Sport
2026 Commonwealth Games in Doubt
Victoria was due to host the Games, but costs have spiralled
The 2026 Commonwealth Games are in doubt after an Australian state cancelled its plans to host due to budget spiralling.
The Commonwealth Games are the highest level at which a Manx athlete can represent our island on the international stage.
Victoria was due to host the Games, Premier Daniel Andrews said he would not divert cash from other areas to pay for it.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) struggled to find a host before Victoria essentially volunteered in April 2022, this was in part due to the cost of hosting the games, believed to be in the region of A$2.6 billion (£1.4bn). However this cost has now tripled to over A£6bn.
Mr Andrews said new figure was ‘more than twice the estimated economic benefit’ it would bring to his state. And added: ‘I’ve made a lot of difficult calls, a lot of very difficult decisions in this job. This is not one of them.’
Organisers reponsded by saying: ‘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.’
While Birmingham 2022 was a successful games, it only came about because the South African city of Durban had the games taken off it after running into money troubles and missing key deadlines.
Organisers now have a short window to find a new host, or to find a new funding model with Victoria to allow the 2026 games to go ahead.
Now What?
Everyone standby for ‘Why the Isle of Man should host the Commonwealth Games’. No, we’re not going to do that one
Actually, you know what?
