Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ decision to axe the 2026 Commonwealth Games could be the final nail in the coffin for the international sporting event.
Its long term future is now under a cloud as a row erupted with Games chiefs strenuously denying Victoria’s $6billion cost projections to stage the event.
They are concerned the premier’s budget estimates will put off anyone else from stepping in to take over the hosting rights.
But experts warned 18 months ago that the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games could be the last ever after worldwide interest in hosting the event vanished in recent years.
The 2022 Games were originally planned to be held in Durban in South Africa but the city’s plans were scrapped over concerns about the costs spiralling out of control.
‘We gave it our best shot, but we can’t go beyond,’ South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula admitted at the time.
‘If the country says we don’t have this money, we can’t [host it].’
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s (pictured) decision to axe the 2026 Commonwealth Games could be the final nail in the coffin for the landmark international sporting event
On Tuesday the state government said the projected $7billion cost was beyond what their budget could afford or justify for a 12-day sporting event (pictured, Australia’s netball team celebrate winning gold in Birmingham in 2022)
Birmingham, the UK’s second biggest city, stepped in to take over the 2022 event after none of the 70 countries in the Commonwealth Games Federations showed any interest in hosting it.
The city in the English Midlands was originally scheduled to hold the Games in 2026, which then left organisers desperate to fill another new gap in the schedule.
A lack of interest in the event continued when a ceremony in Rwanda in 2019 to announce the hosts of the 2026 and 2030 Games had to be cancelled after a lack of willing participants.
Another similar hosting announcement in 2020 was also cancelled because of the Covid pandemic.
Games organisers were then forced to skip the usual request for bids and instead directly approached Victoria to beg the state to host the four-yearly extravaganza.
Premier Andrews agreed at the time on the basis that it would be held in regional Victoria rather than in Melbourne in a bid to boost rural economies.
But on Tuesday Mr Andrews said the projected $6-7billion cost was beyond what the budget could afford or justify for a 12-day sporting event.
On Tuesday Commonwealth Games Australia insisted the budget blowout was inaccurate and not a true reflection of how much it would cost to stage the event.
The Commonwealth Games Federation said it received eight hours’ notice that the Games contract would be terminated and the government did not discuss solutions with it before reaching the decision.
It said the Victorian government had made the Games more expensive by including more sports and an additional regional hub, often against advice.
The decision now throws the entire future of the Games into doubt.
In its 93-year history, the event has almost always been hosted in the UK, Australia/New Zealand and Canada, with Jamaica, India and Malaysia the only other one-off hosts.
With Victoria now pulling the plug on 2026, there are concerns over who will be able to rapidly fill the gap, and the message it sends for future hosts.
‘It means that we need to now obviously find ourselves a host who will work with CGF,’ said Commonwealth Games Australia CEO Craig Phillips on Tuesday.
‘Whether that could be here in Australia… we’re certainly interested in talking to any state that may have an appetite for hosting the Games.
‘We’ll be doing what we can to make sure that the numbers produced today by the Victorian Government are not taken on face value.
‘It’s certainly not a strong indication of what the Games would actually cost.’
Canada was widely predicted to host the 2030 event to mark the 100th anniversary of the Games, returning to Hamilton, Ontario, the original venue of the first Games in 1930.
Because of the centenary celebrations, it is unlikely the city will be prepared to move the Games forward to 2026 to fill the gap created by Victoria.
As one analyst predicted in 2022, when Birmingham stepped in to replace Durban, ‘it seems like the whole thing could collapse unless decisions can be made quickly’.
Jack Revell wrote in The Latch in February 2022: ‘There appears to be little interest from many of Britain’s former colonies.
‘After 92 years, only three countries are at all interested in keeping the tired imperial sporting event alive, and even then, only at a push.
‘With top-tier international sporting events like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup drawing more and more attention each round, second level events like the Commonwealth Games could soon be seen as too much hassle to bother with.’
With Victoria now pulling the plug on 2026, there is concern over who will be able to rapidly fill the gap, and the message it sends for future hosts (pictured, Australia’s athletes at the 2022 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony
Commonwealth Games Australia is still hopeful another state will step into the breech and take ownership of the 2026 event.
‘We will reset after this and move on and look to see whether we can continue to be the host nation for 2026,’ said Mr Phillips.
New South Wales and Western Australia have already ruled out taking on the Games for 2026, and Queensland is already committed to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
The Commonwealth Games Federation said the decision was a bitter letdown and blamed the surging costs on the decision to host it in the regions.
‘This is hugely disappointing for the Commonwealth Sport Movement, for athletes around the Commonwealth and the Organising Committee who are well advanced in their planning and preparation,’ said a CGF statement.
‘The reasons given are financial.
‘The numbers quoted to us today of $6 billion are 50 per cent more than those advised to the Organising Committee Board at its meeting in June.
‘These figures are attributed to price escalation primarily due to the unique regional delivery model that Victoria chose for these Games, and in particular relate to village and venue builds and transport infrastructure.’
