We’ve all heard the old joke. “Is this the way to Dublin?” a tourist asks of a withered eagle standing at a remote, unmarked crossroads. Or Glasgow. Or (insert major world capital here).
“Oh, sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t start here,” comes the reply.
The Commonwealth Games have begun in Glasgow. They reached the Scottish city via a circuitous enough route. There are no bidders on games; Victoria is stepping up to volunteer, but not for a repeat of the 2006 Melbourne metropolitan edition, a quasi-Olympic tournament in which athletics was played at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of crowds of 80,000 people. Instead, this will be a state-wide Games with the sports distributed across regions – Ballarat, Bendigo and Warrnambool, as you can see in the picture.
Two years down the road, the Victorian government controversially decided to pull the pin, citing unacceptably high costs. With a great deal of trepidation, Glasgow is positioning itself as host for a shortened Games: no games village, use of existing venues, no road events, and the number of sports reduced from 22 to 10.
Will this prove a successful formula? We’re about to find out. There are many encouraging and discouraging signs. Among the latest reasons is the lack of clear preparation – even in Australia, where the Games will be broadcast free-to-air on Olympic Network Seven – and the truth as stated in The Guardian – that “Tickets are still available for almost every session.”
That reference was specifically to athletics. Hopefully, the final session will not include the men’s mile as local champions Josh Kerr, the new world record holder, and Jake Whiteman, the 1500m world champion in 2022, will face off with Cam Myers and Kenya’s Sheriots, 2019 world champion Timothy, and 2025 Tokyo bronze medalist Reynold.
Part of the explanation for the lack of athletics tickets selling out may be the expectation that none will be available. The 2014 Commonwealth Athletics Games were contested at Hampden Park, Scotland’s national football stadium, which seats around 50,000 even in a very reduced form. This time the athletics will be at Scotstoun Stadium, with a capacity of just over 10,000. Add the two together and you get a capacity of 60,000 for the London Stadium where Kerr broke Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year-old record last weekend. People could be forgiven for thinking that tickets might be difficult to get.
The problem with the Commonwealth Games – and other mid-level competitions – is that they are simply not the Olympics. Nor are they world championships. It’s either global in scope or not worth watching – or covering if you’re from the media – seems to be the prevailing attitude. The Commonwealth Games have tried to go the global route – remember that 2006 Melbourne president Ron Walker declared those games would be bigger and better than the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Trying to emulate that approach has increased budgets and expectations for future hosts. Revenue? Not much.
Glasgow is confident that necessity forced her down a more appropriate path. Smaller range equals better results.
Phil Batty, chief executive of Glasgow 2026, told The Guardian: “This is certainly not the last step for the Commonwealth Games. What we have seen is a wholesale transformation of what the Commonwealth Games needs to do to sustain themselves, not just through 2030, but into 2034, 2038 and beyond.”
“We have some of the best athletes in the Commonwealth, in a city that loves sport, in a nation that loves events. We are ready to showcase the new format of the Games, but one that still protects all those amazing hallmarks that make them so special.”
Whether Glasgow 2026 proves to provide a template for a smaller, more sustainable model for the Commonwealth Games, the next edition is unlikely to adopt it. In a good news/bad news scenario, the 2030 host city, which will celebrate the centenary of the Games, is India’s Ahmedabad.
This is the good thing. The bad, or perhaps bad, news is that it is part of the city’s plans to convince the International Olympic Committee that Ahmedhabab is a viable candidate to host the Olympic Games in the future. Presumably, that would mean an effort that would put the ambitions of the late Ron Walker in the shadows.
Anyway, that’s for the future. And perhaps one last tip before the inevitable return to reality. Peter Batty is confident that this method holds the key to a sustainable future. He said (games). The Guardianwas “an event that was at risk and needed to be reinvented and made fit for purpose for the future.
“We have created a format…that is flexible, inclusive and integrated into para-sport. So, this will continue in many editions going forward.”
Perhaps the Glasgow 2026 approach is the right way to go from here. Let’s hope so. Right or wrong, the Scots know how to run a good party. Like all Commonwealth Games, this one will have a lot to offer. Enjoy the offers.
