Hosts are pulling out, costs are spiralling and the PR is a challenge: will the post-colonial festival of sport find a way to secure its future?
The last time the Commonwealth Games was struggling to find a replacement host, after Durban was stripped of the event in 2017, it had help from an unlikely source: Buckingham Palace. An insider picks up the story. “The Palace went to the government and said: ‘It’s the Queen’s jubilee in 2022, you need to do something,’” he tells the Guardian. “UK Sport also then got a call. There was genuine pressure and that made Birmingham happen.”
On Monday the Commonwealth Games lurched towards yet another existential crisis after the Gold Coast withdrew its bid for 2026 – only four months after Victoria also pulled out. This time, though, there will be no call from the palace and the UK government riding to the rescue with £594m in its pocket. Just 16 months after the success of Birmingham 2022, organisers are again facing pointed questions about the event’s future.
Written by Sean Ingle
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/dec/04/commonwealth-games-battle-to-survive under the title “Out of time? Unloved Commonwealth Games faces uphill battle to survive”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
