David Menzies CA, ICAS Director of Practice
What attracted you to the role with Glasgow 2026 at this stage in your career?

Faye Shaw CA, Chief Financial and Corporate Services Officer, Glasgow 2026

I’d been commuting to London from Glasgow for quite some time and decided my days of early-morning flights were behind me. I left [outsourcing company] Serco after 16 years and was thinking of doing some consulting, when I was approached about this role.

My first thought was they’re never going to be able to do everything in 18 months – and do I want my name anywhere close to that? Then George Black, who I’d worked with previously when I was with Serco, was announced as Chair. So I went to an interview with him and Ian [Reid CA, Vice-Chair of Glasgow 2026], the CEO from the Birmingham 2022 Games, and was hooked by their enthusiasm. Enough of what they wanted from me was within my skillset, but there was also enough that was different for me to learn some new skills. I said yes – and it was the best decision I’ve made in a long time.

DM
Have there been any surprises since you joined?

FS
Every day. I was employee number one of the organising company, as we moved from concept proposal to a formal delivery structure. At that point, we were only just setting up a payroll, we had no accounts, no accounting system, nothing. Although we had the policies and procedures from Birmingham 2022, that was just such a different beast. So we had to set something up from scratch and do it in a way that was agile and cost effective. Simple and quick: that’s been the mantra all the way through. Hiring a team from scratch for finance, procurement, HR and governance was an attraction for me too – I could hire some really talented individuals.

DM
You were in well-established businesses before, but a one-off major sporting event is a completely different beast. What experience were you able to draw on?

FS
Serco is a very low-margin business, so every pound is a prisoner there. I have been able to draw on that experience at Glasgow 2026, operating within a tight delivery budget. Although the numbers are bigger, the scrutiny is still the same.

We also work with an ecosystem of suppliers, so a relatively small organising committee and a large supply base, which had to be procured and then managed. My experience running a large procurement team in Serco – as well as the usual financial governance of being a CFO – was a real attraction for George and Ian. I had run HR contact centres and HR teams before. And private commercial procurement is absolutely my sweet spot. That’s what I know.

DM
What was the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make?

FS
Speed. We had to hit the ground running, be flexible and accept you won’t get everything right. The biggest challenge for me is just understanding the industry. Like every industry, it has its own terminology, all the different acronyms. I was, like, what is a KBR? Now I know it’s the King’s Baton Relay.

But our route to market in terms of procurement has been so fast because of our condensed 18-month delivery timeframe. You don’t get the normal debate around the scope of work, and all of the detailed requirements that they have to discuss for a long time. That has been great.

DM
Does that bring additional risk? And did you have to be more conscious of that?

FS
It was a conscious thought in terms of who I recruited for my procurement team. What they needed to have – which is very difficult to find – is really strong procurement expertise and strong contract management. Some have one and not the other. It’s a small pool who have both.

The areas that were new to me were the commercial and sponsorship side, so that was exciting. We’re not building anything. We don’t have any long-term contracts, all we have are suppliers and staff. So from a financial reporting perspective, it’s all about cost management, not complex accounting.

DM
You touched on the staff and building that team. Were there any other particular challenges around that, given the timescale?

FS
Yes, the initial concept forecast there being around 150 staff within the organising company, with 40% of those coming on board within the first year, then the other 60% when ramping up to the Games, working closely with embedded supply chain partners. We set ourselves up with in-house recruitment and small HR teams, expecting to run with a staff of between 60 to 80 for 12 months. That’s worked out quite differently in reality with the split of work completed internally and by our supply chain partners, meaning we will now have double the forecast staff by Games-time. If I had known that initially, I would have relied more heavily on recruitment.

“The real legacy for the 2026 Commonwealth Games is to show it can be done for less and still be amazing”

DM
That’s something that’s surprised me, because I’m still seeing a lot of Games roles advertised right up to this time.

FS
We talk about Games-time roles here – you need some people just for the duration of the Games itself. From a recruitment point of view, there is so much expertise in the city, and in Scotland – with a lot who started either in 2012 [for the London Olympics] or 2014 [when Glasgow last hosted] and have now made events their career and are delighted to be back. And they all know each other, having worked together before, so there’s already a strong sense of synergy and an ability to hit the ground running.

