Commonwealth Games 2026 Undergoes Major Overhaul, Reduced to 10 Sports in Budget and Sustainability Push

The 2026 Commonwealth Games, scheduled to kick off in Glasgow, Scotland, this Thursday, are returning amid uncertainty after the tournament's future was previously called into question regarding whether it could actually take place, alongside a drastically downsized format.

The roots of this crisis date back to 2023, when Victoria, Australia—the original host—abruptly withdrew due to continuously escalating costs, catching the executives of the Commonwealth Sport organization completely by surprise.

After spending over a year searching for a new host, Glasgow stepped in to fill the role for the second time since its successful hosting in 2014. However, with limited preparation time, this comeback has resulted in a vastly smaller sports event than before.

Past Commonwealth Games featured up to 18 sports in 2014 and increased to 20 sports at the Birmingham event in 2022, but this year will feature only 10 sports. Furthermore, the athlete count is expected to drop by over 2,000, and no new venues will be built. Athletics events are being moved from the 46,000-seat Hampden Park to Scotstoun Stadium, which holds around 10,000 spectators.

Regarding the budget, hosting costs have been massively slashed, dropping from between £700 million and £800 million for Birmingham 2022 and Gold Coast 2018 down to just £160 million for this year's Glasgow event. Organizers noted that this situation has established a new model making the games smaller, cheaper, and more sustainable.

Nevertheless, the Glasgow games face a shortage of star athletes, with several choosing to skip or prioritize other events, such as Max Whitlock, the Olympic gold-medal gymnast, and Kaylee McKeown, the Olympic champion swimmer from Australia, who are dealing with injuries.

"We took a hard look at ourselves and realized we needed to reset and reimagine the Games to make it an attractive proposition for our members."

Commonwealth Games Organizers

Meanwhile, other top-tier athletes have chosen to rest from this event, such as Keely Hodgkinson, the 800m Olympic champion who opted to compete at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham starting August 10, along with Dina Asher-Smith, the fastest sprinter in UK history; Julien Alfred, the 100m Olympic gold medalist from St. Lucia; and Summer McIntosh, the Canadian swimming superstar.

Even so, several prominent athletes will participate, including Josh Kerr, who recently broke the mile world record, Eilidh MacColl, and Adam Peaty, who will return to the same pool where he won two gold medals in 2014. Additionally, this event places greater emphasis on para-sports than ever before, with 6 out of 10 sports featuring para-athlete competitions and medals being included in the overall medal table.

Regarding spectator interest, selling around 1.3 million tickets like in 2014 will be unmatched this year, though athletics and cycling tickets have sold best, and tickets still remain for all sports across the 11-day competition. Another major change in the UK is that the BBC, which broadcast 18 consecutive editions, has been replaced by TNT Sports and the HBO Max streaming service, meaning there will be no free-to-air terrestrial television broadcast.

Source: BBC Sport