The plan to rescue the Commonwealth Games

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2024

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

A year ago, the Commonwealth Games looked dead and buried. The Australian state of Victoria had pulled out of hosting the 2026 edition due to spiralling costs, and in Canada, the province of Alberta had stepped back from bidding for the 2030 edition.

But now Scotland’s biggest city, Glasgow, has ridden to the rescue, agreeing to host the 2026 Games. It says its scaled back, lower-budget model for doing so could encourage poorer countries to do the same in the future.

How realistic is that? Is Glasgow 2026 the last hurrah for an anachronistic sporting event, inextricably tied to the British empire, or does it really represent a fresh start?

(Picture: A Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2026 delegation in Glasgow, UK. Credit: BBC)

Presented and produced by Gideon Long

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. I'm Gideon Long and today has Glasgow
0:06.7	saved the Commonwealth Games. Scotland's biggest city has agreed to host the 2026 edition. A year after
0:13.6	the Australian state of Victoria pulled out suddenly due to rising costs. I think it's good for
0:18.9	say it's good for bars and hospitality and stuff
0:21.5	that, which definitely needs it. Glasgow has dug the Commonwealth Games out of a hole, but does this
0:26.4	secure the future of the games long term? We know the last model that the games had was not
0:32.3	sustainable, taking up a huge amount of costs just to be able to host the Commonwealth Games.
0:36.9	We'll look at what the games mean for Glasgow
0:38.8	and ask whether the new scaled-back model for financing the event
0:42.6	will really work elsewhere in the world.
0:45.4	That's here on Business Daily and the BBC World Service.
0:54.1	I'm at a conference centre in Glasgow for the launch of the 2026 Commonwealth Games
0:59.3	and to be honest it's a pretty low-key affair. There's no Rasmataz, no promotional videos
1:05.9	showcasing Glasgow and Scotland, no big triumphant announcements. And the organisers say that's deliberate.
1:13.6	It's in keeping with the new austere ethos of the Games.
1:17.6	Because ever since Victoria pulled out of hosting them a year ago,
1:20.9	the emphasis has been on cost-cutting.
1:23.5	A few moments ago, I spoke to Katie Sadlier,
1:26.3	the CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation,
1:29.4	the governing body of the Games worldwide.
1:32.2	It has been a challenging year. It's certainly not one that I would want to repeat.
1:35.7	We would literally give an eight hours notice when Victoria pulled out of the Commonwealth Games.
	...

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