Commonwealth Games 2026

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

26 minutes ago, wamel042 said:

I really do not understand why many proposals are based on new venues or venues which need major upgrade. Only to meet the demands of the international federations?

 

When was the last time we did see full stands at a major competition? London 2012? After that many events seemed to be held in venues too big for the interested public. It was a shame looking at the stream of the European Games in 2023. Athletics held in a 50.000-venue with hardly any spectators.

 

Lot of venues build for big events seem te be unused or do not need the capacity after the Games: Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, Rio 2016, World Cup soccer in South Africa and Qatar……

 

In order to ‘survive’ a critical review of the way forward seems te be helpfull…..

The '22 Commonwealth games were pretty well attended across all the sports and from what I heard from people who attended, the ticket prices weren't ridiculously expensive which helped drive up numbers. 

 

The games federation know that they have a problem finding hosts - primarily because of the costs. This will be the 2nd games in a row where the original host has had to withdraw because of financial mismanagement. As a result they have cut back on the number of mandatory sport to just athletics and swimming in the hope that it would encourage more cities to express interest. Victoria chose to ignore this and packed the schedule with pretty much everything they could think of. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

15 hours ago, dullard said:

Ahmedabad considering a bid for 2026

 

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/others/ahmedabad-may-bid-for-2026-commonwealth-games/articleshow/101906322.cms

The Indian federation are really desperate to have those shooting events back on the schedule 

[Olympian1010 7,971]

1 hour ago, wamel042 said:

I really do not understand why many proposals are based on new venues or venues which need major upgrade. Only to meet the demands of the international federations?

This is the major, systemic problem to me as well. I think there needs to be more innovation within the financial model of multi-sport games.

 

We live in the age of streaming, and yet many major events still rely on traditional broadcast deals. I’ve always wondered how events would fare with a pay-to-watch platform similar to europeangames.tv. We’ve already seen a few sports trying this model with Recast or “in-house” platforms. Of course, price point(s) need to balance money brought in versus people willing to pay (which might be difficult).
 

Additionally, more public viewing centers could be set up in host cities for locals/visitors if stadium capacities are smaller. Charge a small fee to enter such areas, and allow local vendors to sell goods inside (along with your merchandise). 
 

Use of existing venues should be imperative as well. New venues should emphasize cost and function over frills and splendor. It might be wise to reduce some of the venue capacity requirements as well, especially if people have easy access to coverage of the event online or at public watch parties.
 

Those are just a few suggestions. I don’t know how realistic they are, but clearly some new ideas are needed in this sector. It’d be a shame to lose a bunch of multi-sport games in the future. 

[dullard 699]

5 hours ago, wamel042 said:

I really do not understand why many proposals are based on new venues or venues which need major upgrade. Only to meet the demands of the international federations?

 

When was the last time we did see full stands at a major competition? London 2012? After that many events seemed to be held in venues too big for the interested public. It was a shame looking at the stream of the European Games in 2023. Athletics held in a 50.000-venue with hardly any spectators.

 

Lot of venues build for big events seem te be unused or do not need the capacity after the Games: Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, Rio 2016, World Cup soccer in South Africa and Qatar……

 

In order to ‘survive’ a critical review of the way forward seems te be helpfull…..

This debacle wasn't caused by demands of international organisations/federations but mostly of the Victorian government's making. They could've hosted a budget concious Comm Games but instead chose this bloated and wasteful regional model instead. This was an entirely self-inflicted failure.

[Dragon 1,844]

5 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

This is the major, systemic problem to me as well. I think there needs to be more innovation within the financial model of multi-sport games.

 

We live in the age of streaming, and yet many major events still rely on traditional broadcast deals. I’ve always wondered how events would fare with a pay-to-watch platform similar to europeangames.tv. We’ve already seen a few sports trying this model with Recast or “in-house” platforms. Of course, price point(s) need to balance money brought in versus people willing to pay (which might be difficult).
 

Additionally, more public viewing centers could be set up in host cities for locals/visitors if stadium capacities are smaller. Charge a small fee to enter such areas, and allow local vendors to sell goods inside (along with your merchandise). 
 

Use of existing venues should be imperative as well. New venues should emphasize cost and function over frills and splendor. It might be wise to reduce some of the venue capacity requirements as well, especially if people have easy access to coverage of the event online or at public watch parties.
 

Those are just a few suggestions. I don’t know how realistic they are, but clearly some new ideas are needed in this sector. It’d be a shame to lose a bunch of multi-sport games in the future. 

I can see a Kuala Lumpur / Singapore / India Commonwealth Games bid working well for 2016

[PHI2019 262]

12 minutes ago, Dragon said:

I can see a Kuala Lumpur / Singapore / India Commonwealth Games bid working well for 2016

A joint Kuala Lumpur and Singapore bid would be a great idea.

[mpjmcevoy 362]

On 7/18/2023 at 1:57 PM, Rafa Maciel said:

Given this would be the first games under Charles III (both as UK Sovereign and Head of the Commonwealth) I think they will be doing everything humanly possible to ensure that the games are not cancelled.

 

Given the time constraints, that basically means looking for hosts who won't need major infrastructure developments so the most obvious solution is to scale back on some of the events and to look at previous hosts. 

 

Wouldn't surprise me if it was to be back in  to be honest.

