2022 Commonwealth Games - Birmingham

[Mark Connolly]

10 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Think they said on the news yesterday it cost about £800m for Birmingham to host the games.  Seems cheap to me but I don't think they had to build much in the way of new venues like London did for their £9.3bn

Apparently there were multiple different villages given the spread of venues as well, so Tinder use would have taken a massive hit.

[KirkieRR]

Scottish Commo Games bloke quoted as saying that it's now difficult for a single city to host the games. I assume that's because of the accretion of the para events into the programme.

 

On BBC Scotland channel tonight BBC Scotland are finally allowed to do a wee programme about Scotland's efforts at the games. Just as they were finally given in 2014 by Mummy BBC, after the Network had seized control and parachuted in all their witterers. Do the BBC Scotland types never rail against being treated like country cousins and patted on the head?

[The Naitch]

Would be fucking amazing if at least one of the 35 commonwealth countries where it's illegal to be gay watched that bit, took the hint and done the right thing. I'll not hold my breath, right enough. c***s.

Tom Daley has a documentary about LGBTQ+ rights, or lack of, in those countries on tonight. It’s utterly horrific what goes on.

[Guest]

Tom Daley has a documentary about LGBTQ+ rights, or lack of, in those countries on tonight. It’s utterly horrific what goes on.

It was bloody fantastic. Certainly makes it more likely to bounce between UK and Australia when potential hosts like Nigeria and Pakistan are absolute shitpits for LGBT rights

[Donathan]

18 hours ago, Autistisches Nilpferd said:

On 09/08/2022 at 21:34, The Naitch said:

Tom Daley has a documentary about LGBTQ+ rights, or lack of, in those countries on tonight. It’s utterly horrific what goes on.

It was bloody fantastic. Certainly makes it more likely to bounce between UK and Australia when potential hosts like Nigeria and Pakistan are absolute shitpits for LGBT rights

Have to think Canada will fancy it again soon, not been out there since 1994 

[peasy23]

Have to think Canada will fancy it again soon, not been out there since 1994 

Posted further up, Hamilton, Ontario is keen on hosting 2030.

[Eednud]

^^^ Bump ^^^
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews just announced that Victoria will not host the 2026 as, surprise surprise, it’s going to cost too much. Perhap he doesn’t trust the electorate to reelect Chairman Dan in 2026 as cost blow-outs never seemed to phase him before.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-18/victoria-commonwealth-games-announcement-daniel-andrews/102613156

 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Hopefully we get it again. Or maybe Glasgow gets it again and they do redevelop Hampen afterwards after all? Might be a bit of a squeeze adding a running track, fucking it off again and basically rebuilding the whole ground before the 2028 Euros, mind.

[HibeeJibee]

Their issue will be finding anybody to host it: unless Birmingham fancy pressing the repeat button it's probably a case of London or bust, unless somebody in the far east unexpectedly emerges.

Victoria are almost certainly massaging the figures... it was probably never going to cost as little as they said when they bid and would not cost as much as they now claim having decided to renege; but it does also reflect the CGF's inability to face reality. They pay lipservice to downsizing yet 2026 was to still have more athletes and sports than ever. Having added niche sports, team sports, parasports and extra womens events it's ballooned into a not-so-mini-Olympics without the finance.

EDIT: seemingly unlikely Birmingham will fancy another go - they're already hosting European Athletics in 2026, from August 10th to 16th, at Alexander Stadium.

Edited July 18, 2023 by HibeeJibee

[Swarley]

If they were to add Aussie Rules Football as a sport then you may find Victoria rapidly reverse their decision. 

[parsforlife]

Perhaps a move away from a host city to a host county and possibly longer schedule would help bring costs down as there more opportunity to use existing infrastructure and by spreading events less needs built in theory as the multi-sport venues can host more. 

[HibeeJibee]

27 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Perhaps a move away from a host city to a host county and possibly longer schedule would help bring costs down as there more opportunity to use existing infrastructure and by spreading events less needs built in theory as the multi-sport venues can host more. 

They were already trying that in Victoria with the sports being spread out over a variety of provincial cities and large towns. Obviously that has plus points but there must also be wastage with extra transport plus multiple smaller duplicate provision like HQs/athletes villages/broadcast facilities/etc. Glasgow then Birmingham had some modest nods to the same idea: with Diving and Shooting in Edinburgh then Cycling in London plus various events at Coventry.

Frankly the CGF just need to find cities/regions/countries with most of the existing infrastructure in place... and curb their ambitions. Must it last 12 days (the Olympics only lasts about 16 days)? Must it involve 5,000+ athletes and 20+ sports (the Olympics is about 10,000 and 30)?