Maybe 60% of the workforce are Games people and 40% are new to the industry. That has been a good balance. As a reimagined Games with a tight budget, we need to do things differently. Pairing that existing Games experience with a fresh perspective has led to a healthy check and challenge between the two.

DM
Since the 2014 Games in Glasgow, we’ve had the Cycling World Championships. We’ve had mountain bike events up at Fort William. Paul Bush did a fabulous job with EventScotland [VisitScotland’s events arm]. How has having access to these very experienced people influenced your own approach?

FS
It’s been fantastic to have that level of experience to draw on. We have a very strong board with a great mix of expertise. That said, I do occasionally have to remind them that Birmingham 2022 had a budget of £870m, whereas we’re delivering within around £160m. As a result, there are moments when we need to rein in ambition to stay within budget and on schedule.

DM
Glasgow has focused on reimagining the Games. How has that affected the sporting selection?

FS
Given our condensed budget and delivery timeline of 18 months, it was important to consider how we could most efficiently use Glasgow’s existing venues, manage athlete numbers and minimise risks associated with legislative or planning complications. We know how much the Commonwealth Games mean to athletes and sports, so we can understand the disappointment felt by those who aren’t included in this edition. That said, we know they understand that this was the best route towards securing a sustainable future for the Commonwealth Games, and that the 2026 sport selection won’t influence the programme for future Games.

We’re really proud that we can still deliver an outstanding programme featuring 10 sports and six parasports across four world-class venues set within an eight-mile corridor, allowing fans and athletes to be right at the heart of the action. This includes the largest parasport programme in Commonwealth Games history, alongside some of the most extensive swimming and track cycling competitions ever seen at the Games.

DM
Do you think athletes will have a substantially different experience from previous Games?

FS
The concept of a standalone athletes’ village isn’t there to the same extent as previous Games. Instead, similar to Birmingham 2022, we are working closely with Glasgow’s existing hotel network to form accommodation hubs close to venues. This approach still gives athletes the chance to be with their teammates, while allowing for active travel between competition and training venues, and a smaller transport network. But Glasgow is such a fantastic, welcoming city, we hope the athletes also step outside and enjoy being here.

From a spectator perspective, we’ve announced our Kelvingrove Park live site as a place to come and experience the Games for free. We’ll do something similar down at the SEC Plaza where the Warner Bros Discovery studio [owner of TNT and HBO Max] will be. All we need in Glasgow is some sunshine and it will be amazing.

DM
Where are the revenue streams financing the Games coming from?

FS
The projected cost of the Games is approximately £160m, with no public funding used for delivery. Commonwealth Sport funded the first £100m. The rest comes from commercial sponsorship, media, broadcast and ticketing. Securing sponsorship has been a tougher challenge than it typically is because of our condensed timeframe. A lot of organisations didn’t know the Games were going to be back in the UK, so they had already set their marketing and sponsorship budgets without allocating resource to this.

DM
Has that meant having to accept more uncertainty with your budgets when it comes to planning?

FS
I had the ability to negotiate. We’ve been through about 80% of our procurements for the past four or five months. So we’ve had pretty good cost certainty on the numbers and worked closely with Police Scotland on security costs. Because our venue owners and the SEC Glasgow Life are used to putting on international concerts or sporting events, we’ve had a lot of expertise to tap into.

We’re in a really strong position in terms of planning and execution. Bizarrely, given we’ve only had such a short time to do it, everyone is just desperate to go ‘on venue’ and start setting up. The teams are ready.

DM
You’re all champing at the bit ready to go… How does your relationship with the venues differ from last time around?

FS
In 2014, my understanding was that the organising committee just took over the venues, whereas this time, we still have the venue staff there, we’re working in partnership with them. These are their venues, they understand them. That partnership is helping to de-risk elements of it too.

“I can understand how people get hooked on the events industry and want to do it again”

DM
There’s been discussion of the broadcast coverage. You mentioned broadcast rights being a fairly significant revenue stream, so how has that influenced some of the decisions?

