Maybe we should host the ‘better together’ Commonwealth Games - Susan Dalgety

Could Edinburgh host the 2026 Commonwealth Games for a third time? News that the Australian state of Victoria has pulled out due spiralling costs has got First Minister Humza Yousaf excited at the prospect of Scotland hosting at least part of the Games during a Holyrood election year.

Scottish swimmer David Wilkie celebrates after winning the 200m breaststroke during the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, July 1970

He was no doubt thinking of his home town of Glasgow as a host city rather than the Capital, when he told reporters that he had asked his “team” to explore whether Scotland could be part of a multi-country, multi-city approach to rescue the Games, but Edinburgh must surely be in with a shout. And I am delighted that council leader Cammy Day agrees.

Edinburgh is an old hand at hosting the event, even during the toughest of times. The original Meadowbank stadium was built for the 1970 Games, and was available again when Edinburgh hosted a scaled-down event in 1986. That year, more than half of the eligible countries (32 out of 59) boycotted the Games in protest against the then-Thatcher government’s attitude towards apartheid South Africa.

The newly-refurbished Meadowbank stadium would make a great venue. But at what cost? Victoria abandoned the Games after estimates reached 7 billion Australian dollars, or £3.6 billion according to my calculator. Neither Edinburgh City Council nor the Scottish Government could afford even a fraction of that amount. That leaves only a UK solution – the multi-city, multi-country one to which the First Minister alluded.

Spreading the Games across the UK, in Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast for example, might dilute some of the atmosphere, but it could be a neat solution to an intractable problem.

It may well be that Australia finds a way to host the 2026 Games. But if they don’t, the Commonwealth Games Federation say they are “very open to having a conversation” with the UK government about taking over.

What better way to show Britain is united than if the four home countries hosted the 2026 Commonwealth Games – with Edinburgh at the heart of the event? Perhaps not the message that the nationalist SNP would want to promote during a vital election year – but as the First Minister has already hinted, one that he is willing to at least consider. Perhaps he secretly believes we are ‘better together’ after all.

Cammy Day on Commonwealth Games

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/edinburgh-could-again-play-leading-role-in-hosting-commonwealth-games-if-scotland-bids-to-stage-2026-event-4224719