The Sport Thread

Yes. A constant source of irritation for me that the CWC organisating committee, don't want to build even a temporary indoor velodrome for this event.

It's not like there's an indoor arena (yes I know it'll be home to the bouncers & balancers, but those events could be accommodated in the Genting Arena at the NEC) and or a world class exhibition centre close by...

Derby has a velodrome which could have been used (with a capacity upgrade) which last time I looked, was closer to Birmingham than East London.

Yes, I thought there was one in the Midlands. If not surely Manchester is closer than London.

The truth is though these have to be done as cheaply as possible so understandable not wanting to build another. Looking beyond 2022 with no other bids ATM the tiny 1994 host of Victoria in Canada is looking to possibly throw it's hat in the ring for 2026. Beyond that if Brisbane get the 2032 Olympics that might see little interest from Australia in 2030/34.

Maybe it will finally be time for Wales 2030.

I think the Manchester one was part of the Liverpool bid. Also Birmingham probably see Manchester as more of a rival than London and arguably hosting it there is going to take less of the limelight away from Birmingham.

The Manchester/Liverpool bid were annoyed at Birmingham for bidding and then winning the CWG 2022 games.

Even though the veldorome is the national indoor one, I understand Manchester wasn't considered, as they knew what the request to use the facility would be.

I suppose they could use the empty John Lewis in Grand Central.

The Derby velodrome cost £27m - which is probably more than the UK and Australian broadcast rights combined. Not ideal too when with their two main broadcasting markets generally if it's in a good time zone for one it's in a bad one for the other.

The Commonwealth Games do end up over lapping with the end of Womens Euro 2021(+1). The organisers claim to have scheduled around the final on the Sunday, but the opening ceremony on the Thursday could end up head to head with a semi-final, although the times of the SF are still TBC. The ceremonies are scheduled for 7pm ATM but with both London 2012 and Manchester 2002 they held off until 9pm to benefit from the lack of daylight. Can't recall what time the Glasgow ceremony was - just remember it being awful!

Cornish Pirates pre-season Rugby PPV on 247.tv is excellent. Sign up, log in and match purchase (£10) took 90 seconds, HD picture and ref mic. Very impressive.

Scorebug on Wales v England gone wrong from the start - came on briefly with 215 mins on the clock!!

Longest rugby match ever

I think rugby score bugs are often linked directly to the stadium clock - so it may well have been a scoreboard fault.

Not seen the article, but it's an interesting precis.

I'm beginning to suspect that neither Sky nor BT bothered bidding for the current Sanzaar series and are keeping their powder dry for some bigger battles.

Six Nations & Autumn series rights are, you've said, up-for-grabs now. I'd expect to see Sky play for those but would be sorry to see the home nations leave FTA. With the notable exception of Scottish home games a couple of years back, BT have never really shown much interest in internationals. The only way I can see the pay model working here, is Sky getting more exclusivity on the autumn series in return for taking a back seat with the 6N.

The next summer tours are in 2022, I'd guess those could get bundled in with the next Sanzaar contract.