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The dream of hosting another Commonwealth Games on Welsh soil is currently impossible due to decades of underinvestment in Wales’ sporting facilities, a committee has heard.

Sport Wales chair Tanni Grey-Thompson said: “It’s important we have events in Wales. Sadly, I don’t think we could ever probably host the Commonwealth Games.”

Pressed about why, Baroness Grey-Thompson pointed to the lack of a suitable athletics stadium but said Wales could host parts of the Games with a pool and velodrome.

“It would be amazing to have a Commonwealth Games on home soil,” she said. “But that’s a longer term set of decisions and strategy. It’s about having the infrastructure and legacy.”

Citing “decades of underinvestment”, Labour’s Alun Davies asked: “Don’t you think it’s quite a commentary on the state of Welsh sporting facilities that… we don’t have the facilities to host the Commonwealth Games?”

Baroness Grey-Thompson concluded: “It comes down to money.”

‘Miracle drug’

Baroness Grey-Thompson appeared before the Welsh Parliament’s culture and sport committee for annual scrutiny on September 25.

Delyth Jewell, who chairs the committee, asked about the potential impact of the Welsh Government’s planned “business-as-usual” budget which will rise in line with inflation.

Baroness Grey-Thompson said: “We do recognise that it’s a really tough time financially… and the committee’s own analysis of the sport sector shows that it’s funded lower than other comparable European nations.”

She stressed the value of sport and physical activity to Welsh society, referring to comments from the chief medical officer who described sport as a “miracle drug”.

The Paralympian told Senedd Members: “We understand you’ve got to spread the money a long way but we’re really ambitious… not necessarily money going into Sport Wales but going into physical activity in the wider sector.

‘Wow’

“There would be an impact in terms of the scale of our ambition.”

She told the committee Sport Wales needs about £20m a year to catch up with other home nation sports councils and £200m to be in line with the average of other European countries.

“Wow,” Mr Davies exclaimed in response to the figure.

Baroness Grey-Thompson, who called for multi-year settlements for day-to-day revenue and longer-term capital funding, said “I think with what we have, we’re pretty efficient.”

She recognised that £200m is a “long way off” what Sport Wales can reasonably expect.

Graham Williams, director at Sport Wales, described plans for a “flatline” budget as a missed opportunity, particularly to invest in changing young people’s activity patterns.

‘Panic budgeting’

Mr Williams reminded Senedd Members that Sport Wales – which funds partners including governing bodies – received a “challenging” 10.5% cut in 2024/25, equivalent to £2.4m.

Mr Davies, a former minister, said: “It feels to me like unplanned, almost panic budgeting as you’d find in some sort of financial crisis – it takes me back to 2010.”

Baroness Grey-Thompson replied: “It wasn’t an easy time for anyone,” but she welcomed transparency from the Welsh Government which aided Sport Wales’ planning.

Wales ranked third from bottom of European countries in terms of spending for each person on recreational and sporting services, according to a culture committee report.

The country was languishing second from bottom in the league table for cultural services in January’s report which warned of the impact of a decade of cuts.

Cardiff hosted the then-British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958 – one of the biggest sporting events ever held in Wales at the time.