Victoria cancels 2026 Commonwealth Games
The Victorian government has pulled the pin on the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
In a shock announcement on Tuesday morning, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that plans to stage the multi-national sporting event across regional Victoria had been scrapped due to rising costs and logistical issues.
“What’s become clear is that the cost of hosting these games in 2026 is not the $2.6 billion which was budgeted and allocated,” he said in a press conference.
“It is in fact at least $6 billion and could be as high as $7 billion, and I cannot stand here and say to you that I have any confidence that even $7 billion number would appropriately and adequately fund these Games.”
Victoria was confirmed last year as the destination of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, after the original host city – Durban, South Africa – pulled out due to financial concerns.
Rather than hosting the Games in a single major city, the Andrews government pitched a revolutionary plan whereby events would be staged across regional centres including Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Gippsland and Shepparton.
However, the need to develop suitable venues and build athletes’ villages in several locations has pushed up the cost of the project.
Not helping matters is that federal funding has been slow to arrive with Anthony Albanese’s government looking ahead to the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane.
With less than three years to plan, it is not yet known whether another location – either in Australia or abroad – has been lined up to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
