Commonwealth Games organizers have said the final cost of hosting the Games will be £25M ($39.6M) "below the total set aside for the event," according to the PA. The budget was set at around £575M earlier this year including security costs, with £372M coming from public funds and "the rest from sponsorship, merchandise and ticket sales and broadcasting rights." It included contingency of £66.1M, with £42.3M of general contingency and a special reserve of £23.8M. The final budget "will not be confirmed until accounts are completed
early next year," but Glasgow 2014 expects to "conclude its operations
significantly within budget." Organizers said that public support for the Games, "tight budget controls, the
commercial programme and 'effective cross-organisational governance'
helped deliver the event" £25M under budget (PA, 11/6). The BBC reported news of the budget underspend was conveyed to MSPs at Holyrood by First Minister Alex Salmond. He said, "We have already announced that £6 million ($9.5M) will go into Scotland's first
ever para-sports center and £2 million ($3.2M) will support our successful Legacy
program. The remaining funds will be invested back into Scotland's health service" (BBC, 11/6).
