Commonwealth Games 2026: is Glasgow the definite host?

Hartley believes that paring back the sporting programme for 2026 could give organisers the opportunity to more clearly define the Commonwealth Games while reducing costs.

“It could be an opportunity for the Commonwealth Games to really think about it,” she says.

“They could focus on sports where the Commonwealth Games still represent the highest level of competition, such as netball or, certainly before it is played at the 2028 Olympics, squash.

“Can it be positioned as a junior event in things like athletics and swimming and a showcase for those other sports? There might be a niche for it.”

But that may not be the case.

Glasgow would only be the last temporary host. Birmingham only hosted the 2022 Games after a lack of funds forced original host Durban to withdraw.

Alberta, the Canadian province scheduled to host the Games in 2030, has also dropped its plans to host the Games.

The Commonwealth Games organisation is now stuck in a likely unsustainable shuttle between Australia and Britain, with Glasgow 2026 the sixth of the last seven events to be staged in one of the two countries.

However the Games develop in the future, they also have an inescapable past.

Originally called the British Empire Games, it has its origins in an era far removed from modern times.

Ultimately, there may be too much competition and too little relevance, causing the time for the Commonwealth Games to pass.

“I think there is a danger that the cycle is coming to an end,” says Hartley.

“The European Games are still quite new and have yet to get going, but they can become even stronger.

“It has the weight of many international federations and is linked to the European Broadcasting Union (a continental organisation of public broadcasters) and the Olympic Games.

“Just look at the success of the Pan American and Pan Asian Games. They are huge. They could easily surpass the Commonwealth Games.”

With the race having been held as part of the Commonwealth Games for almost a century, there will be a sense of excitement.

A highlight will be missing from the skyline of some sports. A chance to represent their home country will be lost for British athletes. A valuable platform for disabled sport will be gone.

But for now it continues.

When Glasgow bid to host the 2014 Games, it pledged to care for the Commonwealth, ‘not just for 11 days or even four years, but… for generations to come’.

The authors could not have known what a difficult task that would be. Or what a central role their city would play in it.