THE Commonwealth Games is coming back to Glasgow – but how much will it cost?
The 2026 event was set to be hosted in Victoria, Australia – however, the state backed out in 2023 in the face of rising costs.
Now, after negotiations between the federation behind the games, the former hosts and the Scottish Government, it has been announced that Glasgow will host the event instead.
How much will the Commonwealth Games cost?
The Scottish Government has said no public money will be spent on hosting the Commonwealth Games – rather, the £150 million cost will be covered by a range of other funders.
Some £100m has been committed by Commonwealth Games Australia, and another £20m by the Commonwealth Games Federation, plus £30m more expected to come from commercial sources.
Glasgow's event will be working off of a budget significantly reduced from the £3bn Victoria was expecting it to cost.
To make the savings work, the event will use existing infrastructure instead of building new venues and housing, and the number of sports will be scaled down from 17 to between 10 and 13.
In 2014, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games cost over £575m, with £372m coming from public sources, and saw competitions take place in 18 sports.
This is not the first time the Commonwealth Games Federation has had to find a new host on short notice due to spiralling costs.
In 2017, Durban, South Africa stepped back from hosting the 2022 event, instead handing the reins to Birmingham.
Despite it generating an estimated £1.2bn for the UK economy, hosting it still had significant consequences for Birmingham.
An athlete's village intended for the competition was significantly delayed by Covid.
With the complex not being ready for the start of the event, Birmingham City Council was forced to sell it off, at a loss of over £300m.
