Comprehensive Analysis of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, also known as Gold Coast 2018, held in Australia. It begins with an introduction to the event, highlighting its significance as a multi-sport event for Commonwealth member states and its achievement of gender equality. The report categorizes the games as a mega-event, citing its international scope, the participation of over 4400 athletes from 71 countries, and the event's substantial economic impact, including job creation. It details the event experience, including the opening and closing ceremonies, the role of GOLDOC in administration, and the focus on sustainability. The report further examines the planning and bidding process, including Australia's initial bid and the subsequent awarding of the games to Gold Coast. It then explores the economic impacts, such as job creation in various sectors and revenue generation in tourism. The report also discusses marketing and communication strategies, particularly the use of social media. The report concludes with an event evaluation, future trends, findings, and conclusions, highlighting the unity fostered by sports and the economic benefits of hosting mega-events.

Running head: COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2018 1
Common Wealth Games
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2018 2
Commonwealth Games 2018
. Introduction
The 2018 Commonwealth Games were an internal multi-sport event for all
Commonwealth member states (Allan, Lecca & Swales, 2017). The official name of the event
was known as the XXI Commonwealth Games but the common name given to this event is
Gold coast 2018. The event took place between 4th and 15th of April 2018 in the Gold coast
of Australia. This event was special in a way because first, it marked the first time that gender
equality was achieved in a major multi-sport event with both the male and female athletes
having an equal number of events. Also, this event marked the fifth time that Australia as a
country had hosted the Commonwealth Games (Masterman, 2014). With the inclusion of
para-athletes that came from 71 commonwealth member states, the total number of athletes
that participated in the event exceeded 4400 athletes (Byrne, 2014). The event also saw
Gambia which withdrew in the 2013 commonwealth games being readmitted. The
readmission of Gambia on 31st March 2018 meant that all commonwealth member states
could participate in the event. The event featured 19 commonwealth sports from which a total
of 275 sets of medals were to be awarded (Carlsen & Taylor, 2003). There were 14 venues in
the host city that event took place in with one venue in Townsville and two venues in
Brisbane.
Event Type
It is right to categorize the 2018 commonwealth games as a mega event because first,
the event was an international multi-sport event. According to (Derrett, 2015) the event was
specifically for all commonwealth member states around the world and in total, the event
brought together 71 commonwealth member states. The event was capable of not only
bringing together 71 countries around the world but also had the capacity to meet the

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expectations of more than 4400 athletes that participated in the event. This is a characteristic
of a mega event in the same that it was able to accommodate many athletes and meet their
needs (Gray & Porter, 2015). Also, the impact of the event in Australia qualifies this event to
be called a mega event. According to (Getz, 2013) the commonwealth games created more
jobs for Australian citizens especially those who came from the Gold coast where the event
was held more than the total jobs in Brisbane. Getz (2013) says that more than 76000 new
positions were created by the event with the most notable positions being sports coordinators,
village coordinators, administrative assistants, and event managers. The fact that this event
lasted for only 9 days and it was able to create more than 76000 jobs for Australians means
that the event must have been a mega event (Holmes, 2018).
Event Experience
On 4 April 2018, the Carrara stadium in Gold Coast hosted the opening ceremony of
the event. The ceremony began exactly at 20:00 AEST and lasted for two hours and forty
minutes (Hong, McArthur & Livingston, 2018). At the commencement of the event, the
tickets were going at 100 Australian dollars for adults while children paid 50 Australian
dollars. Charles, the Prince of Wales attended the event on behalf of her mother Queen
Elizabeth II who is also the head of Commonwealth Games (Müller & Pickles, 2015). During
the opening ceremony, Scotland which is the host of the previous games entered first, just
like the commonwealth tradition demands (MArtIN & BArth, 2013). After Scotland entered,
the other Commonwealth countries followed in alphabetical order. Generally, the 2018
Australia Commonwealth games were broadcast live globally which means that every fan of
athletics around the globe had the opportunity to watch the event live (Osborne, Sherry &
Nicholson, 2016). The Australian based NEP group was the host broadcaster of the event and
it produced HD coverage of the event which is then delivered to the rights-holding
broadcasters globally (Pedersen et al., 2014). In regard to the administration of the event, the

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Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) was responsible for all the
administrative duties. The formation of GOLDOC took place in 2013 by the government of
Queensland (Polley, 2014). The Queensland government then tasked Kate Jones to oversee
the administrative duties in the event. According to (Goldblatt, 2011) the guiding principle
under which the event was delivered by GOLDOC was sustainability with the main focus on
the international organization for standardization (ISO 20121). As a result of delivering the
event based on sustainability, GOLDOC was awarded sustainability award in the 2016
Australian business awards. Just like its opening ceremony, the closing ceremony happened
on Sunday 15th April at Carrara Stadium. The production of the closing ceremony alone went
at AU$30 million and it was done by Morton Worldwide.
Planning and Bidding Process
Anna Bligh who is the premier of Queensland launched the bid for Gold coast city to
officially host the 2018 commonwealth games on 22 August 2008 (Parent, Kristiansen &
MacIntosh, 2014). Australia’s planning to host Commonwealth games first was in line with
her interest to host FIFA World Cup. Australia was in the race to also host the FIFA world
cup, Anna cited that if Australia would manage to successfully hold the commonwealth
games, it will give the country an upper hand in its bid of hosting the FIFA world cup.
According to Anna, there were lots of infrastructures that Australia had to build in Gold coast
city to host the event. This is to mean that Australia had to assure the Commonwealth nations
about their preparations to improve infrastructure to be allowed to host this mega event. In
Australia’s argument, they were prepared to upgrade its infrastructure for commonwealth
games, in anticipation of hosting world cup. Even though the bid for the Gold city to host the
world cup was launched on August 2008, the bid was made official on 3 June 2009 setting
the stage for the next phase of bidding. (Paton, Mooney & McKee, 2013). The bid later
proceeded to Gold Coast city being granted the right to host the Commonwealth games. After

