The Great North 2040

Connected Delivery

Credibility does not come from ambition alone. It comes from discipline — building on what exists, reusing what works, and governing what you promise.

Built on What Exists

A Northern Games does not require a mega-build fantasy. The North already has five stadia above 40,000 capacity — 289,385 seats across the top five alone. The IOC's own "New Norm" reforms explicitly encourage hosts to maximise existing infrastructure and use temporary structures where no long-term need can be justified.

The Foundation Is Already There

5 Stadia with 40,000+ capacity — 289,385 combined seats
£9.3bn London 2012 Public Sector Funding Package — the UK precedent
2017 IOC opened multi-city hosting — the Charter now allows it explicitly

Venue Reuse

Reuse First, Temporary by Default

The principle is simple: use what the North already has. Major stadiums already operate at Olympic scale. Arenas, university facilities, and training grounds can be adapted with temporary overlays. New permanent builds should happen only where they serve a clear, lasting community need.

Old Trafford, Manchester

74,197 seats Existing

England's largest club ground. Suitable for Olympic football, ceremonies, and large-session events without structural modification.

St James' Park, Newcastle

52,305 seats Existing

Listed for Euro 2028. City-centre location with Metro access. The North East's major competition venue for football and large-format events.

Co-op Live, Manchester

23,500 capacity Opened 2024

The UK's largest indoor arena. Opened in 2024. Purpose-built for major events — suitable for indoor sports, gymnastics, and combat disciplines with minimal overlay.

Stadium of Light, Sunderland

48,707 seats Existing

Listed for Rugby World Cup 2025. Combined with St James' Park, the North East offers two large stadia within 12 miles — an athlete and spectator cluster that works.

Etihad Campus, Manchester

53,400 seats Existing

Built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The Etihad Stadium and surrounding campus already operate as a major event district with proven logistics.

Governance

Governance That the IOC and Treasury Recognise

The Olympic Charter explicitly allows the IOC to elect "several cities or other entities such as regions, states or countries" as host. But flexibility in geography demands rigour in governance. A Northern Games needs a single integrated plan, clear legal accountability, and the kind of guarantee package that London 2012 demonstrated the UK can deliver.

The London 2012 Precedent

London 2012 was delivered through a statutory Olympic Delivery Authority — created by Act of Parliament — managing a £9.3 billion Public Sector Funding Package. An Olympic Board provided cross-programme political oversight. The organising committee (LOCOG) staged the Games as a separate entity. This "two-machine" model proved the UK can govern and deliver at Olympic scale.

Three Governance Options

Option A

Single Host City with Northern Partnership

One city becomes the formal Host City signatory. Other Northern clusters are designated venue cities with binding delivery agreements. Simplest for Treasury accountability. Requires hard-wired safeguards — including reserved-matter voting and ring-fenced budgets — to prevent any cluster being sidelined.

Option B

Multi-Host City Model

Multiple Northern cities elected as co-hosts — reflecting the Charter's explicit flexibility. Strongest match for a polycentric Northern story. Requires a single Northern Organising Committee and statutory delivery authority to avoid fragmented liability. The North East's status as a co-host gives it legal standing, not just political goodwill.

Option C

Statutory Northern Host Authority

A UK Act of Parliament creates a single Northern Host Authority as the host entity. Most "Northern" in character — avoids any one city capturing the brand. Most demanding to establish, because it requires sovereign legislative intent. Strongest possible protection for every cluster, including the North East, with safeguards embedded in statute.

The North East Must Have a Constitutionally Protected Role

A coalition of Northern cities can quietly become a "core city" project with peripheral clusters downgraded to training bases. Every governance option includes hard-wired protections: guaranteed programme content, ring-fenced capital, and formal power to prevent unilateral de-scoping of the North East's role.

No-Regrets Investment

The strongest test for any Games investment is simple: would you want this even if the Games did not happen? Everything built should have a post-Games job. Every pound spent should be defensible on its own terms.

  • T

    Transport

    Rail upgrades, metro extensions, bus reform, and active travel networks serve the region for decades. Northern Powerhouse Rail and the North East's published £8.3bn transport pipeline to 2040 exist regardless of the Games — but the Games creates a deadline that pulls delivery forward.

  • H

    Housing

    Athletes' village accommodation converts to community housing — built to Decent Homes Standard and designed for long-term habitation, not short-term spectacle. University accommodation returns to students after the Games.

  • F

    Facilities

    Upgraded sports facilities, parks, and public realm improvements that serve the communities with the greatest need. Temporary Olympic overlays are removed; the permanent improvements remain.

  • S

    Skills

    Apprenticeships, training pipelines, and procurement frameworks aligned to the energy transition, construction, and event operations — creating workforce capacity that outlasts any single event.

Risk Discipline

Olympic cost overruns are endemic. Academic research (notably the Oxford study of Olympic costs) shows that virtually every Games exceeds its original budget. A credible Northern bid does not pretend this risk does not exist. It designs around it.

How We Counter the Risk

Bounded promises. Commit only to what can be delivered within a defined scope envelope. Resist political pressure to add spectacle features that inflate costs without improving the athlete or legacy experience.

Existing infrastructure. Start from five 40,000+ stadia and extensive arena capacity. Use temporary overlays where possible. New permanent builds only where the post-Games business case is independently validated.

Conservative scope. The IOC's "New Norm" reforms call for reduced venue sizes, optimised infrastructure reuse, and a deliberate move away from the excess that defined earlier eras. Align to this, not against it.

Transparent governance. Published contracts, open procurement, gateway reviews, and parliamentary accountability. The UK demonstrated this discipline with London 2012 — it should be the starting expectation, not a stretch target.

Delivery is not the glamorous part. It is the part that matters.

A Games earns legitimacy through what it builds, how it governs, and what it leaves behind — not through what it promises on a microsite. This page describes the discipline. The next phase does the work.

The Bid Assessment The Road to 2040