By Frank Dalleres
A bitter war of words has broken out over the 2026 Commonwealth Games after the Australian state of Victoria abruptly pulled out of hosting the event.
Victoria was named host for the multi-sport championships last year but reneged on that commitment on Tuesday, citing spiralling costs – plunging the Games into doubt.
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips called Victoria’s U-turn “absolutely embarrassing” and accused regional officials of overstating the financial burden.
“The stated cost overruns in our opinion are a gross exaggeration and not reflective of the operation costs presented to the Victorian 2026 Organising Committee as recently as June this year,” he said in a statement.
“The Victorian Government wilfully ignored recommendations to move events to purpose-built stadia in Melbourne and in fact remained wedded to expensive temporary venues in regional Victoria. CGA welcomed the opportunity to review the financial analysis prepared independently of those involved at the coal face of planning and delivering.”
Victoria’s state premier Daniel Andrews alleged that the original budget of A$2.6bn (£1.3bn) had almost tripled since planning began.
“Last year when the Commonwealth Games authorities approached us and needed someone to step in to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, as a state we were happy to help out, but of course not at any price,” he said.
“I’ve made a lot of difficult decisions in this job, this is not one of them. It’s just quite obvious, we are not going to spend A$6-7bn on a 12-day sporting event. We don’t just make popular decisions, we do what’s right and it would simply be wrong.”
The Commonwealth Games Federation also questioned Victoria’s cost projections and said they had only been given eight hours’ notice before the announcement.
“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 the CGF.
“The reasons given are financial. The numbers quoted to us today of A$6bn 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.”
Commonwealth Games chiefs must now find a new host for the 2026 event, which was set to be the first to be held across a region rather than in one city. Birmingham staged the last edition in 2022.
