Brekkie Boy

The schedule now out. https://www.glasgow2026.com/news/4328872/session-schedule-unveiled-for-the-uks-biggest-sporting-event-next-year

Realistically Birmingham the only out of London option for the Paras. Would be a great host for it but I think bidding for both in the same year isn't the best idea as if will look like it's getting second tier treatment by being taken out of the capital to a stadium half the size.

Ideally Madrid would get's it's shot in 2036 but that doesn't seem to be on the cards.

It was the British Universities and Sports Championships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Prepares_series

Back when officially at least Olympics were bid for, rather than bought... 20 years ago today since London beat hot favourites Paris and a strong bid from Madrid - plus New York and Moscow. Games wise worked out for London and Paris in the end.

The transparency of bidding processes would usually expose corruption so to solve that problem it seems organisations remove the transparency rather than the corruption.

Yes, SLC is probably a contender and really liked the ceremonies being partly on ice and a modern yet classic Olympic cauldron. Mostly remembered by Brits for the Curling I guess and by many for Stephen Bradbury. I just don't have a huge recollection of the games as a whole but thinking about it that was when I was at Uni and didn't have a TV in halls that year so only watched bit when I was at home for the weekend.

Just thinking whilst a few of the summer games have been proclaimed, or self proclaimed, as the "best ever" Olympic Games is there really a consensus on who takes that title with the Winter Games? Recency bias always applies in the Olympics but I do think during my life time Barcelona, Sydney, London and now Paris all had the right to claim that title but it feels like perhaps the Winter Olympics are judged more against themselves. Perhaps too with Britain not being such a dominant force (although now far more regularly winning medals than was the cast previously) we just don't have the connection to it to particularly care. For me from an armchair perspective I'd probably narrow it down to two. I loved Lillehammer and always will - the first Winter games I really immersed myself in as a kid so I think that's always a factor, but it just feels like the last games before the bigger cities dominated hosting the games. Of the later games it's probably Vancouver - always helps being held in a country that actually is competitive in a range of Winter sports and I think the games being welcomed in Whistler and Vancouver came across in a way that hasn't really been the case in subsequent games and I suspect if I was old enoughto remember it Calgary might be in this conversation for me too. I'm sure from an organisation, visiting and sporting point of view there would be arguments for others, but in recent years both Sochi and Beijing felt particularly soulless.

Still think overlooking Ireland for 2023 was a huge mistake, especially given the team Ireland had become by then. If they weren't going to win the bid then get why they don't see much point in a future bid. I don't think the expansion is too much of a burden as it's only an extra 4 games (compared to 40 for the football expansion), although does mean 12 games each weekend in the first 3 weeks rather than 8 to 10. I suspect though they might spread the group games more - two on weeknights and three on weekends with a one day break between each round of games would fit into 17 days with a Friday launch.

That would make sense just to shore up it's future but they'd probably need a less risky candidate for 2034.

Seems Channel 7 signing a two games broadcasting deal might actually include two games then. Hope whereever 2030 ends up they're a bit more than the bargain basement event planned for Glasgow - just bringing back a couple of team events would lift it hugely. https://www.commonwealthsport.com/news/4247352/two-games-deal-with-australian-broadcaster-seven-announced

Glad there is finally a plan to make the games look respectable but really highlights why a full bidding process needs to be restored to sort out most issues prior to selection. Brisbane would never have been elected with the mess that was their previous plan.

Could the Peoples Republic of America come to the rescue if the US become an "associate member" of the commonwealth? https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/breaking-donald-trump-agrees-make-34908203

Well at the rate the dollar is crashing that'll be loose change by the time the games come around.

They were never mega-games and if they hadn't expanded in 1998 I doubt they'd still be around to fail today. Delhi was perhaps a mis-step but a necessary one but Durban pulling out hurt them most. Canada losing interest really didn't help either - indeed with current tensions a Canadian hosted Commonwealth Games might be better received in it's home country than at any point in the last 30 years.

Thanks - reading around a bit seems a new one now the most likely option but not without controversy. Of course if they'd followed the traditional open and democratic voting process we'd still be a few months off discovering the hosts and most of these issues would have been resolved ahead of time.

Popping in here for the first time in a while - guessing they're no closer to a decision on the Olympic Stadium.

Absolute madness that when they're scaling back the games itself to be a shadow of it's former self they're still doing a 500 day baton relay. No reason at all that couldn't launch on Commonwealth Day 2026 and be just the 135 days, which is still longer than most Olympic Torch relays. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvge76gd3e1o

A good piece from a Welsh perspective. https://blog.dragonbet.co.uk/time-to-fatten-up-the-slimmed-down-commonwealth-games-with-new-ideas/

It's the compromise between appeal and having venues in place with having to host the athletes - so that is where team sports lose out. I'd have thought a Rugby 7s tournament would pay for itself though, even if outsourced to Murrayfield. I'm still hoping, perhaps foolishly, that a couple more sports will be added to the programme in the next few months. I still don't get the exclusion of all city based events - yes road closures cost money but they happen for much smaller events than the Commonwealth Games across the country week in week out and ultimately the costs incurred in holding those events go back into the city anyway.

Was always going to be underwhelmed whatever sports were excluded but feels like half the line up is the sports people don't really care about.

It's a shame Singapore seemingly are uninterested considering they have the legacy of the Youth Olympics. I think for them smaller single sport events at a world level seem to be the priority.

Rightly or wrongly an African games always feels like a risk - even more so after Durban 2022 failed to materialise - and at the moment perhaps a risk not worth the CGF taking, even if they don't have any other choice, considering the current travel advise around Ghana isn't great. In some ways though if the facilities are built a shorter turnaround might be safer when it comes to Ghana hosting, although the world in general feels politically less stable now so nowhere really is an absolutely safe bet.

P.S. I don't really get the secrecy around the sports as considering the nature of how Glasgow has acquired these games it's not as if they've reached this point without knowing what the majority of sports are. You'd think they could at least confirm the seemingly obvious ones like Track Cycling and Gymnastics.

That would probably jinx it. Thanks for the research there - certainly potential for more than the 10 sports even across the "four" venues and I don't really see why road cycling and triathlon couldn't be considered too considering they are out on the streets. I'm hoping they may be able to top up on the sports as things progress, but do think it's keeping the athletes numbers down rather than the sports venues which is key.