Auckland's Supercity upheaval would get in the way of a successful bid.

"Most of the work gets done after you win the bid, between 2011 and 2013.

"I don't think the Supercity is an issue for us because it'll be well in place before anything happens."

Auckland regional councillor Michael Barnett said it was important to maintain the momentum from the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

"It's important that we have some other major events, and to me 2018 is just one. Having that continuity is essential."

Barnett said Auckland had a good chance of winning the games, but Gold Coast was strong competition.

"If they stay in there we might end up with some vote-splitting, and I think there would be some holding of breath," he said.

A proposal will go to the Government in early February, and a firm intention to bid will have to be declared in March.

The formal bid document must be submitted by June 2011, with the Commonwealth member countries' vote taken later that year.

* The competition

Gold Coast: It's best known to Kiwis for its 70km of beaches, attracting some 10 million visitors a year.

However, the Gold Coast is also Australia's sixth-largest city, with a population of 500,000.

Gold Coast City Council boasts of being the sport and events capital of Australia.

A secret weapon in the bid for the Commonwealth Games may well be Mayor Ron Clarke, a four-times Commonwealth silver medal winner.

Clarke set 19 world records in running between 1963 and 1970, and competed in three Commonwealth Games and one Olympic Games.

Abuja: Nigeria's capital is a planned city, built in the 1980s to replace Lagos as the country's seat of power. A major stadium and other sports facilities were built to host the All-Africa games in 2003.

Abuja is aiming to get more public support behind its 2018 bid after losing the 2014 hosting rights to Glasgow. A Facebook page promoting the bid has already dismissed Auckland and Gold Coast as being too far away to win European support.

It cites TVNZ giving up broadcasting rights to the 2010 Delhi games as a sign of problems with the Auckland bid.