Organisers of next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham are confident the event will be held in front of capacity crowds, even if COVID passports have to be checked on entry.

Asking people to provide proof of their COVID status in order to enter larger capacity venues is still under consideration by the Government, and Birmingham 2022 chief executive Ian Reid told MPs on Tuesday extensive planning was being done to make the Games safe.

“We are very confident as we sit here now that we can fill stadiums, we can fill live sites and we can have an incredible celebration next summer,” he said.

“We will have an infrastructure in place that can support a COVID-friendly Games.”

Reid was asked about the financial targets around the Games.

He said organisers were targeting at least the same return as the last Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, which was put at £1.3 billion ($2.4 billion).

Reid said there had been public investment in the Birmingham Games totalling £778 million ($1.45 billion).

He said somewhere between 70 to 80 per cent of tickets was the ‘break even’ target.

“Hopefully that’s a prudent estimate and we can beat that,” Reid said.

Thanks to everyone who joined us today as volunteering interviews got underway at the @LibraryofBham. Even Perry got involved!

We look forward to welcoming thousands more applicants to the #CommonwealthCollective in the coming weeks and months. pic.twitter.com/yz2pTqWvYA

— Birmingham 2022 (@birminghamcg22) September 6, 2021

He said there were between 1.5 million and 1.7 million tickets to sell in total, and that a ballot just for local residents which opened in July had already attracted over 850,000 applications.

Reid was asked whether Birmingham could be the last Games to take place on such a scale.

“One of the reasons Birmingham was attractive to the Commonwealth Games Federation is the existing infrastructure that was already here,” he said.

“One of the things we’re incredibly proud of, despite the fact there has obviously been significant public investment in these Games, is that they are going to cost considerably less than the last iteration of the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, so we hopefully have started that downward trajectory, you know, driving efficiency.

“That’s not compromising on deliverables, that’s actually doing things working closely with the CGF to deliver things in a more efficient way.”