The End of the Commonwealth Games?

The 2018 Commonwealth Games just concluded in Gold Coast, Australia.  I have two questions for all of you.  1. Did you even know the Commonwealth Games were going on?  2. If you did, did you care?

Now, I'm not saying I blame anyone for letting the Commonwealth Games get lost in the shuffle.  For starters, the United States isn't a part of the Commonwealth, which limits American interest already.  Then you throw in the fact that they were in Australia, leading to middle-of-the-night start times, further cuts into your potential American audience.  They did show more broadcast coverage of the Commonwealth Games in this country than ever before...but it was all on ESPN3, so you had to go online and physically seek it out if you wanted to watch anything.

Personally, I think the mid-April thing is the main reason why this edition of the Commonwealth Games didn't get quite the buzz.  Even in the Commonwealth nations, there's a lot going on at this time of year.  The Premier League and Champions League are both nearing the end of the season, so "football" has England's attention.  Canada, meanwhile, is preoccupied with the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  And, it's not exactly the heart of summer sports season yet, anyway.

Contrast that to the last edition of the Commonwealth Games in 2014.  Four years ago, the Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow and took place in late July, when there's nothing else going on and following the Commonwealth Games, even if your interest was limited, was much easier. 

But Australia has opposite seasons and the Commonwealth Games doesn't have the same restrictions with regard to when they can take place as the IOC does.  As a result, we get a Commonwealth Games scheduled at a time that's really only convenient for Australia.  This actually happens pretty frequently with the Commonwealth Games, which only ever actually take place in the Northern Hemisphere's summer when they're in Great Britain (which competes as four separate teams) or Canada.  Like they will be in 2022, when Birmingham (not the Birmingham that's hosting the 2021 World Games) hosts.

Evidently interest in this year's Commonwealth Games was even limited in the Commonwealth countries themselves.  The reasons that I already listed probably came into play, but they can't be the only factors.  The lack of competition within the Commonwealth certainly has to be one, too.  Sure, you've got Australia and New Zealand and Canada and separate teams from the four Home Nations.  But that's really about it.  The other Commonwealth nations are smaller teams from the former British territories (and some leave you wondering how they're a part of the Commonwealth at all). 

Even for the athletes, the importance of the Commonwealth Games is somewhat limited.  For some, they're a very big deal and they make it a priority to be considered Commonwealth champion.  But they're not the World Championships or Olympics (or even the European Championships), and the top athletes, understandably, will focus their efforts on those larger, more competitive events.  Laura Muir, the star British (or, I should say, Scottish) miler, meanwhile, opted not to travel to Australia for the Commonwealth Games because of her school schedule.

All of this had even experts wondering if the Commonwealth Games are even worth it anymore.  When they started in 1930, they were known as the "British Empire Games."  The name has evolved over the years before settling on "Commonwealth Games" in 1978.  But the critics have pointed out how the Commonwealth Games are one of the last vestiges of the days of British Imperialism and wonder how relevant they are in this day and age.

I'm not willing to go quite that far.  I do think there is some value in the Commonwealth Games, just like there's value in the Pan American Games and the other second-tier events.  For many of the athletes, the Commonwealth Games is the highest level of international competition they can strive for, which is reason alone for them to continue.  Likewise, the Commonwealth Games features sports like lawn bowls and netball that aren't included in other multi-sport festivals, so this is literally the most prestigious international event for athletes in those sports.

However, the biggest problem that the Commonwealth Games are facing right now is the same one as the Olympics.  No one wants to host them!  Counting Birmingham 2022, five of the last six Commonwealth Games have been in either Great Britain (two England, one Scotland) or Australia (twice).  And Edmonton is the favorite for 2026 (a year in which Calgary is bidding for the Olympics and Canada will probably host 10 World Cup games).

That's the real issue facing the Commonwealth Games moving forward.  They can't just keep going back and forth between Great Britain and Australia.  A total of 71 teams competed at the edition that just ended.  But many of those teams don't have the resources to host. 

They have to figure out a way for that to change.  Otherwise, we could very well see the Commonwealth Games come to an end.  The 2022 Games are in Birmingham because they were taken away from Durban after the South African city defaulted on some of its Games-related payments.  Fortunately, Birmingham was there to bail them out.  But that won't always be the case.  And that could be what kills the Commonwealth Games after nearly a century.  Which would be an incredible shame.