After 12 years, the Commonwealth Games are returning to Glasgow in 2026 as a scaled-down version after Victoria state in Australia withdrew due to high costs. The Scottish Government has agreed to host the games after confirming funding from Australia.
The final approval of the event was made today (September 17) when Health and Sport Minister Neil Gray spoke to the Australian Government to secure funding. The reduced Commonwealth Games will feature 10 sports across four venues around Glasgow: the athletics will be held at Scotstoun Stadium and swimming at Tollcross.
The CGF announced on X today: “The Commonwealth Games Federation is delighted to learn today that Commonwealth Games Scotland has received the government support it requires to proceed with its innovative proposal to host the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2026.”
Neil Gray assured that no public funds would be used for the games, with the budget for the 2026 Commonwealth Games being £114 million, which was received as compensation from CGF and the Australians.
In 2014, the games cost Scotland £543 million with 17 sports, so the 2026 version will be significantly smaller. There will be no athlete’s village either, with opening and closing ceremonies expected to be modest and not going all out.
This is not the first time the Commonwealth Games struggled to find somewhere to host it, and it’s happened more than once now. In 2022, Durban in Africa was supposed to host the event but was rejected in 2017 due to financial troubles within the country.
As a result, Birmingham ended up hosting the games, costing around £1 billion.
Victoria in Australia pulled out in 2023 after the estimated costs were £3.1 billion (WHAT!) for a mere 12 days of festivities.