Hosts are pulling out, costs are spiralling and the PR is a challenge: will the post-colonial festival of sport find a way to secure its future?
The last time the Commonwealth Games was struggling to find a replacement host, after Durban was stripped of the event in 2017, it had help from an unlikely source: Buckingham Palace. An insider picks up the story. “The Palace went to the government and said: ‘It’s the Queen’s jubilee in 2022, you need to do something,’” he tells the Guardian. “UK Sport also then got a call. There was genuine pressure and that made Birmingham happen.”
On Monday the Commonwealth Games lurched towards yet another existential crisis after the Gold Coast withdrew its bid for 2026 – only four months after Victoria also pulled out. This time, though, there will be no call from the palace and the UK government riding to the rescue with £594m in its pocket. Just 16 months after the success of Birmingham 2022, organisers are again facing pointed questions about the event’s future.