It will be fun and Games
Now that the Commonwealth Games seems to be in the bag, it's time to identify the greatest challenge facing organisers.
Durban is as certain to host the 2022 Games as Kaizer Chiefs are of winning the PSL title this year.
The city would have to do something spectacular not to get the nod at the Commonwealth Games Federation's general assembly on September 2.
Make no mistake, there's much hard work that needs to be done, like upgrading the venues and building the athletes' village.
The organising committee will have to ensure they do a better job of awarding tenders than the Durban municipality did signing up the contractor who, instead of fixing the leaking roof over the Kings Park pool, seemingly drilled more holes into it.
The Games cannot afford anything resembling the Tongaat mall collapse of 2013. Nor should a single house in the athletes' village fall down one day after the closing ceremony; that is part of the Games legacy.
But these are not the biggest challenges facing Durban and the country ahead of 2022. After all, good governance and competent workmanship should not be difficult to achieve - they should be the norm.
We are capable of hosting a technically excellent Commonwealth Games - think the soccer, cricket and rugby World Cups, not to mention the All-Africa Games in 1999. The venues will be ready and in good nick; if we can keep the minibus taxis out of the dedicated Games lanes on the roads then the official transport will work like clockwork; and visiting fans will enjoy the beachfront setting of several of the sport venues.
No, the biggest challenge will be getting South African supporters fired up for the tournament.
I'm not even talking about the Games sceptics, who apparently think Durban has lodged a bid to host Armageddon.
According to the bid committee's number crunchers, the Games will cost a bit more than R6-billion, but will boost GDP growth by R11-billion. I'm neither an economic analyst nor a mathematician, but that looks pretty good to me.
Some sceptics have questioned the wisdom of the Durban bid when its only rival, Edmonton in Canada, withdrew citing financial reasons.
But Edmonton has an oil-based economy hit hard by the dropping oil price. Quite frankly, each time I fill up my car I hope the oil price goes down even further.
Personally, I'm excited that R1-billion of the Games budget will go to preparing the SA team, because that means investing in age-group sport for the first time.
As a result, South African stars of 2022 could also do wonders at the Olympics in 2020 and 2024.
Don't underestimate the importance of that. Can you remember the impact of Siphiwe Tshabalala scoring that opening goal of the 2010 World Cup, or Cameron van der Burgh winning South Africa's first gold of the 2012 Olympics, or Joel Stransky kicking that winning drop?
No, the biggest challenge will be revving up local fans so they fill the venues and give the Games a festive vibe that will live on in the minds of foreign supporters.
It's about instilling the Olympic culture in this country, something that has been notably absent since our return from isolation in 1992.
We're a nation of mostly soccer-mad fans who also love cricket and rugby. Let's spread the love to sports like athletics and swimming. If we can get that right then perhaps we can start thinking about bidding for an Olympics - 2032 anybody?