You can see how it's burgeoned... Birmingham had basketball, beach volleyball, judo, table tennis, plus womens-only cricket & netball with 100+ competitors and dozens of matches:

1990     Auckland                10 sports     2,000 competitors
1994     Victoria (BC)        10 sports     2,500 competitors
1998     Kuala Lumpur     15 sports     3,600 competitors
2002     Manchester          17 sports     3,800 competitors
2006     Melbourne            17 sports     4,000 competitors
2010     Delhi                         19 sports     4,300 competitors
2014     Glasgow                  18 sports     4,900 competitors
2018     Gold Coast            18 sports     4,400 competitors
2022     Birmingham         20 sports     5,000 competitors
2026     ?                                   21 sports     5,000+ competitors

Edited July 18, 2023 by HibeeJibee

[sparky88]

8 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

They were already trying that in Victoria with the sports being spread out over a variety of provincial cities and large towns. Obviously that has plus points but there must also be wastage with extra transport plus multiple smaller duplicate provision like HQs/athletes villages/broadcast facilities/etc. Glasgow then Birmingham had some modest nods to the same idea: with Diving and Shooting in Edinburgh then Cycling in London plus various events at Coventry.

Frankly the CGF just need to find cities/regions/countries with most of the existing infrastructure in place... and curb their ambitions. Does it have to last 12 days (the Olympics only lasts about 16 days)? Does it have to involve 5,000+ athletes and 20+ sports (the Olympics is about 10,000 and 30)?

I can imagine a Gulf state stepping in to host and then offering to bankroll the CGF for a considerable period of time. Perhaps even with that country being admitted as a member of the Commonwealth. 

Edited July 18, 2023 by sparky88

[Bully Wee Villa]

I can see it being England or UK-wide, maybe with shooting in India as was originally proposed for 2022 before Covid intervened.

Australia and New Zealand are effectively out and Canada has the World Cup. 

Probably too expensive for Africa and all but South Africa would be potentially problematic due to LGBT issues anyway, as would going back to Malaysia.

Alternative is maybe give up on 2026 and have some mega super-duper worldwide edition for the 2030 Centenary games.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Bully Wee Villa

[Eednud]

2 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I can see it being England or UK-wide, maybe with shooting in India as was originally proposed for 2022 before Covid intervened.

Australia and New Zealand are effectively out and Canada has the World Cup. 

Probably too expensive for Africa and all but South Africa would be potentially problematic due to LGBT issues anyway, as would going back to Malaysia.

Alternative is maybe give up on 2026 and have some mega super-duper worldwide edition for the 2030 Centenary games.

Read somewhere that Hamilton, Ontario hoping to get the Centenary games as they were the first hosts.

[Guest]

Perfect time to get a Scottish team for the Olympics imo

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Just do it in London, it will have the vast majority of the required infrastructure (if not all of it) in place already and the experience required to make it work.

[The Master]

9 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

They were already trying that in Victoria with the sports being spread out over a variety of provincial cities and large towns. Obviously that has plus points but there must also be wastage with extra transport plus multiple smaller duplicate provision like HQs/athletes villages/broadcast facilities/etc. Glasgow then Birmingham had some modest nods to the same idea: with Diving and Shooting in Edinburgh then Cycling in London plus various events at Coventry.

COVID brought great strides in remote production, so broadcasting could be centralised at (e.g.) the SEC with only the camera operators and an uplink at the venues. 

Would an athlete’s village be needed for spread-out venues? The point of a village is that there wouldn’t be anywhere to accommodate that many people in a single city, along with spectators, VIPs etc. But if everyone is scattered across the country, existing accommodation might be enough.

[Lurkst]

10 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Frankly the CGF just need to find cities/regions/countries with most of the existing infrastructure in place... and curb their ambitions. Must it last 12 days (the Olympics only lasts about 16 days)? Must it involve 5,000+ athletes and 20+ sports (the Olympics is about 10,000 and 30)?

You can see how it's burgeoned... Birmingham had basketball, beach volleyball, judo, table tennis, plus womens-only cricket & netball with 100+ competitors and dozens of matches:

1990     Auckland                10 sports     2,000 competitors
1994     Victoria (BC)        10 sports     2,500 competitors
1998     Kuala Lumpur     15 sports     3,600 competitors
2002     Manchester          17 sports     3,800 competitors
2006     Melbourne            17 sports     4,000 competitors
2010     Delhi                         19 sports     4,300 competitors
2014     Glasgow                  18 sports     4,900 competitors
2018     Gold Coast            18 sports     4,400 competitors
2022     Birmingham         20 sports     5,000 competitors
2026     ?                                   21 sports     5,000+ competitors

It does seem to have mushroomed into a mini Olympics, one that the hosting of is beyond the means of almost every competing country.

Maybe it's time for the games to be split into a series of smaller events that can be hosted in different countries?

Is the concept of the Commonwealth itself that relevant anymore?

 

[Bully Wee Villa]

3 hours ago, UsedToGoToCentralPark said:

Just do it in London, it will have the vast majority of the required infrastructure (if not all of it) in place already and the experience required to make it work.

For a one-off, sure. Though I'd prefer an England or, better still, UK-wide event if possible. Loved it last year tbh and would like to attend again, even if it's an event I don't know much event.

Long-term, though, it needs to find hosts outside the UK to survive or you just exacerbate the problematic colonial element that proves off-putting for many.