The future of the Commonwealth Games have been cast in doubt after Victoria pulled out of plans to host the event in 2026 due to spiralling costs.
The Australian state had been named to succeed Birmingham as host city for the event, which takes place every four years, with plans for it to take place statewide.
Costs had originally been estimated at £1.4billion but on Tuesday Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said that costs had now nearly trebled, more than twice the estimated economic benefit to the state.
Andrews said: “I’ve made a lot of difficult calls, a lot of very difficult decisions in this job. This is not one of them. This is all cost and no benefit.”
The Commonwealth Games Federation had been struggling to find a host when Victoria stepped in bring the 12-day event to Australia for a second time in eight years. And all of the remaining Australian states have ruled out stepping in to fill the void.
In a statement, the Commonwealth Games Federation said: “We were informed today that the Victoria Governement has walked away from their agreement to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games. 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.
“The reasons given are financial. We are disappointed that we were given only 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.
“Up until this point, the government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“We are taking advice on the options available to us and remain committed to finding a solution for the Games in 2026 that is in the best interest of our athletes and the wider Commonwealth sport movement.”
