UP338 Is sport losing the major events argument?

The Commonwealth Games is in crisis, without a host city for 2026 and possibly beyond. The last Olympic Games bidding process received just two hosting bids, with Paris and Los Angeles awarded 2024 and 2028 respectively. Beyond that 2032 has one current bidder. Five potential host cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics withdrew after voter referendums and public polling indicated a lack of local support. So where are we in sport's relationship with its hosts?Have sports events become just too big? Too expensive, too inflexible, out of synch with the climate crisis, lacking a clear return on investment for the cities and countries that host them, and leaving a questionable legacy in their wake. These questions don't apply to authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China, which gets to a difficult question for major sports rights holders: what are they for? We've lined up three major event experts to discuss these issues:Esther Britten is UK Sport's Deputy Director and is the Head of Major Events at the , responsible for the UK's major sporting event hosting strategy, strategically programming and investing on behalf of the UK government to ensure the UK continues to host the the most significant and impactful major international sporting events. Ed Warner was formerly chair of UK Athletics and holds the same role for the GB Wheelchair Rugby.Angus Buchanan is co-founder of The Sports Consultancy and TSC Legal.This episode is brought to you by our good friends at Leaders.  Leaders Week London returns this October - so mark your diaries.This year it will be from 16 to 19 October, just 6 weeks away.For those who don't know, Leaders Week London is so much more than just your average conference - it's a 4-day festival of industry insight, connection building and relationship nurturing. And its fun!  The Summit part of Leaders Week, will be held at Twickenham Stadium on 18th and 19th October.And the good news is UP listeners get a special discount.  Use UP15 for a 15% discount on your Summit passes - visit leadersinsport.com/UP for more information.We will see you there!  Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.