FS
We’ve got Warner Bros Discovery in the UK and the other big ones are Sky New Zealand and Seven in Australia. Those two were long-term contracts of Commonwealth Sport, so it’s great they came on board with us.

The discussion around the UK broadcasters could have been a tough one. Like everybody else, they didn’t know it was coming back to the UK, so didn’t have it within their budgets either. Having said that, how we consume sport is 100% changing. If you look at the Warner Bros mantra of ‘experience every second’, we’ve got 600 hours of coverage. So if you want to watch anything, you will be able to watch it on HBO Max. And you couldn’t have done that in the past – it was about 200 [hours] before.

The broadcasting is reimagined, like everything else in the Games. Packages start from £4.99, which is a good deal. It’s the way we will be consuming sport going forward. They’re bringing up their own studio. So there’s a real investment and excitement.

DM
What have been some of the biggest trade-offs around balancing that cost discipline while delivering a high-quality experience? Do you think there’s likely to be any long-term impact on future Games?

FS
It sounds quite cheesy, but I do hope it is a legacy – that you can reimagine it, and it doesn’t have to always look and feel like the previous one did. The idea [is that] you can go to a city and use the city’s existing assets and infrastructure to put on a sustainable Games. Gone are the days you can afford to spend £500m in Glasgow or £800m-odd in Birmingham. So the real legacy is to show it can be done for less and still be amazing.

DM
The significant expense for host cities in the past has been around capital infrastructure, whether it’s new venues or housing an athletes’ village and such like. Is that going to impact some of the legacy stuff for both the sport and also the wider society in those venues?

FS
Possibly. You could turn it around and say look at the economic benefit to the city and the fact that you’re bringing 3,000 athletes here, plus the spectators. Actual wealth that will come into the city. And we have used a lot of local expertise – local suppliers have been a key part of our procurement route. It might not be in concrete structures, but there’ll be a significant economic benefit.

DM
Parasport is a really important side, because the Commonwealth Games are the only multi-sport event where that is fully integrated. What sort of challenges have there been around that?

FS
We are so proud that the first medal awarded is a para medal. The Commonwealth Games was the first major multi-sport event to have a fully integrated sport programme, and we’re continuing that at Glasgow 2026 with almost every para event taking place in the same sessions as their non-para counterpart. Para powerlifting is the only exception because we have to change the set for the weightlifting.

We’ve also been making sure our venues have a good amount of accessible seating. Some of them we can change, some we can’t, obviously. But we’ve had that in the forefront of our planning – and for our para athletes to be able to come and watch their colleagues.

It’s an eight-mile corridor, so no one’s moving that far. And we’ve got some really good partners in carmaker BYD, as well as accessible vehicles from Allied Mobility. We’ve conducted lots of audits to make sure we have the right level of accessibility. There’s still a little work to be done with some hotels to make sure when the athletes come, an ‘accessible room’ is genuinely accessible.

DM
During the Games, how’s your working day going to change?

FS
For Games-time, our headquarters will transition to a live operational command centre allowing for real-time integrated decision making. We will also adopt a leaner command structure in the Games operation centre, following a gold-silver-bronze model. There are two of us who are silver command – that’s me and Jade [Gallagher], the COO. We’ll have split shifts. I’ll be on from 5:30am and she comes in at 3pm. I’ll try to watch some sport later in the day and I’m going to try to step away from the day-to-day numbers.

DM
For you as CFO, what would success look like at the end of the Games?

FS
Given we have no underwrite, still being solvent when we close the business down is definitely a success for me – which will happen. Success is also full venues, fantastic atmosphere and being able to deliver on the cost. It’s not going to be 2014, it’s going to be 2026, but still having full venues with great spectator experience. And some good Scottish medals in there – that will be success.

Having never been in an event industry before, I can understand how people get hooked and want to do it again. The adrenaline kicks in and they must hit a low after it. But I guess the takeaways for me will be just the amount of talent there is in Scotland, and the wider UK, and that whole ‘can do’ attitude. The next time somebody tells me they’re busy, I’ll know they’re not as busy as some of the folks in here!

glasgow2026.com

Join us for Inside Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026 with Ian Reid CA on 18 August. Find more information and book your place