One thing to be aware of - the 2026 European Athletics Championships are already in Birmingham, so if there is a UK Saviour bid, my guess is a '4 corners' proposal with the Games shared between the four home nations and possibly even the crown dependencies (road cycling in isle of man, triathlon in jersey) - the athletics, swimming and track cycling would imho be in London the swimming in Glasgow, the diving in Edinburgh, the cricket, sevens and netball in Cardiff, and the bowls, boxing and possibly shooting in Belfast. The rest of the sports would then fit around that, with perhaps one or two of the Arenas involved - possibly the Gymnastics to Liverpool as they have hosted the worlds and know the plan....

 

The CGF will be desperate to get to the centenary and have an Alberta, Canada games as a kind of homecoming. I think it entirely possibly they wind it up after that as a neat ending.

 

The Brits will not, however, take the European Games seriously if the CWG falls. Their issues with the EG go deeper.

[mpjmcevoy 362]

On 7/18/2023 at 4:37 PM, phelps said:

but also if they develop the men's game, it's still a poor man's basketball (that already has that 3*3 shit other than the actual game...and both well established in both genders).

 

not to mention that's played at high level only in a few Commonwealth Countries and it's basically unknown in 98% of the world.

 

there's 0 chance Netball will ever become an Olympic sport.

 

having said that, I'm really sorry for the bad situation of the CWGs, I've always liked them and I've always tried to follow at least some of the sports involved.

The Commies are an anachronism, but they're actually a really good event, with a really cool history - the Bannister-Landy mile and all that - they allow a lot of non-IOC entities some recognition, and the atmosphere, generally, is excellent - the 2010 disaster the only bad Games really in the last seven or eight, and even there, India probably learned something.

 

In addition, while they are described as colonial, in all honesty I think they are the opposite - they absolutely started colonial, an Empire Games...but now the represent the opposite - all the nations that freed themselves from the London Yolk coming together with the Brits as equals, on their own terms (or not in the case of Ireland and Zimbabwe) - it's honestly more post-colonial than colonial, with one or two small issues (Charles III should NOT be titular head, the optics are terrible). The Jeux de Francophonie would love to have the stability, brand recognition and history of the CWG. maybe the two should merge....

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

3 hours ago, mpjmcevoy said:

One thing to be aware of - the 2026 European Athletics Championships are already in Birmingham, so if there is a UK Saviour bid, my guess is a '4 corners' proposal with the Games shared between the four home nations and possibly even the crown dependencies (road cycling in isle of man, triathlon in jersey) - the athletics, swimming and track cycling would imho be in London the swimming in Glasgow, the diving in Edinburgh, the cricket, sevens and netball in Cardiff, and the bowls, boxing and possibly shooting in Belfast. The rest of the sports would then fit around that, with perhaps one or two of the Arenas involved - possibly the Gymnastics to Liverpool as they have hosted the worlds and know the plan....

 

The CGF will be desperate to get to the centenary and have an Alberta, Canada games as a kind of homecoming. I think it entirely possibly they wind it up after that as a neat ending.

 

The Brits will not, however, take the European Games seriously if the CWG falls. Their issues with the EG go deeper.

I totally agree - IF and it is a big if, the games end up back in UK in 2026, it will be spread across multiple cities - although I'd probably disagree with your allocation of events, but that is largely irrelevant. But if it comes down to it and the choice is either to cancel the games or to stage them in the UK, then the powers that be will want to do everything they can to make sure that the first games under Charles III go ahead. 

 

Longer term, I think there would be a lot of push back to any attempt to fully wind up the commonwealth games, but equally I think the games in their current format are definitely on life support. However, the commonwealth games federation have been aware of the challenges for a long time and have shown they are willing to adapt and realistically, we may well get to a point where the games only comprises of swimming and athletics events.

 

With regards to the European Games, how can anyone take it seriously when it can't attract the support of the major sporting federations who it seems, would prefer to be part of the European Championships? I am sorry, but when you're reduced to including ski jumping in your schedule, you know you've got major issues with your credibility. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

3 hours ago, mpjmcevoy said:

The Commies are an anachronism, but they're actually a really good event, with a really cool history - the Bannister-Landy mile and all that - they allow a lot of non-IOC entities some recognition, and the atmosphere, generally, is excellent - the 2010 disaster the only bad Games really in the last seven or eight, and even there, India probably learned something.

 

In addition, while they are described as colonial, in all honesty I think they are the opposite - they absolutely started colonial, an Empire Games...but now the represent the opposite - all the nations that freed themselves from the London Yolk coming together with the Brits as equals, on their own terms (or not in the case of Ireland and Zimbabwe) - it's honestly more post-colonial than colonial, with one or two small issues (Charles III should NOT be titular head, the optics are terrible). The Jeux de Francophonie would love to have the stability, brand recognition and history of the CWG. maybe the two should merge....

I certainly think that the commonwealth has moved beyond the notion of empire. Although personally I've never been aware of the benefit of membership of the Commonwealth - there's no commonwealth free trade agreement and the UK govt doesn't prioritise commonwealth nations for overseas aid - the commonwealth continues to grow having welcomed Rwanda, Togo and Gabon. 

 

As for Charles III's position as head of the commonwealth, whilst many believe the head of the commonwealth is a hereditary title, it is important to remember that it was a decision of the heads of the various member nations that resulted in him being confirmed in that position so I don't see the optics as an issue.