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the bid was made official, Anna Bligh stated that she had met with the president who was
also the Australian Commonwealth Games CEO, and they came to an agreement that it was
necessary for the feasibility study to be carried out in Gold Coast city. The study was meant
to ascertain the City’s and Australia’s ability to host the games (Petersen, 2011). The
Queensland government on 15th march 2010 agreed to provide A$11 million for the initial
bid of the event. However, a surprise bid for the hosting of the event was made on 31 March
2010 by Hambantota city based in Sri Lanka. But the official rights of hosting the event
would went to Gold Coast city upon the official announcement by the GOLDOC on 11th
November 2011.
Economic Impacts
The 2018 Commonwealth games impacted the economy of Australia positively in a
number of ways, first through the creation of jobs. According to (Derrett, 2015) there were
more than 1500 staffs that GOLDOC hired to help run the games in various sectors. For
example, logistics management, engineering, finance, procurement, technology and transport
among other areas. These 1500 staffs were well paid since 2012 after the Gold Coast City had
won the bid to host the event. Aside from this, there were more than 35000 people contracted
to deliver the games. In the tourism sector, the Griffith University report estimated the
amount that the visitors to the games will contribute to the Australian revenue to be $323
million. Australia being a tourist destination, it was estimated that between 2012 and 2022,
the tourists would further generate 550 million to revenue of Australia. This represented a
positive growth in the tourism sector of Australia. The manufacturing and the transport sector
was another area that was positively impacted by the event (Dredge, & Jamal, 2013). On
account that many visitors were expected in the country since the official announcement of
the country hosting of the event, both the manufacturing and transport sector recorded a sharp

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increase in jobs. According to (Derrett, 2015) the country has been experiencing increased
job growth rate in the manufacturing and transport sector for the last three years.
Marketing and Communications
The main marketing strategy used was promoting the sports activities that GOLDOC
was to deliver in the event through advertisements in the social networks. There were several
social networks in existence, for example, Facebook, twitter, Google+ and YouTube.
GOLDOC developed various Ads about the 2018 commonwealth games event and promoted
them through these social networks. For example, the Gold coast commonwealth games
corporations designed an Ad which was named the “the Ad of the Day” made up of hot seats
in the stadiums for the fans and the heated debate between fans who were traveling various
destination in the city. This advert demonstrated the experience of the Australian sports fans
who watched the sport in the heated seating on the Gold Coast and their debates on who
would win in every category of sports. The Ad was advertised on various platforms mainly
Facebook, twitter, and YouTube.
Event Evaluation
For me, the best way to evaluate the event is by gathering the feedback from a sample
of the participants after the event. The participants should be randomly selected to answer the
questions that will give a picture of their satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the event. For
example, the 2018 commonwealth games aimed to achieve gender equality, therefore, one of
the question the sampled athletes should be asked is; was their gender equity in the event?.
Another important question is; is the athlete satisfied with the way he was treated during the
event? And was the event fair based on the athlete's opinion? These questions will help
evaluate the activities that took place during the event because if many athletes give negative
answers to these questions, it means that the event did not meet its expectations. The event

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could also be evaluated using the report that 2018 commonwealth games corporations will
make public after the event. If the report appears to indict some individual participants,
member states or even some officials for their un-conduct behavior in the event, then it will
be clear that the event did not meet its expectations.
Future Trends
There are various trends that the organizers of this event should bear in mind when
organizing for future events. For example, the use of quantified self, which refers to the
collection, analysis and interpretation of data about performance and movement using
technology? In the future, technology will run sports; therefore, it’s important for the event
organizers to gain technical skills to be able to handle future events effectively. Another
important trend is healthy hedonism which refers to incorporations of healthy behavior in
sports as fun and not a choice (Allen, Toole, Harris & McDonnell, 2011). Aside from sport
being fun, it should not be a game of endangering the health of an athlete; therefore, there is a
need for the event organizers to sensitize athletes on the importance incorporating healthy
behaviors in sports.
Findings and Conclusion
There are various findings I have made from the research I did. First, sports unite
people regardless of their race, culture and believe. As stated earlier in this paper, a total of
71 countries attended the 2018 commonwealth games in Australia. These countries come
from different regions and continents of the world just for the purpose of sports. Another
finding, I have made is that there are a lot of economic benefits for countries hosting mega-
events like commonwealth games. The economic befits regarding employment and in the
tourism sector that Australia as a country got from hosting just one mega event cannot be

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underestimated. Therefore, sports of any should be globally embraced because of the unity
and economic benefits it brings.

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