The Australian state of Victoria, which stepped in last year and volunteered to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games when no one else was willing, has pulled out, citing prohibitive projected costs.
According to the BBC, Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews said that Victoria had been ‘happy to help out’ when approached to host last year, but ‘not at any price’.
Victoria had decided to pull out, as the projected cost had now tripled and become ‘well and truly too much’ for the state to bear.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) said the decision was ‘hugely disappointing’. It was ‘committed to finding a solution’.
The Commonwealth Games are a multi-sport tournament that takes place every four years. The Games have only ever been cancelled because of global conflict, during the Second World War.
Organisers had originally estimated that the event – hosted across cities including Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat – would cost A$2.6bn (£1.4bn), with the state government billing it as a boost for the regions.
Andrews said, however, that latest estimates were that the 12-day tournament would cost more than A$6 billion. This was ‘more than twice the estimated economic benefit’ it would bring to Victoria.
CGF said the estimate of A$6bn was double the figure it had given at a board meeting in June. It said the increase in costs was due to the ‘unique regional delivery model’ that Victoria had chosen for the games.
[Image: Tony Hisgett, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122082064]