Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) has sought to accelerate a decision from the Scottish government over Glasgow hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, claiming it would be “short-sighted” to turn down the opportunity.
The ongoing delays in talks with Scottish authorities leave the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) in a perilous position with no other candidate having publicly come forward to save the event since the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting in July 2023.
From a Scottish hosting perspective, CGS warned that the 2026 Games now “hang in the balance”.
In a statement issued on Friday evening, CGS stressed that financial contributions from the CGF supplemented by ticketing and commercial income from the Games would leave no need for contributions from the public purse.
CGS estimates the Games cost at £114m (€135m/$150m).
Ian Reid, the CGS chairman, said: “Scotland has been offered £100m+ of the Victorian government’s money to secure the future of the Commonwealth Games. That is £100m+ of inward investment at a time when there are critical works needed in the city; that investment alone would account for 5 per cent of the overall inward investment into Scotland over the past year.
“To potentially turn down such a significant sum of money, which only serves to boost the Glasgow and Scottish economies and has been deliberately created not to rely on the public purse at a time of economic uncertainty, is – in our opinion – short-sighted.”
Glasgow’s talks with the CGF were exclusively reported by SportBusiness nearly five months ago. While the CGF has thrown its backing behind the concept, talks with the Scottish government continue to drag on. These delays, according to CGS, mean that the “window of opportunity is fast closing, and with it, the ability to deliver within the timeline ahead of us hampered by uncertainty and delays”.
Reid continued: “It would be a travesty if instead of grabbing the opportunity of over £100m inward investment, we chose to let it go and instead be left needing to find millions elsewhere to fund the essential capital work needed to upgrade public facilities in the coming years, and leave hundreds of Scottish athletes, aspiring and established, without an avenue to compete for Scotland on the international stage.
“A decision over the coming weeks is critical to deliver the Games – we believe the concept is a no brainer.”
CGS estimates an economic value add to the local region of over £150m.
Along with the £100m offered to cover most of the budget, the CGF has, it has emerged, offered to cover other Games-related costs.
This includes a “multi-million pound investment” to upgrade public sporting facilities in Glasgow such as the Tollcross swimming facility and the Scotstoun rugby and athletics stadium, plus costs related to city activation projects across Glasgow.
According to details released now by CGS, its financial planning includes a budget contingency of up to 24 per cent, scope to adjust service levels to “reduce costs where required” and the budgeting of all direct Games costs, including security and other blue light services.
The £100m offered by the CGF comes from A$380m (€233m/$258m) paid by Victoria after the Australian state withdrew from hosting the 2026 Games.
The proposal is for a vastly reduced core sports programme of 10 sports, a reduced number of athletes and support staff, the use of existing sporting venues within a compact four-venue model and using hotels instead of an athletes village.
The £114m budget would be dwarfed by the £472.3m figure the last time Glasgow played host a decade ago.
CGF backing
The CGF claimed in April to be considering “multiple proposals” to host the 2026 Games yet only Scotland has come forward publicly to discuss its vision.
Speaking on Friday evening, CGF president Chris Jenkins said that the body fully endorses CGS’ “innovative concept”.
He said: “In utilising existing sporting, transport and accommodation infrastructure, and world-class venues and expertise, the compact concept would not only build on the legacy of Glasgow 2014 but would position Scotland as pioneers at the start of our journey in resetting and reframing the Commonwealth Games of the future as a collaborative, flexible and sustainable model that minimises costs, inspires athletes, and excites hosts and international federations.”
The ongoing uncertainty over the 2026 Games not only follows last year’s withdrawal of Victoria, citing rising costs, but the more recent snubs by Malaysia and Singapore.
On the back of Birmingham 2022, a hosting in Glasgow would mean successive Games taking place in the United Kingdom for the first time. In playing host two years ago, Birmingham also stepped in to stage the Games after financial problems emerged with the original host city of Durban in South Africa.
The sports programme at Glasgow 2014 comprised 17 sports: aquatics (diving, swimming); athletics; badminton; boxing; cycling (mountain bike, road, track); field hockey; gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic); judo; lawn bowls; netball; rugby sevens; shooting, squash, table tennis, triathlon; weightlifting; and wrestling.