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Brekkie Boy

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Everything posted by Brekkie Boy

  1. Brekkie Boy
    Although an ex adviser to the council is saying it was a mistake. Not the cause of the bankruptcy but a risk too far for a council under financial pressure. Regardless of opinion on the 2022 games being a factor it confirms that they won't be the saviour for 2026. Indeed there may be questions over the European Championships if they're reliant on council funding. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66724469
  2. Brekkie Boy
    Really is looking tricky. Two potential options I see. Awarding one city 2026 and 2030 - effectively halving the infrastructure cost across two games, though it's not quite as simple as this. On the one hand that's a safer option, on the other if they pull out you're still losing two hosts. Another could be guest hosts - inviting cities outside the Commonwealth to host, with that country then getting to compete at least for the games they host, if not as guest competitors in future events too. Whether anyone would want to is another matter.
  3. Brekkie Boy
    Full ceremony here: At least they had a proper cauldron for this rather than sticking a torch in a holder. A nice cauldron too, though it being outside the stadium limits the lighting options - thought they were going to do something clever with the mirror reflecting the flame from in the stadium to the torch but no, they just used a lot of fireworks instead.
  4. Brekkie Boy
    Seems to be Asia that keeps this going. Baffling really how this seems to continue and be well funded where as things like the Commonwealth Games and European Games struggle. Thought the Youth Olympics might kill this off but guess this is the step in between them. Agree it's a shame they've ditched the Universiade brand, even if nobody knows what it means.
  5. Brekkie Boy
    Drop the team sports and cycling and you might as well drop the entire games. Whilst there should be more flexibility I think going from around 10 core sports to 2 was a step too far. For me you protect the classics of athletics, cycling, swimming/diving and gymnastics - and then probably Rugby Sevens, Netball and Hockey. The latter three may mean housing a significant number of athletes but are critical in reaching areas of the commonwealth where individual sports may not. I'd then say a minimum of three further sports, but ideally five - with an absolute maximum of 15 events in total. I think if anything giving hosts too much control over the programme is actually where costs begin to spiral. Things become an unknown quantity rather than a known quantity. Legacy is also important - as important as it is to use existing venues to keep costs down cities should also have some long term benefit from it too.
  6. Brekkie Boy
    London being talked about but as much as politicians love to go on about how politics should be kept out of sport I just can't see the Tory government agreeing to fund a London games under a Labour mayor. There is also no political capital with it coming after the Mayoral and General Elections.
  7. Brekkie Boy
    So back to back in Birmingham then? That looks like the most hopeful option for their to be a 2026 event, although Birmingham does have the 2026 European Athletics Championships.
  8. Brekkie Boy
    Well that's a load of rubbish - Melbourne is one of the highest regarded hosts of sporting events in the world, regularly topping an annual poll, and this isn't going to change that. Indeed Melbourne has been kept at arms length from the Victoria 2026 plans and that arguably is why we are where we are today - not just facility wise but suspect city budgets can handle these things easier than the regional equivalents.
  9. Brekkie Boy
    A low bar for "successful hosting" then. Yes, the games went without a hitch - but they also went largely unwatched, both in person and across the continent. The latter not really their fault but poor ticket sales is a real red flag.
  10. Brekkie Boy
    It's been pretty much the same on the continent - largely unbroadcast on the main PSBs. Even in Poland only the Opening Ceremony was on the main channel with the rest on a spin-off sports channel. Not providing commentary on most sports on the world feed has been it's downfall - even the EBU produced "highlights" just cuts from highlights of one commentary free sport to another with no production around it. No doubt to it misses having a full athletics and swimming programme especially, along with the likes of track cycling and rowing from a British point of view. That basically provides the spine of the event to build coverage around. Even if a station is providing coverage they'd only really need to do so in the afternoons - not much continues into the evening. Having them in a year most sports have their World Championships doesn't help too with the scheduling - I think had they been a month or two later the BBC at least may have looked at them a bit more seriously.
  11. Brekkie Boy
    How well attended were the 2015/19 games. Pretty sure Baku would have made sure the stadia weren't empty, but that's clearly not been the case in Poland.
