Track cycling and boxing will be featured in the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, as revealed on Tuesday. The streamlined program includes 10 sports, with athletics and swimming being mandatory, while badminton and hockey have been excluded.
The Games, which were last held in Glasgow in 2014 at a cost of over £540 million, will take place at four venues from July 23 to August 2, 2026. Glasgow stepped in as host after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew due to rising costs.
Around 3,000 athletes from up to 74 Commonwealth nations and territories are expected to compete, with six of the selected sports including fully integrated para-competitions.
Katie Sadleir, CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), described the event as a celebration of sport, culture, and diversity, offering a more accessible fan experience.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney also highlighted the Games as an exciting opportunity for the people of Scotland.
He said: “While Glasgow 2026 will look quite different to previous Games, we can, and we must, use this as an opportunity to work collaboratively to ensure that this new concept brings a strong and sustainable future for the games.”
The Scottish Secretary Ian Murray called the confirmation a “a great example of the UK and Scottish governments working together to deliver for Scotland”, citing the £2.3m put forward by the UK government for security costs.
What sports are included?
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) stated that several factors were considered when selecting the sports for inclusion, such as “universality of participation, quality of competition,” and local appeal.
In the 2014 Glasgow Games, 17 sports were featured. However, this time, the event will include 10 sports.
- Athletics and para-athletics (track and field only)
- Swimming and para-swimming
- Artistic gymnastics
- Track cycling and para-track cycling
- Netball
- Weightlifting and para-powerlifting
- Boxing
- Judo
- Bowls and para-bowls
- 3×3 basketball and 3×3 wheelchair basketball
Organizers acknowledged that fans and athletes of sports not included will be “incredibly disappointed” but emphasized that this decision will not impact future inclusion of those sports.
Some sports, such as cycling and gymnastics, have had reduced events. In 2014, Glasgow’s cycling programme featured mountain biking and road races, but this time it will only include track events. Similarly, only artistic gymnastics will be included, leaving out rhythmic gymnastics.
There will also be no diving competitions. Organizers informed BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that the bowls competition, held outdoors at Kelvingrove in 2014, will be indoors at the SEC campus in 2026.
Despite a national hockey center being built for the previous Glasgow Games, hockey has been dropped from the programme. Commonwealth Games Scotland chairman, Ian Reid, cited “a number of factors” for this exclusion.
He explained: “You can imagine the balance we’re trying to weigh up, between trying to use the minimum number of venues to keep costs down, looking at home nations success, the number of athletes – hockey would be an additional venue [and a] huge number of athletes that we would have to accommodate.”
There will be no road-based events such as the triathlon or marathon on the programme – these were previously free for spectators to attend in 2014.
Rugby sevens, which was previously hosted at Ibrox Stadium is also out and there will be no racquet sports at all.
Mr Reid said playing other sports at Scotstoun – home of the Glasgow Warriors rugby team – were looked at but would not be possible for “technical reasons”.
He added that 3×3 basketball had been selected due to it being an easy sport to integrate with para-sport, and that it would help bring a younger audience to the Games.
The event will feature an opening and closing ceremony and there will be some form of King’s baton relay before the Games.
An estimated 500,000 tickets will be available for the various events, with the Games projected to bring £150 million to Glasgow.
Mr. Reid noted that the expected audience size for the Games will be about half of what it was in 2014.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) confirmed that hosting the event is expected to cost approximately £114 million.
The CGF will contribute £100 million towards the costs, with £2.3 million coming from Commonwealth Games Australia—who withdrew from hosting—and an additional £2.3 million from the UK government.
The remaining funds will be generated through commercial revenue, including ticket sales, broadcast rights, sponsorship, and merchandise.
Four venues will be used for the event: the Emirates Arena, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, the Scottish Events Campus, and Scotstoun Stadium.
Organisers stated that these venues are “operationally viable and economically valuable.”
They confirmed that Scotstoun Stadium will exclusively host athletics, while the Scottish Events Campus and Emirates Arena will accommodate multiple sports.
The exact allocation of sports to specific venues has not yet been determined.
No new venues will be constructed to keep costs down, though temporary seating and other upgrades will be made at the four existing venues.
Athletes and officials will stay in existing accommodations across the city, with hotels around the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) expected to be heavily used for athletes.
He said: “What we’re looking at is putting as many of those athletes into those rooms as we possibly can – given the proximity of all those athletes we’re going to see if we can create a bit of an athletes village feel.
“We can put shared infrastructure and shared facilities in there so athletes can mix and feel like they’re in a village, but we don’t have to build it [and] have the risk that comes with that.”
When asked if the amount of athletes staying in hotels would make it difficult for spectators to secure accommodation, he pointed to the number of hotels in the city and that student accommodation would also be an option.