Early next month, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) will tell eager local authorities around Britain which of their sports facilities are deemed fit to offer as training venues to countries wishing to prepare in the UK prior to 2012. This is the chance for all of Britain to get a few crumbs from London's table. Most local authorities perceive the pre-Games training camp guide, which LOCOG is preparing, as the starting pistol in the race to attract teams and sports.

They will be told within a few weeks, but rules on Olympic marketing rights mean the full package cannot be revealed until during the Beijing Olympics. However contenders will be surprised to learn that some competitors have jumped the gun.

Birmingham City Council has scooped the jewel in the crown, the American athletics team. A memorandum of understanding was signed during the indoor athletics international there on Saturday.

A Welsh consortium has signed a similar agreement with the Australian team for the Paralympics. And despite assiduous wooing by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, in the course of winning the 2014 Commonwealth Games for Glasgow, one key Caribbean team, Jamaica, is now also poised to go to Birmingham.

It seems Scotland's other national drink, with which Jamaica's Teddy McCook fell in love when watching Rangers at Ibrox, has proved very much second string to the lure of Birmingham's Symphony Hall and the temptations of Edgbaston.

Several litres of Irn Bru were flown to Sri Lanka for him before the Games vote. It certainly doesn't constitute a bribe, but it underlines the attention to detail which the Scots paid in their lobbying.

But Scottish authorities have assuredly now been upstaged by the Midlanders. The Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland hoped their friendly lobbying might provide a platform to lure Commonwealth countries to Scotland for pre-Olympic camps in 2012. But they must have reckoned without Birmingham's aggressive marketing.

They went out of their way to secure the American team who will stay in a hotel just yards from the boisterous late night clubs, bars, and restaurants of Broad Street. It makes Sauchiehall Street positively sedate.

Stephanie Hightower, the former international hurdler who is now chair of USA Track & Field, signed the deal with Birmingham Council leader Mike Whitby. "It's a real coup, not only because of the significant economic benefits it will bring to the city," he said, "but because of the phenomenal media interest and coverage that will accompany such a high-profile team."

Denis Hurst, interim sports assistant director for the city, told The Herald: "We did a cost benefit analysis which suggests this will be worth at least £2m. And there's no saying how many media will come here with the Americans based in the city."

McCook was also being hotly pursued last weekend. A classical music enthusiast, he was taken to Symphony Hall, home of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. It's rated one of the world's finest concert halls. Then came the sucker punch. McCook is a huge cricket enthusiast. So they opened Edgbaston specially for him, and he was able to go on the pitch.

We understand no deal has been signed, but one is hotly expected, especially given the city's large Jamaican population.

There is no rule precluding Birmingham from doing this.

A spokesperson for LOCOG played down their coup yesterday, insisting Scotland had not missed the boat: "Most national Olympic committees will not begin to investigate training facilities in Britain before they get the Beijing Olympics out of the way. They have far too much on their plates just now. Birmingham is very much the exception to the rule."

Scotland's nations and regions Olympic group have been advising Scottish authorities, and sportscotland has been helping with this. They hoped that a sports development conference in Glasgow, from June 11-13, would present a chance of approaching Commonwealth countries. "Nobody had indicated that they were not prepared to wait for the LOCOG guide," said a spokesman.

It's understood that Scottish facilities to be offered for Olympic training include the North Lanarkshire rowing facility at Strathclyde Park, and several at universities including Stirling and Heriot-Watt, plus Edinburgh and Glasgow.

LOCOG confirm that more than 600 venues have been submitted and approved overall, "a good number of them from Scotland".

This will ensure fierce competition and the possibility of incentives being offered, with individual medal prospects being targeted as well as complete teams. That might rule out many lucrative deals for councils.

"LOGOG will be providing grants from its privately-raised budgets to help attract national Olympic committees," they said. "These will be up to £25,000. We will also be holding workshops to advise local authorities on how to market themselves."

Presumably Birmingham won't need such an invitation.