Foreword

Were the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games worth it?

It is the question of the moment as we mark one year on from the Games. Further fuelled, of course, by the Victorian Government’s shock decision to pull out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

At the Chamber, it is a question that we have been asking local businesses through a series of surveys, conducted before and after the Games, and interviews. The results are both strikingly positive and raise implications for both local stakeholders and future host-city Chambers of Commerce for any major sporting events.

Economic impact is the much sought-after ingredient that makes the business case for hosting any major sporting event viable. The West Midlands welcomed a record 141.2 million visitors in 2022 with the Commonwealth Games a key driver, all the more impressive when you think we were still coming out of pandemic restrictions at the start of the year. The official interim evaluation report on the Games pointed to over £870m GVA contributed to the UK economy up to January 2023 and over half of that coming into the West Midlands.

The pipeline of businesses interested in the region built up by the West Midlands Growth Company through the Games’ Business & Tourism Programme continues to attract new investment. The programme is designed to secure more than £650 million of new overseas investment into the UK and create £7 million of additional export deals until 2027.

While the official statistics are impressive, as the leading organisation representing and engaging Greater Birmingham’s businesses, we believe that a vital way to test the impact and legacy of the Games is to ask businesses themselves.

Throughout the three-year span of this research, we have used the insights gathered to influence our own activity, whether it be in our engagement with, and key messages to, Games stakeholders or the content of our own events and communications with the over 2,500 members we represent. We are now delighted to be sharing these insights as part of our contribution to the Games legacy.

Henrietta Brealey, Chief Executive Officer, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

Key Findings: The B2022 Business Barometer

Pre-Games: February 2022

• 91% of businesses in Greater Birmingham felt Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 (B2022) would have a positive impact on the city region in the short term (0-3 years)

• 71% of businesses in Greater Birmingham believed B2022 would have a positive impact on the city region in the long term (3 years +)

• 41% of firms in the city region felt B2022 would have a positive impact on their business in the short term (0-3 years)

• 27% of businesses in the city region felt Birmingham 2022 would have a positive impact on their business in the long term (3 years +)

Post Games: May-June 2023

• 80% of businesses believed that B2022 has had a positive impact on the city region to date

• 66% of businesses thought that B2022 would have a positive impact on the city region in the next 3 years

• 32% of businesses felt B2022 has had a positive impact on their business to date

• 21% of firms expected B2022 to have a positive impact over the next three years

• 3% of firms were a supplier into the Birmingham 2022 Games (direct contract) and 6% were a supplier into the Birmingham 2022 Games (indirect contract/supply chain)

• 44% of businesses were interested in activity related to the social legacy of the Games

Key Findings: Interviews & Focus Group

Civic pride & global reputation: businesses reported involvement in the Games as a supplier, partner or through supporting voluntary activity generated significant workforce engagement and civic pride. Many commented on the positive impact of the Games on changing perceptions and boosting the city and region’s international reputation.

Winning work during and after the Games: a number of firms that were interviewed had secured work from the Games – either via the official procurement process, indirectly via supply chain engagement or through supplying Games visitors. Many these firms either had secured, or now felt better able to secure, more work as a result of the positive exposure they received from their involvement in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Partnerships & Collaboration: several firms noted that during the Games the level of partnership working and collaboration was the highest that they have ever seen, and as a result, new partnerships have been forged, generating wider commercial or civic opportunities.

Commitment to legacy: Every roundtable participant and interviewee engaged in this research referenced the importance of harnessing the various legacy opportunities associated with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, across economic, social and organisational pillars.

Uncertainty: what happens next? whilst there was, and still is, a great deal of optimism in the aftermath of the Games, some businesses raised that they would be keen to see a commitment to ongoing partnership working across the public and private sectors to ensure that the region maximises the ongoing opportunities established by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and uncertainty on what the legacy strategy is.