2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

From left to right: Seven West Media’s, Event Director – Rio Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Chief Revenue Officer, Kurt Burnette, NEP Australia President Soames Treffry, Minister for the Commonwealth Games, the Hon Stirling Hinchliffe MP, Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) Chairman Peter Beattie AC.

Sydney raises hand to save 2022 Games
Secret talks began a year ago to discuss Sydney’s capacity to take over the financially crippled Commonwealth Games for 2022, which
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/commonwealth-games-2002-sydney-has-backup-plan-to-host/news-story/738ce3b22dcfc425159a6f2a7911c5a9

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UK cities Liverpool and Birmingham, and our Perth are also possible replacements various news outlets have reported.

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How viable is this going to be in the future, with only Australia and the UK financially secure enough to host these events? Perhaps they could be watered down into international competitions in each of the events instead.

Perhaps someone at the DT should work out which year the games are in :slight_smile:

I see Adelaide has also been suggested.

Last week the Gold Coast mayor said they were prepared to host again if called upon.

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Given they are redeveloping ANZ Stadium to make it permanently rectangular, surely that rules it out as being able to fit a running track around it?

They don’t have any other suitable venue, so I can’t see how Sydney are a viable option.

The ABC article highlights Melbourne as well - luckily the MCG isn’t being made into a rectangle so it could still fit a running track, and would be a good excuse for a bit of redevelopment.

It makes more sense to hold events in countries that are financially stable - and have viable uses of the stadiums after the games are completed. Having major international sporting events that then cripple their host nation, just so that they get to be hosted in different parts of the world makes no sense.

The only thing that’s going to make them not viable, is to attempt to spread them for the sake of spreading the games around.

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They should be canned. They’re no longer a drawcard given globalisation and the increased stature of things like track and field World Championships. That’s even before you get to the fact no one wants to host them.

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Adelaide also keen to bid for 2022 games http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/adelaide-should-bid-to-host-the-2022-commonwealth-games-say-several-highprofile-backers-after-durban-lose-hosting-rights/news-story/b7b5eb2407193fe017b3e5fc80aad037

“Sydney interested in hosting Commonwealth Games” honestly sounds like a news story I’d expect from 1997 rather than 2017, so perhaps The Daily Telegraph were thinking the same! :slight_smile:

In any case, I don’t think it will (or should) happen. There are far more important issues that the NSW Government should be looking at for Sydney instead of the possibility of hosting the Commonwealth Games.

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It’s an interesting question that needs to be considered - it probably goes to the heart of how valuable membership of the Commonwealth itself is as well

EDIT: Rather than post a new post, I’ll add my further thoughts here.

There are a lot of benefits to the CommGames from a sporting perspective, it gives countries like Australia, England, South Africa etc a further opportunity to compete and offers many countries (New Zealand) an opportunity to compete at a higher level that they may not get to at an Olympics or World Championship

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This doesnt just apply to the CommGames, maybe rather then having a host city, have a host country and use the facilities across multiple locations

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For sure. Events like Football World Cups are awarded to countries, Comm Games and Olympics should be too. You’d lose the community/athletes village feel but it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

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One of the biggest issues with hosting these events is the cost and the ‘legacy’ that the events leaves (none of the modern (90s+) events have done this well, Sydney and London have probably done it best from the Olympics point of view

Expanding the host to multiple cities will allow them to use the best venues and spread the legacy

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Redeveloping the athletics centre next door or the hockey centre to the east of that would be horrifically expensive, so yeah can’t see Sydney being an option.

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Maybe the SCG would be a viable option for athletics and opening and closing ceremonies?

If the 2022 Commonwealth Games do eventually go to an Australian city, personally I’d prefer it if neither Sydney or Melbourne have them. Maybe Perth or Adelaide.

Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne have had them but Adelaide has not.

Hardly. Sydney hosted the Olympics only thrre years later in 2000. So the poor man’s cousin wasn’t figuring in their minds. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Today marks one year to the opening of these games.

So am I right that the games will start after the Easter weekend, so in terms of ratings, the first 4 days will be in non-ratings?

Correct. Easter Sunday 2018 is on April 1.
There is a full ticketing guide in today’s News Corp major papers.