Durban stripped of 2022 Commonwealth Games

Toronto hosted Pan American Games in 2015. Certainly, they COULD step into the breach but clearly they have little interest in taking on CGs. Indeed, the only potential interest may be from Edmonton

Being accepted into Asian Games is not necessarily certain as there is some resistance although some of it doesn't really hold water. Claims that AUS (and NZL) should build up Pacific Games is nonsensical. What is the population & economic scale of Oceania nations outside AUS & NZL ..... rather than render these events ridiculous displays of schoolyard bullying, these two nations allow these events to be opportunities for these smaller nations to compete at intl level. Would AUS entry to Asian Games cause a stress on numbers ? Only too a point as I suspect that AUS sports will each make their own calls as to whether Asian Games should be a season priority or whether they would be better served prioritising other events/giving it a miss. Would AUS entry change the balance of power at Asian Games ? Overstated ..frankly. You have CHN, who are essentially now no2 on the Olympic pecking order to US. Then you have JAP & South Korea (one strong across many sports, the other more niche strengths) who are probably on par with AUS, if anything stronger. AUS could "kick ass" at Asian Games in certain sports .... and the overall competition standard in many events far higher than CG but they will also be also-rans in others. CAN has Pan American Games as another major option, albeit differing years to Asian/CG and in sports such as swimming, they also have Pan Pacifics. The Home Nations have European Champsionships in many Olympic sports. To my knowledge, NZL has not yet made enquiries re Asian Games but should AUS gain entry, one cannot see them hanging back.

I think Toronto could bid for the rights. The last time they hosted a major event in CAN was in 2010 Winter Olympics, 2015 WOmens FIFA World Cup.

If Australia/NZ seriously joins the Asian Games (that are a very big deal) that will kill off interest in the Commonwealths here. The Asian games are also Olympic Qualifiers in some sports so there is something big at stake there. QE2 is not coming to the Gold Coast next year- and so maybe their time has passed.

Dav, theoretically is very different to the reality of the past 3 Games. DO the top Kenyans turn up, do the top Jamaicans ? Will the top Brits even bother next year ?? AUS only has only a thin spread of track/field competitors of World finals level. Not sure the situation with RSA athletics but its "pay your own way" in some others like swimming. The timing (early Apr) doesn't conflict with peak Northern Hemisphere season but you're not going to see top drawer talent hopping on a flight to AUS for a "nothing" competition Certainly not any grounds to pay top $$ for intl TV rights for what is likely to be a meet 2 levels below Diamond League ? Swimming - Euros would make more financial sense for UK interests and I can't see Canada forking out major $$$. Track cycling may be good standard but will those riders with road contracts be released by their teams ? Road cycling - probably lower overall standard than that of British or AUS Nationals. I fully agree, time to euthenase the whole edifice

Actually Wombat , the CG theoretically could put out a very powerful athletics team with the likes of Kenya, The Caribbean , England , South Africa and Australia being participants. The problem is because of any lack of meaningful financial inventive the genuine World Class athletes will either give it a miss or use the games for prep for other more lucrative pickings. The cost I am afraid no longer justifies the existence of this event.

Your point re gigantism and the Olympics IS very valid and we are already seeing candidate cities for 2024 dropping out due to both cost concerns plus lack of public support in tough political/economic climate. Whilst the Olympics may survive, its realistically over time to "stick a fork" into Comm Games as there is precious little "sustainability" argument both on financial grounds plus relevance on sporting merits. The prime source of revenue for events such as Olympics/CG/Asian Games and essentially most major international events is from the sale of international TV rights. Can we honestly say that it would be worth paying top $$$ for the 2018 Games ? - Recent games have struggled to attract the top T/F athletes from Comm countries given greater rewards elsewhere. 2018 CG is pre-peak season and involves major travel - The major European road racing season will be well underway at this time and leading into the Grand Tours; you are certainly aren't going to see many (if any) World Tour riders - even swimming is under threat. The Brits have a "home" European Championships so it would make sense that they prioritise that ahead of a trip to AUS in Apr. Even for AUS & CAN, you have Pan Pacs in Aug where you have the "real world" challenge of the USA/CAN/JAP rather than a certain number of events where the Brits will be strong, in others the Canadians. Other sports will, undoubtedly, have a quotient of international class competitors (up to and including World/Olympic champions/medallists) but in few will there be the depth of competition of a standard major international "meet"/tournament. In all honesty, the only CG sports where the competition standard can legitimately be described as "World Championship" level are netball, lawn bowls and rugby sevens. Of these, only the latter is an Olympic sport and even the other two can survive very well without CG. There were reports a couple of weeks back that AUS Olympic officials are seriously pursuing becoming part of the Asian Games. Given that World/Olympic qualification for some AUS sports is already through Asian confederations; this is only logical as Oceania is essentially a farce and should really be rolled into a joint Asia/Pacific grouping. Also an indictment that they are seeing CG as no longer sustainable nor best serving many AUS Olympic sports

I for one am darned pleased that the games are no longer coming here. For starters I seriously believe its future is in doubt and its credibility ranks low in International sport. The costs of set up for Durban is enormous and any benefit that may be derived from tourism etc is minimal . Durban is a popular holiday destination for South Africans but not for overseas tourists . The only commonwealth countries that can successfully host the games without putting in additional resources for upgrading of facilities etc. is probably England , Australia and Canada and they must be getting a little tired of hosting them anyway. SA is still battling to cover stadium costs of the 2010 soccer World cup . We don't need to add to that.

The Commonwealth Games face similar challenges to the Olympics and without significant reform you have to really wonder about the long-term sustainability of both of these 'games'. The IOC (and Commonwealth Games organisers) collects the vast majority the revenue generated by a games, but host cities have to pick up most of the costs of running the games. The IOC has an incentive to keep adding sports so long as the sports added provide revenue, because they don't have to pick up the costs of extra venues and organisation. The biggest problem for the IOC is the cost of running the games far exceeds the revenue they generate for host cities, and the problem is now worse than ever. This is happening at a time when taxpayers in western democracies (which are still generally best placed to host the games) are less willing than ever to support their governments spending significant amounts of money to host games. Referenda on bidding to host games are routinely being defeated, or not even held since the opposition to bidding for the games is so clear. Unless the IOC take action to reduce the cost of running the games (by significantly cutting sports), it's only a matter of time until we see bids for Olympics falling over (like Durban for the Commonwealth Games) or no credible cities putting their hands up to bid for a games (although you could argue that with Beijing and Almaty the only bidders for the 2022 Winter Games, we have already reached that point). The IOC will be very reluctant to do this, though, because it would impact on their revenue.