The Manchester bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was an unsuccessful campaign, first presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 1 February 1993. Ultimately it lost, having made it to the third round of voting with Sydney, Australia, going on to win the right to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.

The bid was headed by Bob Scott, who also led the previous bid by Manchester for the 1996 Summer Olympics.^[1] The bid document was presented to the IOC on 1 February 1993, and was presented on 17 February 1993 by Prime Minister John Major in a press conference at 10 Downing Street to officially launch Manchester's bid.^[2] Major continued to show his support for the Manchester bid when prompted in interviews.^[3] Manchester's Olympic budget for their bid was £5.5 million.^[4]

The overall cost of the Manchester Olympics was estimated at £1.5 billion, with the entire cost to come from private funding but the shortfall was to come from the British taxpayer.^[5]

Juan Antonio Samaranch, the President of the IOC had described Manchester's chances of hosting the Olympics as "very, very high" while speaking at Manchester Town Hall.^[6] A video presentation used by the bid team which included shots of the Pennines (a mountain range across Northern England) and of London, including Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, which was described by British journalists as "bewildering" as it didn't concentrate on the host city.^[9] The IOC had published a report on 12 July 1993 regarding the technical aspects of the various bids for the 2000 Games; while Sydney was described as the favourite and Manchester too was praised, Beijing's application concerned the reviewers.^[6] Reporters considered that the Olympics would be hosted either by Sydney or Manchester, although felt that Beijing may have a chance as IOC members would be tempted by the chance to have an Olympics hosted in China.^[4]

The 2000 Games were awarded to Sydney on 23 September 1993,^[10] at the IOC meeting in Monte Carlo.^[4]

In 1999, following the revelation of corruption in the bid process, the then Secretary of State for Culture Chris Smith threatened to sue the IOC for the money spent on Manchester's bid. This move was also supported by then Minister for Sport Tony Banks, and by the bid's leader, Bob Scott.^[1]

Manchester went on to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games.^[11] The stadium which would have been built for the 2000 Olympics was re-designed and built on the same site, becoming the City of Manchester Stadium as the central stadium for the 2002 Commonwealth Games,^[8] which now plays host to Manchester City F.C.

In the early stages of London's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics in which London eventually chosen to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, Manchester was interested in conducting a joint bid between the two cities. However they were told by Richard Caborn, the Minister for Sport at the time, that Manchester "will have to look elsewhere".^[12] This was after the IOC had stated that they would only consider bids from London, and not elsewhere in the UK,^[12] but some members of the Committee maintained that Manchester could be a potential Olympic host city in the future.^[13]