Gray said it was now “more likely” than when talks began that 2014 hosts Glasgow would stage the Games but warned the event would feature fewer than the 18 sports on show when the city last did so. The final number could be anywhere between 10 and 13.
Gray told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Reputationally, my worry, and the government’s worry, has always been that there is going to be a comparison with the incredibly successful 2014 games, which, by any stretch of the imagination, both in terms of the performances, the spectacle that it was and the legacy, were going to be hard to match.
“But I’m hopeful that if we are able to recognise that, if we are to go ahead, this is a different Games, this is a smaller event.
“Fewer sports across fewer sites but with good collaboration we could see something coming forward that is still positive for Glasgow and for Scotland.”
He said discussions were ongoing and stressed that “making sure there is no financial risks to the government is critically important”.
Only ten years since the last one and it already feels like the lasting impact has all but faded, reckon there’s a million better things we could be spending money on.
Oh no! Even less money not being spent outside the central belt 😢
3 comments
***Telegraph Sport reports:***
A deal is on the verge of being agreed for Glasgow to stage the next Commonwealth Games – but in a scaled-back format that will cast further [doubt over the event’s future](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2023/08/04/commonwealth-games-are-dying-before-our-eyes/).
Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray confirmed he was holding talks with Commonwealth Games Australia, which has offered a multi-million-pound investment to save the 2026 Games. That follows the [withdrawal last year](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/07/18/commonwealth-games-2026-cancelled-australia-victoria/) of the Australian state of Victoria as hosts amid rising costs.
Gray said it was now “more likely” than when talks began that 2014 hosts Glasgow would stage the Games but warned the event would feature fewer than the 18 sports on show when the city last did so. The final number could be anywhere between 10 and 13.
Gray told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Reputationally, my worry, and the government’s worry, has always been that there is going to be a comparison with the incredibly successful 2014 games, which, by any stretch of the imagination, both in terms of the performances, the spectacle that it was and the legacy, were going to be hard to match.
“But I’m hopeful that if we are able to recognise that, if we are to go ahead, this is a different Games, this is a smaller event.
“Fewer sports across fewer sites but with good collaboration we could see something coming forward that is still positive for Glasgow and for Scotland.”
He said discussions were ongoing and stressed that “making sure there is no financial risks to the government is critically important”.
**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2024/09/16/scotland-host-2026-commonwealth-games-australia-withdraw/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2024/09/16/scotland-host-2026-commonwealth-games-australia-withdraw/)
Only ten years since the last one and it already feels like the lasting impact has all but faded, reckon there’s a million better things we could be spending money on.
Oh no! Even less money not being spent outside the central belt 😢