Birmingham City Council are considering ways of raising their part of the Commonwealth Games funding ©Birmingham City Council

Birmingham City Council are considering a levy on sporting and entertainment events to help pay for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority are among local organisations responsible for raising 25 per cent of the funding for the Games.

Staging the event will cost £750 million ($1 billion/€850 million) with the UK Government contributing up to 75 per cent of that amount.

Councillor Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council and the chairman of the successful Birmingham 2022 bid team, has claimed they are in discussions with organisations over a possible levy on events in the English city.

This could see funds for the Games raised through tickets to cricket and football matches, along with concerts and major events at NEC Group venues.

"We are still wanting to talk to Government about piloting a hotel tax, the other [idea] of a supplementary business rate is unlikely to get over the line," Ward told the Birmingham Mail.

"I've asked the Government to attach it to the annual finance bill as it is would be just a pilot scheme, but they have not yet responded.

"The other thing that we are talking about, and we are in discussions with the NEC about this, is a levy on ticket sales for sporting and entertainment events.

"The key to making that work would be to try to get the football clubs on board."

A levy on tickets to sporting events at venues in Birmingham could be introduced ©Getty Images
A levy on tickets to sporting events at venues in Birmingham could be introduced ©Getty Images

The NEC Group own Arena Birmingham, the Genting Arena and the National Exhibition Centre in the city.

All three venues will stage competitions at the Commonwealth Games and are regularly used.

Aston Villa and Birmingham City football clubs could form part of the plans, along with Edgbaston Cricket Ground.

Any hotel tax would be a first for a city in the United Kingdom.

A levy of £2 ($2.50/€2.30) per night could be added to the bills of visitors staying in Birmingham.

This would reportedly help ensure that money needed for other services in the city would not be diverted to the Commonwealth Games.

This would require an act of Parliament to be approved.

Birmingham has already agreed to pay a hosting fee of £20 million (£28 million/€23 million) plus a £5 million ($7 million/€6 million) grant for development work around the Commonwealth.

The city paid their first installment of £4 million ($5.5 million/€4.5 million) almost immediately after they were awarded the Commonwealth Games last December.