Commonwealth Sport CEO unveils support plan for Africa to host Games

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Commonwealth Sport, Katie Sadleir, has explained that Commonwealth Sport has undertaken a Games Reset designed to make the Commonwealth Games more affordable and accessible for countries across the Commonwealth to host, including those in Africa.

According to her, the scale of the Games is enormous, requiring huge financial investment, with some countries not adequately equipped to host such an event.

She stated that efforts are being made through the Games Reset to explore strategies that will enable Commonwealth countries to host the Games in the future.

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In an interview with the BBC, when asked about nations in the Commonwealth hosting the Games considering the financial challenges, she replied:

“The answer to that is no. It had grown to be quite an expensive event. So we had already decided it was time to think about what we need to do to create an event of a size that was sustainable and that we could take around the Commonwealth.

"We did spend time doing what we would call the Games Reset, which was looking at the principles that needed to be put in place to enable the Commonwealth Games to go around the Commonwealth whilst at the same time finding a replacement for 2026,” she said.

She also revealed that they are working assiduously to help Africa host the Games, noting that the continent features prominently in the Games Reset by minimizing costs to make hosting more affordable.

“We do want to get the Commonwealth Games or Commonwealth Youth Games to Africa. Nigeria put forward a bid against Ahmedabad and on this occasion, the 2030 Games went to Ahmedabad. At this stage, our board said we need to work with Africa to assist them, to help them realize their ambitions in a non-exclusive way to host the Games. The Games Reset work we did had ten principles: one was about reducing costs and using existing facilities, and another was exploring co-hosting opportunities. I think this is a viable thing for the Commonwealth Games, as long as it doesn’t significantly increase the cost of delivery,” Katie added.

The 23rd Commonwealth Games are officially underway in Glasgow, running from July 23 to August 2, 2026. The event features around 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories competing for 215 gold medals across 10 core sports.

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