Is it time to knock the Commonwealth Games on the head?

[LaliqueSaltGrinder]

I live in Glasgow and grew up in Edinburgh. There was a massive buzz around the Commonwealth Games in 1986 in Edinburgh, and the 2014 Commonwealth Games were such a massive event for the city with thousands of volunteers, events sold out within minutes and it was just brilliant.

The next games starts on Thursday and we're only hosting as nobody else wanted to or could afford to. They have scaled it back to far fewer events, they are struggling for volunteers (I initially applied then withdrew, and had an email yesterday telling me there was still time!), the events have not sold out, the collective feeling is that it's all just a bit meh and not worth getting ecxited about.

Given that the commonwealth games grew out of the Empire Games it just seems like it's run its course and after this event someone/King Charles needs to put it out of its misery.

Surely it brings in extra revenue to the city which itself is not a bad thing.

I don't think the revenue it brings in will be more than the cost of staging. If it was the case that hosting the Commonwealth Games brought loads of money into a city, why were other cities around the world not queuing up to put their names in the ring?

The homophobic ones can't host the games, can they?

I agree, it's dull

Delhi had it 4 years after Glasgow hosted in 2018, then 2022 was Birmingham. 2026 was supposed to be hosted in Victoria in Australia but they pulled out, Queensland said no thanks, so the organising committee were scrabbling around looking for any city which would take it.

Borefest. Scrap it.

In decades gone by, the Commonwealth Games were much more prominent and gave athletes a slightly different platform from the Olympics, Wimbledon, World Cup etc.
These days there are so many sporting fixtures all year round, that their earlier significance/kudos has been very much diluted.
It is well known that all these events cost a small fortune to stage, hence some rather "unusual" choices for the World Cup in football, for example, in recent years.
I don't think the Commonwealth Games has the clout now that it used to enjoy and, as a lot of sport is now professional/highly monetised, it might be kinder to put it out of its agony.

The BBC aren't bothering with it

Which tells you there’s not the interest in it.

Tickets are very expensive so that will put off a lot of people.

Intelligently-made point. Kudos to you

Hbo max have the Commonwealth games for £5.99 and channel 5 have the done of the games. I am looking forward to the gymnastics, athletics and swimming. Definitely not as much excitement as there has been.

The Victorian government pulled out of hosting because of the crippling cost. They clearly couldn’t make it work even with the money it would have brought in.

I'm Australian and read the news daily, this is the first I've heard about it and I had no idea it started next week. So that gives an idea of the level of interest around the world.

The problem if it runs again will be finding someone to host it next time. I don't see any country volunteering.

I also live in Glasgow. I've been left with the feeling that the reason Glasgow agreed to it was for the cash income that hosting it would bring. At the moment the end of the city I use is a building site and the streets are a filthy mess. I can only hope they pressure wash it from one end to the other before the Games start.

I was living in Glasgow when the last Commonwealth Games were held there. I wasn't enthusiastic before they started mainly because of the anticipated travel disruptions. However my son's view was that as we are getting the disruption anyway we might as well get something out of it and attend some of the events. And thats what we did: went to quite a few events and I actually thoroughly enjoyed the Games in the end.

This time because of the scaling back i really can't whip up any enthusiasm. I live in Ayrshire and whereas I normally go into Glasgow sometimes I will be totally avoiding it during the Games.

I think it's had it's day but I feel a certain sympathy for the smaller nations who take part in it because they don't get the opportunity to shine on the world stage in the way larger , richer nations do and the Commonwealth Games will probably be missed by them.

The only reason I was going to watch it was for the netball, but BBC aren't even broadcasting it so I would have to sign up to aTNT sports package or something similar to watch it!

I suppose one of the reasons for running it was to give smaller nations more of a chance on the world stage, but it definitely smacks of colonialism these days.

It's incredibly expensive to host at a time when local residents don't support governments spending on this as opposed to health, education etc. Plus now we have better anytics it's been proven many times over that host nations only benefit if any additional facilities built are part of a proper legacy programme. The short term "jobs and visitors" narrative doesn't stack up most of the time.

I think the CGs add more to local and national communities than the moral and financial cess pit that is the FIFA World Cup.

The BBC lost the bidding war for it. It's on HBO/TNT because they paid more

I am a strong supporter of the Commonwealth Games - the athletes love it, it's a pretty good natured competition and it gives athletes a chance to complete who aren't good enough to get onto the Team GB team to compete for their home nation (or Channel Islands etc).

The one thing I think is a travesty is that there's no triathlon, not even a relay. They have a marathon so surely they could have managed to find a course for a short triathlon. Grumble.

It's not about colonialism because lots of countries are eligible who were never part of the British Empire.

By the way the BBC are broadcasting it but only on BBC Alba so you'll have to watch it in Gaelic with subtitles.

On cost, the Birmingham games made a profit.

It's a shame as they do seem to show sports that aren't usually broadcast. like netball and hockey, but it is hard to justify an event which is essentially by and for the British Empire. It's surprising it's lasted so long really. I think I'd prefer if terrestrial TV just showed less common and more interesting sports all year round, instead of having to wait for the CG.

I think they have India lined up which wont' be popular with a lot of the athletes. Last time it was held there (in 2010) a lot of British athletes didn't go.

If you are Australian don't you follow swimming or athletics? They always do really well at the CG especially the swimmers without the Chinese or Americans being there.

Are they? I didn't actually look as I assumed all the hotels would put their prices up to ridiculous levels, ditto Birmingham for the European athletics.