Hamilton ’26 deserves some cash from eventual 2030 Games host
If local committee sacrifices to ensure 2026 Commonwealth Games are held, 2030 centenary becomes more lucrative
The new narrative — and it is by no means a fictional one — plays roughly this way.
Hamilton would face stiff competition for the 2030 Commonwealth Games’ 100th anniversary, but if the local private/volunteer bid group could manage to resculpt its plan to do everyone a favour and host in 2026? Well, it’s all yours.
Is that about it? There are many nuances, but the short answer is — yes.
But, here’s a subplot which the Hamilton 2026 Commonwealth Games Bid Corporation and the city itself should insist on writing directly into the story they may end up authoring together with the Commonwealth Games Federation: Some of the presumed profit from the 2030 Commonwealth Games should be promised to the city which would be turning cartwheels just to get the Games concept to ’30.
The innovative way to do that is to include a requirement in the bid process for all the cities wanting to host the 2030 Games that some percentage of royalties, host fees, sponsorships or other moneys gained, goes to Hamilton ’26.
Consider it a surtax on a successful future to help the distressed present which will make that future possible.
There is a strong moral grounding for
this argument, which should be enough all on its own. And it is worth noting that the Games’ overseeing body, the Londonbased Commonwealth Games Federation, is working closely and admirably with the local bid committee, contributing all sorts of in-kind services and expertise.
But to get a little more Hamilton-y, the city can also play a bit of hardball because it has some leverage on this. It says here that it will take a lot of nimble creativity — not to mention a massive sales job — but Hamilton can wheel the ’26 Games into an impactful recovery project. But it also says here that the international Commonwealth movement needs Hamilton too … and possibly more than vice-versa.
True, the 100th anniversary Games would be very attractive to a number of other suitors around the universe-that-usedto-be-British, because landmark anniversaries can be marketed anywhere, not just in the original site.
But a centenary in 2030, anywhere, will also be worth a whole lot less — and might actually be worth nothing at all — if there are no Games in 2026. You can’t go eight dark years and just assume the same switch still turns on all the spotlights.
Hamilton is the Adam, Eve and Garden of Eden of the Commonwealth Games, hosting and essentially inventing the British Empire Games in 1930, and there was growing local momentum to welcome them back with a new name and an almost unrecognizable scope. Bookends to an interesting century.
The Hamilton 2030 bid still exists, temporarily dormant and the city would still be Canada’s choice in the 2030 international bid process if the 2026 attempt does not come to fruition. But the local committee has pulled out all stops to shift its focus to the earlier date, repositioning 2026 as not so much a celebratory athletic-cultural festival but as a postpandemic recovery project and stimulus to a longer-term redirection of the local economy.
The federal government has signalled its support, while the province is still thinking about it, and the reworked bid will indicate a lot more reliance on private investment. With McMaster confirming an unspecified amount financial contribution toward a new aquatic centre and word that Canada Basketball is considering putting a new national training centre here, which could be a $50-million or more project, the “third sector” (after “public” and “private”) is starting to rear its head.
But, the unusual one-time circumstances of a Hamilton 2026 Games would also require a “fourth sector,” money from the better financial future that 2026 here would help create. It might not be a lot of money, perhaps “only” $15 million or so, but it would help, and it would be heavily symbolic.
The concept of essentially taxing 2030 to help pay for 2026 hadn’t been part of any discussions but when asked about the idea in a Victoria Day video conference, after being initially surprised, international federation CEO David Grevemberg, then seemed somewhat intrigued.
“We look at all options,” Grevemberg told The Spectator. “And everything will be on the table. We feel our conversation with Canada is a very mature conversation.”
And this is a mature idea, although it needs a lot of fine tuning.
It should definitely be on the table and Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who has already indicated Hamilton will stage major local 2030 celebrations even if Hamilton hosts ’26, should push it hard. Even if it’s all behind closed doors.
This can be a workable source of funding.
Somehow, the Hamilton bid committee, needs to find a way to extract something — meaning real money — from 2030 in advance, and use it to help fund 2026. That would go a long way toward providing even more to celebrate in 2030.