What would a scaled-back Commonwealth Games in Glasgow look like? Events, opening ceremony, cost

Health Secretary Neil Gray, who also covers sport, has confirmed talks are ongoing with Commonwealth Games Australia, to see the Scottish city host the sporting event in 2026. The Commonwealth Games were to be held in multiple cities across Victoria, only for the Australian state to announce last year it had pulled out of the multi-sport event citing a steep rise in projected cost.

Now Glasgow has stepped in, but will host the games on a much smaller scale than 2014.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow had a total budget of £575.6 million, which included £472.3m for the games themselves and £90m for security measures.

This time, the event will be considerably smaller after the Scottish and UK Government refused to use any public money towards the rescue bid.

Instead, it’s being funded by Australian authorities, with CGF investment of £100 million, plus additional private support.

This is nothing compared to previous years, and will see a greatly reduced games, with just 10-13 sports, down from 20 at Birmingham 2022 and 17 in 2014. It is not clear yet which sports will survive, and which will be axed.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Gray admitted the games will be significantly different.

He said: "Reputationally, my worry and the government's worry has always been that there is going to be a comparison with the incredibly successful 2014 games, which by any stretch of the imagination both in terms of the performances, the spectacle that it was and the legacy, were going to be hard to match.

"But I'm hopeful that if we are able to recognise that if we are to go ahead, this is a different games, this is a smaller event.

“Fewer sports across fewer sites but with good collaboration we could see something coming forward that is still positive for Glasgow and for Scotland."

This smaller scale will see no athletic events take place at Hampden, with them instead likely to happen at Scotstoun Stadium, a much smaller venue. Swimming events are expected to be conducted at Tollcross International Swimming Centre. Overall, just four venues would be used.

The games also represent a chance for Scottish fans to watch world-class athletes and heroes such as Josh Kerr in their own backyard. Earlier this month, the Scot won the 5th Avenue Mile race in New York for the second straight year and smashed the 43-year-old course record. The Scot came home in three minutes 44.3 seconds, more than three seconds faster than the previous best set by Sydney Maree in 1981.

Commonwealth Games Australia's president Ben Houston said: "We appreciate that the model is different and that that creates perceived financial and reputational challenges, but we have every confidence in the model."

In a sharp contrast to the glamour and expense of the Olympics, there would also be no athlete’s village. In addition, any opening and closing ceremony would be hugely cut back from what has gone before, if it happened at all.