'Commonwealth Games needs Glasgow more than city needs games', says council leader Susan Aitken

The leader of Glasgow City Council has said the Commonwealth Games needs Glasgow ‘more than the city needs the games‘.

A deal was agreed for Glasgow to host the 2026 Games after Commonwealth Games Australia offered a multi-million pound investment to ease fears over financial risks involved in putting on the event.

The decision followed months of speculation over which country would host the Games after Victoria in Australia pulled out last year, citing rising costs as their reason for withdrawing.

Glasgow will host what has been described as a “slimmed down” version of the games, with fewer sports than previous years and using existing facilities.

Sport

Why is Glasgow going to host the Commonwealth Games?

The multi-sport event is to return to Glasgow after agreement was reached on funding.

Council leader Susan Aitken said while Glasgow can “absolutely” host large-scale events, it was important to remember that the Commonwealth Games in 2026 will be different from the event hosted by the city in 2014.

“We’re hosting but its being organised and paid for by the Commonwealth Games Federation and it will be on a smaller scale from 2014, this is a slimmed down Commonwealth Games,” Aitken told STV News.

“And in some ways, this time, the games need Glasgow rather than the other way around.”

Aitken added that this version of the Games could create a “legacy” and give other parts of the Commonwealth a chance to host.

“We didn’t bid for these games, they came and asked us if we would host in order to model a new type of games,” she said.

“Perhaps other parts of the world, who are part of the Commonwealth but really haven’t had the ability to host a big scale Commonwealth Games in the past, they might have a chance of being able to host the kind of smaller scale games that we are going to model here in Glasgow in 2026.”