There was a buzz around Glasgow in 2014 that is glaringly absent in the current run-up to the Commonwealth Games which nobody, it seems, particularly cares to play host to.

As of 10 years ago today, Scotland was in the throes of the final days of a bitter referendum campaign that some no doubt hoped would be helped to a vote for independence by the warm afterglow of what was acclaimed as one of the most successful Commonwealth Games ever in Glasgow. The two-week event brought in an estimated 690,000 visitors and put the country in front of a global audience of approximately 1.5 billion people.

Everyone knows the outcome of that election which was dominated in large part by the economy, public finances, and the currency question. On one hand voters were being told that an independent Scotland could thrive on its own, while on the other grave questions were being asked about its stand-alone viability.

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Notwithstanding the impact of the Conservative austerity programme of that time - in fact, perhaps because of it - today's public finances have markedly deteriorated from those of a decade ago. Brexit and Covid have also played a large part in pushing public budgets close to breaking point.

Labour under Prime Minister Keir Starmer has since taking control in July remorselessly hammered home the message about the painful decisions to come as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to lay out her first Budget next month. And the Scottish Government has already announced budget cuts of some £500 million that will profoundly damage key services such as housing and care.

Against such a backdrop it's no surprise there is limited appetite to commit to hosting a major sporting event that historically has been a financial gamble at the best of times.

Scotland isn't alone in its financial woes. A two-year surge in inflation, high interest rates, sluggish global growth, and the hangover from that pandemic mentioned earlier have left others questioning the value for money of playing host to the Commonwealth Games.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were widely acclaimed as one of the most successful in the event's historyThe 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were widely acclaimed as one of the most successful in the event's history (Image: Colin Mearns)

Thus it was for Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, when he announced in July of last year that the Australian state would not as expected be hosting the upcoming quadrennial event.

“What’s become clear is that the cost of hosting these Games in 2026 is not the $2.6 billion (£1.3bn) which was budgeted and allocated,” he said. “It is in fact at least $6bn, and could be as high as $7bn.”

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) begged to differ, calling the figures a "gross exaggeration", but history appears to back up Mr Andrews' claims.

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Victoria had only stepped in at the last minute because Birmingham had to be moved from 2026 to 2022 to replace Durban, which failed to make its finances stack up. Durban was only a back-up choice, replacing Edmonton, which ran out of funding and had to withdraw.

And then there's Delhi, host of the 2010 Commonwealths. The government of India had set aside $250m for the Games but the eventual cost came in at $11bn, the most expensive in history. This led to accusations of a "negative financial legacy" in a country with one of the world's highest concentrations of poor people.

According to an independent report commissioned by the UK government, the 2022 Games in Birmingham contributed more than £870m to the UK economy which is roughly what it cost. This was a rare balancing of the books.

Glasgow and Berlin co-hosted the inaugural European Championships in August 2018Glasgow and Berlin co-hosted the inaugural European Championships in August 2018 (Image: Mark Runnacles/Getty)

Since hosting the Games in 2014, Glasgow has also successfully staged the European Championships, the World Indoor Athletic Championships, and last year's UCI Cycling Championship, among others. Preparations for the event led to the construction or refurbishment of the Emirates Arena, the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, the Glasgow National Hockey Centre and Tollcross International Swimming Centre, along with a further £1bn of Games-related road and rail transport infrastructure projects.

So it's understandable why an increasingly vexed CGF has turned to Glasgow as a last-minute stand-in for the 2024 Commonwealth Games, even though Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government are at best lukewarm about the prospect.

As reported by my colleague, Herald political editor Andrew Learmonth, the local council which was instrumental in delivering the 2014 Games has made clear that it is completely hands-off in these latest developments. If the Games do come to the city, their role will merely be to rent out the venues.

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For its part, the Scottish Government said yesterday that it is on the verge of a deal for Glasgow to stage a scaled-down version of the event in 2026. This hinges on a £100m contribution from CGF to cover part of the cost of hosting the event, whose total budget is pencilled in at a mere £150m.

The 2014 Games in Glasgow cost in the region of £543m, with the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council contributing £425m towards that. CGF president Chris Jenkins has insisted that the 2024 Games will not require any financial outlay by the Scottish or UK governments, but on a budget of £150m neither should anyone expect an economic boost on par with that of £73m in 2014.

That said, if the CGF is true to its word about there being no public money involved this time around, whatever economic benefits there are should largely fall directly to the bottom line. That's at least a sliver of a silver lining in an otherwise bleak landscape for the public finances.