The Commonwealth Games are an international multisport competition which dates back to 1930, one which brings together a number of countries which are, or were, part of the British empire. The Games have served as a quadrennial test in many competitions such as track, cycling, and even some sports which you only tend to find in Commonwealth nations such as netball, rugby, squash, and lawn bowling.
This year, however, there has been a bit of a setback in terms of the organization of the next Games, which are scheduled for 2026 and would be the 23rd iteration. It had been scheduled for Australia, but the government of the state of Victoria withdrew its support for the big for the Commonwealth Games, leaving it up to Scotland to take over the organization.
The problem is that the 23rd Games will be significantly scaled back, and will not, according to reports, include field hockey in the program. In fact, there could be as little as 10 events contested at the next Commonwealth Games.
Thing is, when it comes to international sports, the Winter and Summer Olympics and Paralympics are so big and so consuming when it comes to publicity and capital spending that other world-level competitions are rapidly being pushed to the side.
Think of this: when was the last time the Pan-American Games were broadcast on American television? The last time you saw them on a major network was all the way back in 1991. You’ve had to acquire the broadcast streams of various events from a kaleidoscope of entities.
The lack of American television money has not enervated the Pan Am Games’ importance on the international sports calendar; a number of events are qualifiers for the Olympics, notably in team sports.
But I do wonder if the Olympics, which have required huge amounts of construction and infrastructure for a 16-day event and whose remnants sit unused all over the globe, are going to squeeze out other similar events?
