Australia: The Australian state of Victoria has cancelled hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to major cost blowouts.
State Premier Mr. Daniel Andrews has expressed concerns regarding the cost of hosting the Games. The Premier stated that the initial estimated budget of $1.36 billion would most likely exceed $5 billion, which he deemed excessively high.
“I’ve made a lot of difficult calls and a lot of very difficult decisions in this job. This is not one of them. Frankly, $7 billion for a sporting event, we are not doing that,” Mr. Andrews said at a press conference in Melbourne.
“I will not take money out of hospitals and schools to host an event that is three times the cost estimated and budgeted for last year. The Games will not proceed in Victoria in 2026. We have informed Commonwealth Games authorities of our decision to seek to terminate the contract,” the Premier further added.
The event was planned to encompass 20 sports and 26 disciplines, with activities distributed across five regional hubs in the state. These hubs included Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Gippsland, and Shepparton, each equipped with its own athletes’ village.
Instead, he had announced a support package worth $1 billion for regional Victoria. While Mr. Andrews declined to disclose the termination cost, he emphasised that discussions with the Commonwealth Games Federation were cordial. However, the Federation expressed its dissatisfaction, criticising the decision as “extremely disappointing.”
“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,” the Federation said in a statement.
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