This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.
One of the phrases that you’d hear from ministers quite a lot in 2014 was that the eyes of the world were on Scotland.
And not just because of the referendum on independence — though there was obviously massive global interest in the vote — but because for one year, we seemed to be at the centre of everything.
Some 210,000 spectators descended on Gleneagles for the Ryder Cup, while the planet’s biggest popstars flocked to Glasgow for the MTV Europe Music Awards.
It was a busy year.
The biggest event, of course, was the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
About 7,000 of the fittest, fastest and strongest from 71 nations and territories descended on the city. They did not come alone.
Over 700,000 visitors attended the Games while another 1.5 billion people worldwide watched on TV.
For sports fans, those 11 days in the summer of 2014 were exhilarating
However, it also points out they did not decline, and that there was some evidence to suggest “those already active are more active”
Did it make Scotland lots of money? Again, not really.
The report states that “the immediate economic impact of the delivery of the Games is broadly similar to the impact of Games partners’ contributions if they were instead spent as standard government expenditure.”
All that tourist cash was, in effect, “offset by the higher economic activity impact of standard government expenditure.”
No, the real legacy of the Commonwealth Games and everything else that happened that year was that it proved Scotland, and Glasgow in particular, could host big sporting events and host them well.
In 2016 Glasgow was ranked number 5 in the world on the Ultimate Sport Cities Index, up from 9th in 2012.
Read more:
Unspun | Neil Mackay: Scottish spymaster at heart of Ulster dirty war may be put in spotlight
In the years since, the city has expertly and faultlessly hosted the European Championships, the World Indoor Athletic Championships and last year’s UCI Cycling World Championship, among many, many others.
So you can understand why the Commonwealth Games Federation, desperately looking for an emergency, last-minute host after Victoria in Australia bailed over rising costs, is absolutely gasping for Glasgow.
But while there’s enthusiasm from Team Scotland and some opposition parties, the lack of interest from Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government is telling.
Whenever you speak to the council, who were instrumental in delivering the 2014 Games, they make clear that they are completely hands-off here.
If the 2026 Games do come to the city then as far as they’re concerned it’s a lease job.
They are merely renting out the venues.
“It’s not our party,” one council source told me.
It won’t be Glasgow’s council taxpayers who’ll be doling out for any necessary works at Scotstoun and Tollcross.
Team Scotland’s vision is for a stripped-back version of the games, down to about 10 to 13 sports from 18 using “existing venues and accommodation options" in the city.
Costlier events like the marathon and the cycling road race would be dumped.
Given the state of Sauchiehall Street at the moment we could probably run the Steeplechase down there.
Team Scotland believes it will cost a maximum of £150m, with £100m coming from the settlement made to the Commonwealth Games Federation by Victoria.
It’s a sizeable sum of cash but to put it into some context, the 2014 Games in Glasgow cost around £543m.
The 2022 Birmingham Games cost £778m.
Get Scotland's top politics newsletter straight to your inbox.
It's not quite clear what will happen to the cultural events and the opening and closing ceremonies.
Will we do something new or spend some of the paltry budget on Febreeze for 2014's teacake costumes?
The big worry from some officials is that it all might just be a bit rubbish. In fact, so rubbish that it damages the city and the country’s reputation as a host of major events.
Can we really put on a decent event for a fifth of the cost? Will this just be a Poundshop games?
More pertinently, can this really go ahead without any public cash? That seems optimistic, especially given the budget for security seems to be about a tenth of the budget for security in Birmingham.
It will stick in the craw if the Scottish and UK governments have to bail out the Games while making cuts to spending elsewhere.
There are huge risks here. Is the benefit worth it?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel