Scotland to host Commonwealth Games in 2026 after Australian funding deal as netball pushes to avoid cut

London: Glasgow will host a scaled-back Commonwealth Games in 2026 after the Scottish government rubber-stamped a proposal in part funded by the Australian governing body.

A reduced version of the Games, expected to feature just 10 sports and hundreds fewer athletes, will return to the city 12 years after it last played host, with Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) promising “a multimillion-pound investment” to help with the cost of the event.

Team Australia at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.Credit: James Brickwood

Just four venues will be used across the city, there will be no athlete’s village and any opening and closing ceremonies are expected to be scaled back. The total budget for the Games is expected to be about £114 million ($222 million).

Victoria abandoned the quadrennial international event, first staged in 1930 as the British Empire Games, in July last year when the estimated cost soared from $2.6 billion to almost $7 billion. In March, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office found the updated cost was overstated and not transparent.

Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) chief executive Craig Phillips said at a press conference on Wednesday that his organisation now “doesn’t really have a relationship with Victoria”.

Phillips was asked if the saga was an embarrassment for the event.

“I think it does the opposite,” Phillips said. “I think the resilience of the brand has been demonstrated by what’s happened over the last few weeks and by the fact our friends in Scotland have put their hand up to host the Games that should have been coming to Australia.

“The fact there is such a strong commitment around the Commonwealth to make sure these Games happen is a real testament to the strength of the brand.

“Whether the Victorian government has a damaged brand? That is a question for someone else.”

The CGA had made long-term plans on the assumption that the Games would go ahead in Scotland but the dates and number of sports in the program have not been settled, said Phillips, with athletics and swimming the only sports locked in. He said there was also a need to know how the “hotel-based” athlete accommodation will work.

Last Friday, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) offered Scotland almost $200 million from the $380 million compensation from the Victorian government. CGA received its own separate compensation and has offered to invest £2.3 million of the money it received to help the Games to go ahead.

While a formal confirmation was yet to come, Scottish Health Minister Neil Gray said the remaining barriers to hosting the event had been removed, and the government had conducted a thorough assessment of the proposal.

“The collaboration has been extremely positive and productive and has resulted in the finalisation of a strong event proposal that will help to support a new future for the Commonwealth Games and deliver economic and sporting opportunity for Scotland,” he said.

“On that basis, I have written to the Commonwealth Games Scotland today to inform them that the Scottish Government will give its support for the proposal.”

Organisers have stated the Games will come at no cost to the public purse, amid concerns over the expense while public services face £500m of spending cuts this year in Scotland.

It was reported the UK government would provide financial support in the event of any increased security threat and had agreed to £2.3 million in contingency funding in case existing budgets failed to cover the final costs.

Part of the concern from the Scottish government over hosting the Games came from “reputational risk”. There was a worry that after hosting a successful event in 2014 that met with a positive response, the pared-back event may look less impressive in comparison.

Flagging an agreement was close at the weekend, CGA president Ben Houston said it was not the time to walk away from the Games that had “inspired for generations”.

“We look forward to working collaboratively toward an outcome that benefits Commonwealth nations, their athletes, coaches and fans,” Houston said. “They are irreplaceable in terms of providing global competition and, in the absence of an Australian host, it is in the interests of Australian sport that we make an overseas Games a reality.”

Ian Reid, chair of Commonwealth Games Scotland, said “public funds would not be required” in order to deliver a “world-class” event in time.

“This is a really exciting opportunity and we will be working hard over the coming days to bring the final pieces of the puzzle together,” he said.

Netball bosses push to stay in Glasgow games

By Roy Ward

Netball is making its case to stay in the “pared down” 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as several team sports could face the axe.

Commonwealth Games Australia will brief its 22 member sports, including netball, on Friday as it waits for confirmation from the event’s new organisers on which sports will be in the expected 10 sports.

Netball Australia chief executive Stacey West welcomed the news Glasgow would host the games and made it clear Australia wants to see netball retained, reminding authorities that netball’s gold medal game has provided some unforgettable moments.

Netball Australia and World Netball are lobbying the Commonwealth Games Federation to keep the sport.

The Australian Diamonds celebrate their gold medal at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.Credit: Getty Images

“With four gold medals since 1998, Australia is the most successful netball nation at the Commonwealth Games so it is a special event for all Australian netball-lovers,” West said.

The Diamonds won the first Commonwealth Games gold medal in Malaysia 1998, beating New Zealand in a heart-stopping finish, and Australia also claimed gold in Birmingham in 2022, defeating Jamaica in the final.

“We have just finished the Super Netball season which achieved record crowds, memberships and broadcast audiences so netball has never been more popular,” she said.

“Netball Australia is also focused on planning for a successful 2027 Netball World Cup, which is being hosted in Australia and where the Diamonds will seek to defend their world champions title.”

The only two sports guaranteed for Glasgow are athletics and swimming as they are foundation sports.

Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said on Wednesday that his body had to wait for the CGF and Glasgow organisers to finalise the list of sports.

Phillips said he hoped a decision would come as soon as possible, but he hinted that some of the venues already discussed showed a direction towards traditional, individual sports and less for team sports.

“It’s preemptive for me to try and comment on that,” Phillips said.

“I think when you look at the venue footprint that have been selected for the games, I think that will give you some indication of the types of sports that might be in the program.

Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips.Credit: AAP

“Track Cycling at the velodrome and SEC [Scotland Events Campus], a central complex for indoor venues.

“That starts to show you the direction [they are going in], but I don’t want to preempt the final decision by the CGF.

“The reality is that the games can only be a certain scale and some will miss out, unfortunately.“All we can do is look after them as best we can.”

Most observers expect 10 sports in Glasgow. That number could grow to 13, but closer to 10 appears more likely.

Cricket, for example, has its Olympic debut in Los Angeles 2028 to prepare for, and it is not expected to be one of the sports in Glasgow.

Golf, which was among the sports slated for 2026 in Victoria, is one which could still win a berth considering Scotland’s deep connection to the sport, the number of elite golf courses and each country needing only one or two golfers for the male and female events.

Boxing is another that is popular with many nations.

But the ongoing battles between the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association and newly formed World Boxing, could force the CGF to drop boxing for Glasgow.

Phillips said the CGF was closely observing the battle over which federation runs the sport.

“Boxing has traditionally been a key universality sport and one that a lot of Commonwealth Games associations participate in from places like the Pacific and Africa, so it would be a difficult sport to leave out of the program,” Phillips said.

“But the CGF have to be certain they have an international federation they can rely on to run the event.”

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.