The Commonwealth Games 2026 were originally due to take place in the state of Victoria, in Australia, but its withdrawal in 2023, after projected expenditure increased, left the competition without a host and once again raised questions about its viability. Glasgow agreed to stage the Games with less than two years to prepare, while Commonwealth Sport allocated much of the compensation paid by Victoria to the project. What began as an emergency solution became the first practical test of the Games Reset. One lesson from this edition may be that growth does not always have to mean adding more sports, athletes, venues or events. To remain viable and improve the experience, some competitions may need to adapt each edition to the host’s capabilities, retain a clear purpose and strengthen what makes them distinctive.
The change from previous editions was structural. Glasgow staged ten sports, compared with 19 at Birmingham 2022, welcomed around 3,000 athletes from 74 Commonwealth nations and territories, and concentrated competition in four main venues along a corridor of approximately eight miles. It did not build an Athletes’ Village, instead accommodating participants in hotels close to the competition sites. Expenditure reached £162.6 million, compared with £543 million for Glasgow 2014 and the official £778 million budget for Birmingham. The comparisons are not entirely equivalent because each edition included different programmes and investments, but they illustrate the scale of the transformation. Despite the reduction, 434,000 spectators attended competition sessions and, according to the organisers, overall engagement exceeded 630,000 when public spaces and festival activities were included. Glasgow reorganised the format to make it viable and focused its resources on what it could deliver best.
Designing the Games around what a city can offer
The available budget influenced the size of the event, but it was not the only consideration. Rather than first establishing an ideal number of sports, athletes, facilities and ceremonies, Glasgow assessed its accommodation, transport, organisational experience, audience, communities and operational capacity. Such flexibility can only come after a candidate has demonstrated that it meets minimum requirements for infrastructure, financing, security, governance and athlete services. Once its ability to stage the Games has been established, the objective should be to create the best possible event for that city and its participants. Glasgow 2026 chief executive Phil Batty argued that every edition should reflect “the identity, the character, the infrastructure, the communities and people” of its host. “Our legacy is a model that will evolve and adapt to future hosts,” he said.
The Games Reset extends this approach to the competition’s future organisation. Its purpose is not simply to spend less, but to define what each edition should contribute in sporting, social, cultural, diplomatic and economic terms, and then use the available resources to strengthen those objectives. The framework aims to reduce historic hosting costs by at least 60%, prioritise existing venues and accommodation, avoid unlimited public financial guarantees and allow events to be shared between cities, regions or countries. It also provides for the project to be resized when required by the budget, for the sports programme to reflect the host’s identity and for Para sport to remain integrated. Commonwealth Sport president Donald Rukare described Glasgow as “smarter, sharper and more sustainable” Games and as “a bridge to the future”.
Growth does not always mean adding more
The next edition helps explain that flexibility. Ahmedabad, in India, will stage between 15 and 17 sports in 2030, applying the model on a different scale that reflects its facilities, population and sporting ambitions. If it has the necessary resources and the expansion improves the competition, a larger programme can be just as valid as the one used in Glasgow. Progress should not be judged solely by counting how many sports return, but by assessing whether the event reflects the host’s capabilities, remains viable and fulfils the purpose for which it exists.
For an event such as the Commonwealth Games, growth can also mean providing an international platform for emerging athletes, fully integrating Para sport or giving visibility to nations and territories that have fewer opportunities at other major competitions. It can also involve reducing travel times, filling venues, improving athlete support or bringing the event closer to local communities. Glasgow retained six fully integrated Para sports, but excluded disciplines with a long history at the Games and reduced the opportunities available to some delegations. That cost requires balance: adjusting the scale must not strip the event of its identity or diminish its sporting value. The central test should be whether the chosen format allows the competition to fulfil its purpose more effectively.
A possible model, not a universal solution
Around 100 representatives of current and potential hosts took part in the Future Host Observer Programme during the Games to examine how this edition operated. Batty argued that the new approach had given all 74 associations reason to believe they could aspire to stage the Games. The experience does not demonstrate that all of them are immediately ready to do so, but it does broaden the possibilities by removing the expectation that every candidate must reproduce the same format.
Perhaps not every event can, or should, measure its progress by the number of sports, athletes, venues or medals. Some will need to expand their reach; others will need to adjust their scale to protect their viability or improve the experience they provide for athletes, supporters and cities. The value of Glasgow 2026 lies in identifying what it could organise well, building the competition around those capabilities and delivering an event that remained recognisable, sustainable and suited to its audience. The future of some major multi-sport events may not lie in continuing to expand, but in finding the right model and strengthening what makes them different. Glasgow 2026 could offer an example for competitions that need to become viable again without losing their relevance.
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