Halifax chases Games dream to 33 countries

The team trying to bring the 2014 Commonwealth Games to Halifax has spent almost $500,000 travelling around the world.

Scott Logan, CEO of the organizing committee, on Wednesday released details of the bid budget, including travel costs and director salaries.

Bythe end of December, the team had spent $457,000 on travel to 33 Commonwealth countries to promote Halifax and ask which sports they considered a priority.

"Those trips have allowed us to gather really good information that we think has allowed us to put a really good bid together," Logan said.

"We need to assure those voting delegates that we can deliver, so when we're there we're not just having fireside chats."

Five of the sports at any Commonwealth Games event are mandatory, butthe host team can choose at least five others from an approved list.

The bid committee has a travel policy that business class can only be used when a trip is longer than 12 hours, and Logan said that has only been the case on six per cent of the trips.

Salary starts at $96,000

The committee also released the salaries of the management team, which range from $96,000 for director of sport Frank Garner, to Logan's $157,000.

Logan is being paid the same salary he got as a senior bureaucrat in the Office of Health Promotion.

The Halifax bid team has been criticized for keeping information secret andsaid it would provide bid details on a quarterly basis.

However, the overall cost of the Games may not come out until after Halifax's bid is presented to the Commonwealth Games Federation in May.

The estimated cost of hosting the eventranges from about $800 million to $1 billion. The federal governmenthas committed up to $400 million.

Halifaxis competing with Glasgow, Scotland, and Abuja, Nigeria. Thewinner will be announced in November.