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.

Josh Kerr last night case in point. Brilliant

I have to admit that I have loved watching the events at these games. I was lucky enough to attend some and the atmosphere was amazing.

The crowd really got behind all the athletes, even the Australians when they won again and again and again!

It does leave a great legacy for children and it was such a shame it wasn’t shown in English on free view tv here as I think that would have also bolstered interest.

I do think that at times they got the ticket prices wrong as that was evidenced by empty seats at some events and I do know that people had wanted to attend some of these events and were put off by the cost.

Glasgow 2014 left a legacy of amazing arenas which are getting used every week by children from all over and that is the legacy that these games will continue to build upon.

Yes I very much agree that it is a shame it has been so difficult to watch on TV.

I also wondered about ticket prices. I bought our seats ages ago but you could only pick the area, not the seat, which meant we never had the aisle seat DD really needs. I thought £55 for an evening seat many rows back on the bend was a bit punchy.

It’s not difficult to watch you just have to pay and that is true about lots of things that are on TV .

Well yes but lots of people will a) not want to pay b) not be aware as it is not on mainstream TV. Athletics is the kind of sport where you maybe just want to tune in to watch the women's LJ or the 5k and you might not want to pay £5 for that.

Also I don't know about other sports but the athletics was not presented in a very user-friendly way IMO.

It’s still a very big deal for local athletes here in Guernsey- I know Commonwealth cyclists, runners and swimmers for whom it’s likely to be the biggest competition they ever get to take part in. It’s rare for our athletes to get the opportunity to compete in British teams, and even then this is a rare opportunity to compete under our own name!

I do wish it was still on the BBC for ease of watching, but I’d hate to see it go entirely and I think many people in similar places would feel the same.

I thought they had been outbid? But yes, putting it behind a paywall has probably removed the casual viewer who then gets hooked. Which is a lot of us for stuff like this.

I think it probably has run its course, yes. That said I’ve enjoyed it more than I thought I would in the run up (I live near Glasgow), but nowhere near the buzz and excitement of 2014. I suppose we need to remember that came only 2 years after a home Olympic Games though. I went to a few events in 2014 but this time tickets for things like swimming, athletics, cycling were very expensive, and whilst in 2014 I was happy to take my young kids to see less popular events, they’re older and not up for it and I wasn’t bothered enough to get tickets for 3x3 basketball etc, just for the sake of seeing something.

So in short I think they’ve done a decent job in the circumstances, but as a “major games” probably past its heyday.

I just got HBO Max for a month, it was only a tenner

Time to put it back on where people can view it.
You can't see the closing ceremony tonight unless you pay.

I don't know, OP. I haven't enough info to know whether it's run its course (no pun intended).

I'm not a sports fan so I have no skin in the game. I don't think that fact that the Commonwealth is the (voluntary) successor to the Empire is really a problem for anyone...do you know otherwise? Do these games perhaps give smaller countries' athletes a chance who wouldn't get to the Olympics, or am I talking rubbish??

The late Queen loved the CW, but she did always say that anyone who wants to leave is free to do so and no hard feelings. I think it's the same with the Games - if there's a feeling that things should stop coming from the CW members, then OK. But it's not for KC to say - it has to come from them.

I don't know enough to comment further.

@clary I watch a lot of athletics and I thought the coverage was ok , one stream showing bits of everything and different streams for jumps / throws if that is your thing . My only issue was the hosting and I was getting to the point that I had enough of Eilidh Doyle saying ‘you know’ every two seconds , Johnny Peacock was excellent as were the commentators.

Yes fair enough. I like to watch it all but without the pieces to camera (while the hept LJ vault is going on in the background!). I was struggling to scrub through it as I usually do on the iPlayer but maybe that's me being rubbish.

I also don't like it if field events are split off as we need to shout about them but anyway. Jaz for the win!!

(agree about Eilidh Doyle btw that was annoying me too)

I'm absolutely gutted that the games are not being shown on the telly, why did they have the full opening ceremony on the box but not the games itself ? I saw 5mins on BBC Alba but as a non Celtic speaker and I didn't watch for long.

What a shame that the games are actually happening in the UK, but unless you pay you cant view.

@clary I do get what you mean and we did comment that there was a bit too much chatting when there were field events going on that were not getting much air time but that’s par for the course at big events . I much prefer the diamond league style coverage where it is just commentators but no one does that at major champs .

I'd be sorry to see it go when it's so incredibly ahead of the game in terms of integrating disability sports. Other multi sport events get nowhere close.

Yeh @tinyspiny I agree it is totally standard. That's why I like to skip through it. No wonder tho that there are such poor participation levels for field events (which there are – until JAZ the last major outdoor field gold I can think of is Greg Rutherford in 2012) if they are never shown. Sigh.

The way forward is to be there haha. The decathlon pole vault, which always goes on for ages, and is not often shown at all, certainly not in full, was a total delight on Friday with the crowd really engaged with the Cook Islands athlete's efforts. Probably so many stayed mainly bc the last vaulter was a Scot but still.

@IonianNerveGrip yes hard agree with that. It was great to see para events side by side with non-para and valued and applauded just as much.

At the next games in India they are adding 3 more sports as well as the ones that were dropped here and I agree the integration with disability sports is excellent . It is a model that the Olympic organisers should look at .

They couldn’t match the offer out in by TNT or whatever. Considering they’ve recently been showing some world. up games which is likely very expensive.

i think the games in BBC would have made a difference.

I do agree the commonwealth needs to be finished off generally though I suspect there must be something in it for Britain, hence the holding on.

Very late in the day, but the closing ceremony is still on…. If you have Sky you can get HBO max for free.

I do agree the commonwealth needs to be finished off generally though I suspect there must be something in it for Britain, hence the holding on.

It only needs to be finished off when the members decide to. I think there's something in it for the members or they wouldn't bother. It's absolutely a decision for the member countries and not one the UK can make unilaterally.

As someone said to me long ago, the CW gives some very small countries a seat at the table which they wouldn't otherwise get.

There must be something in the commonwealth for the members as Gabon and Togo both only joined in 2022 , they wouldn’t join for no reason or just to attend a sporting event every 4 years .

Mozambique requested to join too. I suspect it's due to being surrounded by commonwealth countries that form trading blocks, so it being advantageous to be in rather than out.

It provides a great opportunity to participate in a high profile international event for athletes who may never have a chance of making it to the Olympics. Personally I really enjoyed it, as a volunteer and a spectator. I particularly enjoyed seeing the diversity of countries represented without the domination of the US, China etc.

I do wonder if those who think it should be scrapped ever try to think about it from other people's perspectives. Also, my understanding is that no public money was used to fund it, so don't worry, it's not costing you...

I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, and consider the 4.99 I'd already paid for a football match later this month so to my mind I got it for free, top value.