Joe GallopOrganisers of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games have issued updates on Alexander Stadium’s £72m redevelopment progression and announced the full event schedule that features 286 sessions of sport.
Alexander Stadium in Birmingham’s Perry Barr area is being renovated for the Games ahead of a Spring completion, and will then host the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics events. The capacity is planned to expand from 12,700 to 40,000.
The “huge amount of progress” made on the venue, includes roof liner sheets on the new West Stand, concrete support for seating and metal docked floors, and the installation of the feature steps for the Northern plaza.
The ticket ballot is now open for the event scheduled from 28 July – 8 August next year, with residents of the West Midlands able to apply for tickets in July. The main ticket ballot will then begin in September, which will include tickets with a starting price of £22 for adults, £8 for under-16s, while the cheapest adult tickets will be £15.
Organisers said the sports programme, which will debut women’s cricket T20, basketball 3×3, wheelchair basketball 3×3 and mixed synchronised diving, will be the biggest in Commonwealth Games history.
Birmingham 2022 director of sport Matt Kidson said, “We have a really interesting mix of venues, with established facilities like the NEC and Arena Birmingham, beautiful parks like St Nicholas Park and West Park and exciting redevelopments like the Alexander Stadium, where the progress in the last 12 months has been phenomenal.”
Birmingham City Council leader Ian Ward, who is overseeing the stadium project, said, “The Alexander Stadium redevelopment is progressing at a lightning speed, with the roof of the new West Stand now complete. Once finished the Alexander Stadium will be truly befitting for the world’s best track and field athletes and as a bold centrepiece of leisure, health and well-being activity in a regenerated Perry Barr.”