  12. Brekkie Boy
    Well maybe Glasgow 2014 (Commonwealth Games) isn't the worst opening ceremony ever now.
  13. Brekkie Boy
    Clearly too much politics amongst the European Federations to get something off the ground which should have started years earlier - and have a Winter edition too. Indeed not sure if it's officially linked to either the Games or the Championships but the inaugural European Para Championships, with 10 sports, take place in Rotterdam later this summer. https://europeanparachampionships.com/
  14. Brekkie Boy
    Turned it off - so dull, watching the europeangames.tv stream via a Firestick wasn't stable enough and not enough people watching online to enjoy taking the piss out of it.
  15. Brekkie Boy
    I think regardless of how well attended or how much money is spent on them an Opening Ceremony in a rectangular football stadium just never feels quite right compared to in the oval of an athletics stadium.
  16. Brekkie Boy
    No worries - both were TLDR anyway.
  17. Brekkie Boy
    Yes - https://europeangames.tv/programme Might not even need a VPN - if few broadcasters in Europe are showing it can't imagine many outside Europe are showing it.
  18. Brekkie Boy
    Only issue is that world feed commentary is only being provided on a handful of sports.
  19. Brekkie Boy
    This seems to be an absolute flop. Looking at the schedule the games seem significantly scaled back this year and even though they have a deal with the EBU, which on paper gives it free to air coverage on the continents biggest PSBs, most aren't bothering to even show it. The BBC hasn't even mentioned it's happening on it's website, never mind put any coverage on the iPlayer or TV, prioritising the grass court Wimbledon build up tournaments instead (and rightly so). Live coverage is on europeangames.tv, which is an excellently set up service from Eurovision Sports with multiple live streams, content on demand and a really good schedule guide - it is much more user friendly than what Discovery+ put out for the Olypics and free to use with no sign up required. Not sure if they have an app that you can view it on on Smart TVs though and there doesn't appear to be any YouTube streams this time.
  20. Brekkie Boy
    You can't win by a landslide in a vote with just one candidate. That's how corrupt dictatorships work. A "new norm" doesn't mean it's the right process. As I've said before Brisbane could be an excellent venue and I think it's good for the Olympics to scale down and possibly show that smaller cities have a chance, but anyone following the supposed bidding process knew their was other interest, especially post-covid, and that many other cities were taken by surprise with the speed in which the IOC made that decision. Even if everything was technically above board it's a process that felt like it wasn't, and just the latest in a long line of catastrophes under Bach's leadership. The sooner he is gone, the better.
  21. Brekkie Boy
    Seems the last venue remaining which hosted the Cardiff 1958 games is set to be demolished, with the Maindy Velodrome likely to be sacrificed for an expansion of a high school, but a new track, presumably up to modern standards, to be built in Cardiff bay. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65348129 Suspect though that many cities who've hosted the games have little remaining of them considering the temporary nature of many of the venues.
  22. Brekkie Boy
    Let's have an open transparent bidding process then, not murky deals behind closed doors. A large part of the reason there is more interest in 2036 is because the 2032 bidding process closed before most cities knew it had opened.
  23. Brekkie Boy
    Do we even know who is broadcasting them? Was a report last year that a deal had been done with the EBU which would see it get PSB coverage on the likes of the BBC, France TV etc. but there is no indication they'll be screening them and a subsequent report names MediaPro as striking a deal to be the host broadcaster and distribute the event. https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/european-games-ebu-tv-rights-eurovision-sport-poland-2023-27/?zephr_sso_ott=8gEoWk https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1134518/european-games-television
  24. Brekkie Boy
    Is it time to introduce a Commonwealth Beacon - a completely original idea based on the lighting of beacons to mark significant Royal Occassions, and in no way similar to anything you may have seen in any other international multi-sport event.
  25. Brekkie Boy
    35,000 security personnel will be involved in the Opening Ceremony, which will also involve 160 boats and the Olympic Cauldron will be installed at the Eiffel Tower, but not on top of it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/65685179 Must say based on the few attempts to do things along the Thames boat parades generally don't make great television.
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