The Commonwealth Games begin in Glasgow in just a month’s time.
It’s a fact that I’m sure that a lot of people have forgotten, or didn’t even know in the first place. The rapidly-encroaching start date of Glasgow 2026 is certainly not something that’s dominating much, if any, of the public’s consciousness. But given the Commonwealth Games start date quite so soon, it’s worth taking a look at how exactly preparations are looking for the Games.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games should, of course, never have been in Glasgow in the first place. It was initially headed to the Australian state of Victoria before it pulled out due to escalating costs. Then there was flirtations with holding the Games in Australia’s Gold Coast, Malaysia and Singapore, with none of these rumoured host city bids actually coming to anything.
And so, in August 2024, Glasgow put itself forward in what was widely acknowledged as the “last resort” in finding a host for the 2026 Games.
Scaled-down and far more compact than any of the Commonwealth Games in recent years was the only way Glasgow would be able to host this and so that’s where we stand just four weeks out from the Games beginning.
There’ll only be ten sports, across just four venues. There’ll be no Athletes’ Village, there’ll be no publicly accessible events like the marathon and there’ll be a considerably less flashy Opening Ceremony from that to which we’re accustomed.
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This Games will, in every way possible, be an unrecognisable event from that which came to the same city in 2014.
But there is little doubt that, despite the severe limitations of this Commonwealth Games, if it wasn’t happening like this, it wouldn’t be happening at all. Nobody else wanted it and so a small Glasgow 2026 is better than no 2026 Commonwealth Games at all. Isn’t it?
It’s perhaps unfair to judge this event before it’s happened. But it is fair, given the widespread scepticism of the Commonwealth Games - both this one specifically and as an entity - to wonder if the efforts going into Glasgow 2026 are going to be worth the trouble.
In some respects, though, the scepticism is less worrying than the apathy that surrounds these Games. A lot of people I come into contact with in daily life know little, if anything, of Glasgow 2026. Indeed, someone asked me this week where the Commonwealth Games are taking place, completely oblivious to the fact it’s less than 50 miles along the M8.
And it’s this indifference that’s going to be so hard for the Glasgow 2026 Organising Committee to change over the coming four weeks.
Certainly, the fact that that these Games are competing for attention with the World Cup, and particularly a World Cup in which Scotland is playing, makes it infinitely harder to garner even the slightest bit of attention outwith the sporting bubble. Nothing, and certainly not a scaled-down Commonwealth Games, is going to grab any of the spotlight from the first World Cup in which Scotland has been involved for 28 years. And so, given the challenging circumstances, there’s little doubt that the lack of fanfare about these Games is going to be hard, if not impossible to overcome over the next month.
What has, and will remain catastrophic to this Commonwealth Games over the coming weeks and during the event itself, is the absence of BBC coverage, either live or in highlights form.
Late last year it was confirmed that there would be no live coverage of the Commonwealth Games on the BBC for the first time since 1954, with the event being removed from free-to-air television for the first time in 18 editions of the Games. The live coverage of Glasgow 2026 will, instead, be on subscription service, TNT.
And then, in a further blow, it was revealed last month that the BBC won't even broadcast a highlights package, with the highlights show being aired, instead, on Channel 5.
It’s this lack of BBC coverage that will, I fear, be the biggest nail in the coffin for Glasgow 2026. Whatever you think of the BBC, and it has plenty of critics, there’s little doubt that it has a reach unrivalled by any other broadcaster, and particularly broadcasters which require a subscription to watch, such as TNT.
By taking away television coverage from the BBC, the organisers have, in one fell swoop, removed a hugely significant proportion of the viewership. There just is not be a sizeable chunk of the population who will flick onto Channel 5 whereas there are many, many people who do this with the BBC, which enables sporting events to reach those who are not diehard viewers. Indeed, look at the reach of the Winter Olympics, which draws in millions of people - far more than are true winter sports aficionados. Reaching people is one thing that the BBC does very, very well. Glasgow 2026 will benefit from none of that.
And the reason for the Games’ absence from the BBC is perhaps the most worrying aspect of the broadcasting situation. The official line is that TNT outbid the BBC, which I’m sure is true. But reliable sources within the BBC have told me that the national broadcaster just didn’t really want it. Or certainly didn’t want it enough to put much effort into getting it.
And so, to TNT and Channel 5 the broadcast rights have gone. My guess is that we’ll reach the Closing Ceremony on the 2nd of August and Glasgow 2026 will have passed many, many Scots by. Whether that be in terms of watching the action, or even realising it was happening, it seems impossible that the Organising Committee will be able to change significantly the feeling of apathy currently held by much of the general public about the Games.
What will save this Commonwealth Games, if it’s saveable - and I’m sure that, in some respects, it is - are the athletes.
There are going to be some very, very significant athletes competing at Glasgow 2026. From a Scottish point of view, there’ll be Duncan Scott, Jake Wightman, Josh Kerr and Laura Muir. And internationally, there’ll be Summer McIntosh, Kaylee McKeown, Adam Peaty, Julian Alfred and Chad Le Clos. These are truly world class athletes, of that there’s little doubt, and while some of the very biggest names in sport have chosen to sit-out of Glasgow 2026, most have opted-in, giving some much-needed cache to the event.
What’s going to make or break Glasgow 2026 is whether or not it can break through into the general public’s consciousness. As things stand, it hasn’t. There’s four weeks to change that, if the organisers want this event to be a widespread success.
