Glasgow "is considering a bid to host Europe's new continent-wide Olympics as it looks beyond this month's Commonwealth Games," according to David Leask of the HERALD SCOTLAND.
The city, which has put events at the heart of its tourism strategy, "hopes to follow this summer's showcase with a series of small competitions in individual sports."
But sources have confirmed "it has looked at a specific bid for the new European Games, to be held for the first time next year in Baku, Azerbaijan."
Glasgow "was in early contact with the European Olympic Committee about staging the Games as early as 2019," but is now understood to be thinking about a later bid. Europe "was the last continent to plan its own version of the Olympics after the Asian Games, which date back to the 1950s and are the second biggest multi-event sporting tournament in the world." Unlike the smaller, single-sport championships for which Glasgow is bidding, hosting the European Games "would mean building another athletes' village -- as the Commonwealth Games one in Dalmarnock will be turned in to housing when teams move out" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 7/14).
