Scotland still exploring Commonwealth Games bid, after Alberta pulls out of 2030 event

The Canadian state of Alberta has pulled out of bidding for the games, leaving no hosts for the 2026 or 2030 competitions

The Scottish Government is considering stepping up to host the Commonwealth Games, after Alberta dropped out of bidding for the 2030 competition.

The Government of Alberta pulled its support for the multi-event competition in seven years’ time due to rising costs.

Joseph Schow, the region’s tourism and sport minister, said the bill was estimated to be around $2.7 billion and was a burden “too high for the province to bear”.

Callum Skinner from Team Scotland competing in the men's sprint first round on the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. Image: Ian Rutherford.

This comes only weeks after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

At the time First Minister Humza Yousaf said he was willing to consider proposals for Scotland to host at least part of the 2026 games.

Now the Scottish Government will continue looking into whether or not it can host the 2026 or even the 2030 games.

A government spokesman said: “The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games received international recognition as an outstanding fortnight of sporting and cultural events.

“The Scottish Government will of course explore if Scotland can support a multi-city, multi-partner hosting opportunity, however the Commonwealth Games Federation will need to consider next steps, and it would be premature to comment further at this stage.”

Scotland has previously hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1970, 1986 and most recently in 2014.

Government figures show the total cost of the Glasgow games in 2014 was £543 million.

Alberta had proposed holding the games over 11 days between Calgary, Edmonton, Tsuut’ina Nation and Enoch Cree Nation.

It is understood Alberta’s provincial government had committed up to $2m to explore the viability of hosting, along with $1m from the city of Edmonton.

Ministers suggested the corporate sponsorship model and limited broadcast revenues would have seen 93 per cent of the costs and risks put on taxpayers, and said they could not continue pursuing the bid as they wanted to be transparent about funding and returns on investment.

There are now no other official bids to host the 2030 games, and no host for the 2026 event.