State Premier Daniel Andrews mentioned the preliminary estimated Aus$2 billion (US$1.36 billion) had to cling the Games would much more likely be round Aus$7 billion, which he known as “well and truly too much”.
“I’ve made a lot of difficult calls, 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,” he mentioned at a press convention. 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 won’t continue in Victoria in 2026. We have knowledgeable Commonwealth Games government of our resolution to hunt to terminate the contract,” he added.
The event — featuring 20 sports and 26 disciplines — was due to be held across five regional hubs in the state, including Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Gippsland and Shepparton, with each having its own athletes’ village.
Andrews said his team had looked at cutting the number of hubs or even moving the Games to the Victoria state capital Melbourne, but “none of the ones choices stack up”.
Instead, he announced an Aus$2 billion support package for regional Victoria.
Andrews declined to say how much it was costing to terminate the agreement, but insisted talks with the Commonwealth Games Federation were amicable.
But the Federation was not happy, blasting the move as “massively disappointing”.
“We are dissatisfied that we had been best given 8 hours’ realize and that no attention was once given to discussing the placement to collectively to find answers previous to this resolution being reached via the federal government,” it said in a statement.
Victoria was only awarded the contract 14 months ago as the exclusive bidder, with the Federation claiming the state had since decided to include more sports, added an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues.
This additional expense was “continuously in opposition to the recommendation of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth Games Australia“, it said, adding that it had received assurances that “enough investment was once to be had to ship the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games”.
The decision to pull out leaves the fate of the Games up in the air, with fewer and fewer countries showing interest in recent times to take on a spectacle seen as losing its relevance.
The Federation insisted it remained “dedicated to discovering an answer for the Games in 2026 this is in the most productive passion of our athletes and the broader Commonwealth Sport Movement”.
The event typically attracts more than 4,000 athletes from the 54 nations of the Commonwealth, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.
The last Games, in 2022, were held in England after Birmingham stepped in late in the piece.
In a letter to staff cited by the Herald Sun newspaper, Commonwealth Games Australia president Ben Houston said he was only told about the decision on Tuesday morning.
He also called it “extraordinarily disappointing”, adding: “We are operating with the Commonwealth Games Federation to know the broader affects at the Games in 2026.”
The Victorian state opposition called Andrews’ decision a “large humiliation” and “massively destructive to Victoria’s popularity as an international occasions chief”.