The 2026 Commonwealth Games has been thrown into doubt after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew as host due to a huge increase in the projected cost of staging the event.
Announcing the move at a press conference today (July 18), Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said initial estimates last year had put the cost of the games at AUD2.6 billion ($1.77 billion), but new estimates suggested it would be closer to AUD7 billion.
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He said: “Today is not about finding fault with those cost estimates. I’ve made a lot of difficult calls, and a lot of difficult decisions, in this job. This is not one of them.
“Frankly, six to seven billion for a 12-day sporting event. We are not doing that. That does not represent value for money. That is all cost and no benefit.
“I will not take money out of hospitals and schools to fund an event that is three times the cost [which] is estimated and budgeted for last year.
“In terms of where we go from here, the games will not proceed in Victoria in 2026.”
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By GlobalDataThe multi-sport event involves thousands of athletes representing 72 Commonwealth countries and territories and is held every four years. The last edition in 2022 was hosted by the English city Birmingham, which stepped in to replace Durban, South Africa, which faced financial issues.
Victoria was announced as host of the 2026 edition last March after organizers had struggled to find an appropriate location due to a lack of interest and Covid-19 disruptions. It was due to be held between March 17 and 26 in the regional centers of Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland, and Shepparton.
The Victoria state previously hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the last edition of the games staged in Australia was on the Gold Coast, Queensland in 2018.
Responding to Victoria’s withdrawal, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) governing body said the high figures quoted by the Victorian government are 50% more than those advised to the organizing committee last month.
It added: “Since awarding Victoria the games, the government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the CGF and Commonwealth Games Australia.
“We are disappointed that we were only given eight hours’ notice and that no consideration was given to discussing the situation to jointly find solutions prior to this decision being reached by the government.
“Up until this point, the government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“We are taking advice on the options available to us and remain committed to finding a solution for the games in 2026 that is in the best interest of our athletes and the wider Commonwealth Sports Movement.”
The CGF will now launch a search for a new host. Australian cities Sydney and Adelaide previously expressed an interest in hosting the event and there had been reports of Malaysia and India being in the mix.
Previous host Birmingham was also reported to be open to hosting the event back-to-back due to the success of last year’s event. In April, it was reported New Zealand expressed a tentative interest in hosting the 2034 Commonwealth Games.
Image: Diego Fedele/Getty Images
