Ed Warner: Commonwealth Games must be stripped down and redesigned
Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews expertly channelled Kath of Kath & Kim fame with his “look at moi!” presser last week when he pulled the state out of hosting the next Commonwealth Games.
Behind his baleful blue eyes sat a brain programmed to local politics – and a truth about the “friendly games” that must be addressed with urgency if they are to survive beyond 2026.
Overblown and non-essential, they must be stripped down and redesigned to fit the modern football-mad age.
Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Katie Sadleir faces immediate twin challenges: to extract the maximum possible compensation payment from Andrews, and to persuade the Australian national government of its duty to find an alternative host for three years’ time.
The two are intertwined, as any dollars wrung from Victoria can be rolled into the emergency successor.
The Aussies themselves need to decide whether they want the Games to continue in any guise – not just in 2026, but beyond. An affirmative answer is not a given, but without the quadrennial England v Australia medal table narrative, the Games are dead.
And while it is unsurprising to hear the London mayor’s office say the capital would be prepared to step in as host (and similar, albeit muted, signals from Birmingham and Glasgow), repeated editions in Great Britain would further erode the Games’ status, while emphasising the British Empire origins that are part of their existential challenge.
Let’s assume that Australia, embarrassed by Daniel Andrews’ U-turn, does step up and find a solution for the next Commonwealth Games. It seems to me that’s a decent bet, even given the weakening allegiance to the British monarchy across the country.
If anything, those looser emotional ties will likely strengthen the national pride that has been bruised by last week’s decision – a nation that won’t want to be seen to have simply walked away. What then for 2030, and how might 2026 be used as a first step towards a sunnier future?
The current Games model places an enormous burden on local taxpayers. Invariably, host cities need support from central government. Hence the British city leaders’ cautious enthusiasm to be saviours in 2026 is conditional on cash from Westminster.
Similarly, any Aussie rescue would need to be heavily funded from Canberra. Ticket revenues and income from local sponsorship deals fall far short of the costs of hosting, even if a city already has all the necessary facilities.
This does not mean the Commonwealth Games Federation is itself in financial clover; it is no International Olympic Committee. The CGF’s last accounts show a bare £6.9m of reserves, having generated a modest £1.5m surplus in 2022 – a Games year.
It is not creaming off rich global sponsor or broadcast revenues, generating just £21.5m of commercial income. Consequently it operates, of necessity, on a skeleton staff averaging only 16 people last year.
This shows that the CGF, and by extension its member national federations, has eyes that are far bigger than its stomach. Having aped the Olympics for far too long, the movement (as it likes to be known) has no excuse not to address frankly the scale of its ambitions for the Games.
An honest appraisal would recognise that the CWG caters for secondary sports (athletics, swimming, gymnastics, cycling and netball) and a string of tertiary ones; creates an opportunity for Team GB to be broken into its constituents nations; and provides a multi-sport experience for thousands of athletes who might never compete in the Olympics – either by virtue of the sport they excel in or the level of their own abilities.
All of which should rightly be a cause for celebration. It is the diversity that the Games offers that can and should be their distinguishing feature.
Why not, then, invite more nations, not just those of the old Empire, revise the roster of sports to ensure they are all highly relevant in the modern world, and open up hosting opportunities across the competing nations? All underpinned by sensible finances – use existing facilities, strip away costly flummery, and make the athlete and spectator experience primarily about the sport, not unnecessary padding.
This all requires a rebadging to sever the Commonwealth name from the Games, to open the event up to different sports and nations. Get that right – and by the way, “friendly games” won’t cut it – and you would have the opportunity to brand a series of elite international events across the course of a summer, taking place in either a group of geographically proximate countries or even across the globe.
Take athletes to the right venues for their sports. Let the blazers zig and zag around the world. Use modern comms and media techniques to create the story of the Games as they roll from sport to sport, from host to host and from virtual opening ceremony to virtual closing one.
Yes, spectators would lose the chance to go to lawn bowls and squash in the same day and athletes wouldn’t have a village in which to mingle (and more), but the cost savings could be huge, the love would be spread more widely, and what’s lawn bowls still doing there anyway?
It’s too soon to rebrand and open up membership in time for 2026, but the opportunity is there to nail a tighter event using existing venues, possibly right across Australia, that will point the way to a sustainable Games future. Be a shame to lose ‘em.
Slip of the tongue?
My quote of the week comes from Tony Khan, the vice chairman of Fulham FC, who are reported to be fending off Saudi attempts to poach their manager, Marco Silva.
“It’s amazing. I think if you have enough money you can get away with anything, including murder, and try to sign up all the top players in the world,” Khan said.
A premeditated use of words? I’ll leave you to decide. It came in the last minute of a (rather bizarre) show that focuses mainly on super yachts and pro wrestling.
His head is indeed massive
Sport may be theatre without the scripted ending (and superior for that reason alone in my humble opinion), but Dear England at the National deserves its nightly standing ovation – even though we know Gareth Southgate’s England team will fall short at every performance.
Go for writer James Graham’s imagined insight into the culture change wrought by Southgate, but go too for wonderfully cartoonish portrayals of players, politicians, blazers and the manager himself.
A particular audience favourite on the night I went was Harry Maguire. The producers must have searched long and hard to find such a talented actor (Adam Hugill) with an appropriately massive head.
Back to life
It was a joy to be back in the London Stadium again as a guest of UK Athletics for the Diamond League last weekend. And nice to see so many seats filled for top quality athletics – the men’s 200m and women’s 5,000m were the highlights.
Even better to meet a clutch of former elite athletes in the VIP seats who’d competed for GB in my time at the governing body and have now transitioned to new careers – either outside sport, inside it, or straddling the divide. And all probably more emotionally rewarding than punditry.
Athlete career transitions are gaining increasing attention and are an opportunity for business to harness rare talents. This was first brought home to me a while back by British sprinter Joice Maduaka, who is now Global Leader, Athlete Programs for EY in Atlanta, Georgia.
Terrible twos
Sport inc. is now two years old. New email sign-ups nicely outnumber those who unsubscribe each week. While that continues, I’ll keep bashing away. Thank you very much for reading!
Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes at sportinc.substack.com