Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

[thebigdog2022]

BBC Sport press release out for the 2022 Commonwealth Games
* Coverage on BBC One, BBC Two & BBC Three
* 11 streams on BBC iplayer

TV Coverage (BBC One/Two)
* Morning: Jason Mohammad & Holly Hamilton
* Afternoon: Hazel Irvine
* Evening: Clare Balding & Gabby Logan
* Highlights: JJ Chalmers & Isa Guha

TV Coverage (BBC Three)
* Evening: Ayo Akinwolere

New additions to join the punditry team include Max Whitlock & Ellie Simmonds.

See more at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediap...on-the-bbc

[SteveRW]

One gripe though. In 2014, the BBC were happy to promote the Commonwealth Games as the Scottish games. Quite right too. After all, the home nations compete for their individual countries rather than for Britain, so it's a little disappointing that they only refer to the games this time as being "on British soil" rather than being English which of course, they are. It was England that applied for them, not Britain. The British government in fact only provided limited funding for them insisting local amenities already in place be used which means Birmingham and the English Commonwealth Games powers that be were responsible for much of the cost and as such this should be acknowledged.

[Jon]

I think the thing is the English don’t see their identity as being distinct from British in the same way those in the other nations of the UK tend to.

Also in 2014, London 2012 was very fresh in the memory so perhaps the idea was wanting to sell it as Scotland’s turn now, after years about hearing of the London games.

[SteveRW]

I think the thing is the English don’t see their identity as being distinct from British in the same way those in the other nations of the UK tend to.

Also in 2014, London 2012 was very fresh in the memory so perhaps the idea was wanting to sell it as Scotland’s turn now, after years about hearing of the London games.

I'm English, I very much embrace my English identity with pride. I'm also immensely proud to be British, but seeing as we compete for England, go mad for England in football tournaments and other sporting events, I'd say when it matters the English do see their identity as being distinct.

[Jon]

Away from football and sport more widely, I stand by the idea the English don’t see being that as distinct from being British as being Scottish or Welsh is though. Especially when it comes to an largely English based UK media scene. It would just seem to odd from them to dub this commonwealth games as ‘the English Games’. You can’t ignore the fact the London based Olympics Games had taken place two years to Glasgow, so they had to give it a USP.

[Brekkie]

I think when it comes to England though the focus is often on the region, so the reference is more to Birmingham than England as a whole. Of course they were supposed to be South Africa's games.

I know everytime they come around people question how much longer the Commonwealth Games can go on (they're back in Australia next time around as nobody else wanted them) and then when they happen though they may not capture the imagination in the way the Olympics do they do enough to justify their own existence. However this time around it just feels like they're sneaking up out of nowhere and I'm not even sure there is much awareness outside of Birmingham itself they are taking place in England. I'm guessing the BBC promotional campaign though will likely begin at some point in the next couple of weeks - either during the opening Euro 2022 match or as part of finals weekend at Wimbledon.

[natashajacobs]

Equally nobody seems to really want the Olympics either hence why it went to Paris when they failed in multiple previous bids.

[UTVLifer]

I would suspect that the BBC will kick off its promotional campaign in the next week or so to give themselves a bit more time to make people aware that these games are taking place, as these Birmingham games been very quiet in terms of build-up thus far, the most I've heard the BBC talking about them so far was during the coverage of the Diamond League event that took place at the Alexander Stadium in May.

[Brekkie]

Equally nobody seems to really want the Olympics either hence why it went to Paris when they failed in multiple previous bids.

That was not the case at all.   There were multiple bids for 2024 although by the time it got to the vote it was only Paris and LA in contention and a bit of a panic I think from the IOC to lock in LA for 2028 too.   There were multiple cities interested in 2032 too who were taken by surprise when Brisbane was announced for 2032 without a wider consideration of candidate cities.   There are already multiple cities expressing interest in 2036, including London.  

Meanwhile the Commonwealth Games is now looking to find an interested party for the 2030 Centennial Games.   If Canada were interested as hosts of the first games in 1930 it is probably theres for the taking, but they've really fallen in profile since Victoria 1994 and last time around CBC only aired highlights at the weekend.

[natashajacobs]

That was how I understood it. If they had a bit of a panic as you describe, I wonder why that was? They mustn’t have been confident there was enough interest to run a full bidding process? It requires a lot to host a modern Olympics and some cities which bid will inevitably not meet the IOC criteria.

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[TV_Pres_Fan]

I know everytime they come around people question how much longer the Commonwealth Games can go on (they're back in Australia next time around as nobody else wanted them) and then when they happen though they may not capture the imagination in the way the Olympics do they do enough to justify their own existence.  However this time around it just feels like they're sneaking up out of nowhere and I'm not even sure there is much awareness outside of Birmingham itself they are taking place in England.    I'm guessing the BBC promotional campaign though will likely begin at some point in the next couple of weeks - either during the opening Euro 2022 match or as part of finals weekend at Wimbledon.

Agree - I don't think I've heard anyone actually mention these games at all. Obviously it was never going to be on the same scale as London 2012, but I would have thought that there would be more excitement than this about a home multi-sport event about to take place.

I suppose the final home stretch of the Queen's Baton Relay will help spread the word a bit and create a bit of a buzz. Speaking of which, I wonder if there will be a daily livestream of that? I remember watching one for Glasgow but not sure if that was through the BBC or the organising committee itself.

[Brekkie]

The BBC trailer now airing during the Wimbledon coverage. Can't find it online yet.

[UTVLifer]

I’ve just scrolled back on the iPlayer to have a look at the trailer and I’ve got mixed feelings on it to be honest, and it honestly reminds me a bit of the special BBC News titles for The Budget used for most of the 2010 on first impression

[ConorM98]

You guys can thank me for uploading this to YouTube.
It was screen capped from my phone so forgive me for the quality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6raF1TUYIM4

[Jon]

Rights to the Commonwealth games in Canada have gone back to CBC for this edition from DAZN. It does sound like they’re treating in the same way NBC treats the Paralympics though with only 10 hours of coverage on the main network at weekend and the rest being streamed.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6517260

Wouldn’t surprised me if they paid a nominal amount for it.