[gottago]

I wonder if the aesthetic of the stadiums had anything to do it. 

I doubt that very much, it's pretty rare that you ever see the outside of the stadium on the show and if you do it's only ever for a few seconds as part of the intro or similar. It'll all be about logistics and suitability of the city itself.

Would be great to see something really positive like this in Liverpool after a pretty torrid few months for news events in the city. There hasn't really been a real major international event in the city since the European Capital of Culture in 2008 and it just missed out hosting the Commonwealths.