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After Victoria withdrew in 2023, Glasgow answered the SOS call – and organisers say the past 11 days in the Scottish city have “exceeded all expectations”.<\/p>\n
Yes, there have been grumbles – including from those who have seen parking spaces outside their houses taken – and taxi drivers and shop owners the Games have passed by.<\/p>\n
On the ground, though, this felt like a meaningful event.<\/p>\n
Ticket sales of 434,000 were well down from 1.5 million for Birmingham 2022, but they were always going to be given the smaller venues for this scaled-back edition. It has been rare to enter a venue and not find a joyful, engaged crowd.<\/p>\n
There was plenty of excitement for fans, too – Josh Kerr’s golden homecoming at Scotstoun<\/a>, Angharad Evans<\/a> making the swimming pool floors shake, and Neil Fachie’s emotional victory<\/a> on his return to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.<\/p>\n They also celebrated Jamaica’s seismic netball win over Australia. Live sport rarely fails to deliver.<\/p>\n But a nagging question has remained throughout: is anyone else watching?<\/p>\n Big names such as Kerr and Adam Ramsay-Peaty – with his emotional reaction to taking bronze in the pool<\/a> – broke out of this Glaswegian bubble, but what else?<\/p>\n Organisers said their social media views passed those of Birmingham within the opening few days and highlighted record-breaking television figures in Australia and New Zealand, where the Games were free-to-air.<\/p>\n Still, without that same coverage in the UK, these Games have – at times – drifted by.<\/p>\n Glasgow 2026 was also hurt by the absence or late withdrawal of big-name competitors, particularly in athletics, which missed Keely Hodgkinson, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith.<\/p>\n The Games’ differing relevance between sports was again clear – for netball, this remains the pinnacle and is treated as such; for others, it is a stepping stone. Many narratives focused on the “next generation”.<\/p>\n Eighteen-year-old Jersey swimmer Filip Nowacki<\/a> was perhaps the most exciting name to emerge, but gymnasts Ruby Evans (Wales) and Reuben Ward (Scotland) and England track cyclist Henry Hobbs, who won two golds and a bronze, were others.<\/p>\n Swimmer Faye Rogers<\/a> impressively brought her success at the Paralympics back to Glasgow with gold in the pool – and then competed in the non-para event as well.<\/p>\n Cyclist Emma Finucane turned her three Olympic medals in Paris into four Commonwealth golds in Glasgow<\/a>.<\/p>\n All will have their eyes on Los Angeles in 2028.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n