GOLD COAST – Australia’s Gold Coast has withdrawn its bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, citing lack of support from state or federal governments, its mayor Tom Tate confirmed on Dec 3.
The A$700 million (S$623 million) joint bid with Perth for the quadrennial multi-sport event did not receive government backing following Victoria’s withdrawal in July due to budget overruns.
The Gold Coast, a beachside city with more than 600,000 people in Queensland, had offered to step in following the pullout – but only in the unlikely event the federal government helped foot the bill.
“We did our best and that’s all people can expect,” Tate said in a statement. “Sadly, at the same time, our country’s reputation as a place that reneges on a global sports contract remains in tatters.
“In simple terms, it seems our Games’ vision doesn’t align with the vision of the state or federal governments.”
The news comes two months after Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said the Games’ global governing body was open to delaying the event by a year to give potential hosts more time to prepare.
Officials said in November that they were working under tight timeframes to find a replacement, and would prefer to keep the event in Australia. They also previously said they were “hugely disappointed” by Victoria’s shock decision to withdraw.
“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,” the Commonwealth Games Federation said in July.
The Victorian Games – to be hosted across cities including Geelong, Bendigo, and Ballarat – were estimated at a cost of A$2.6 billion, but the government said it had ballooned to over A$6 billion, resulting in the withdrawal.
“I’ve made a lot of difficult calls, a lot of very difficult decisions in this job,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said at the time.
“This is not one of them. Frankly, A$6 billion (or) A$7 billion for a sporting event, we are not doing that.
“That does not represent value for money, that is all cost and no benefit. I will not take money out of hospitals and schools in order to fund an event that is three times the cost estimated.”
Increasingly struggling for relevance – and with fewer countries interested in hosting the event due to high costs – the long-term fate of the Games remains uncertain.
Canada’s Alberta province also withdrew its support for a bid for the 2030 event, weeks after the Victoria announcement.
Tate added that the proposal had in fact received overwhelming support from locals, athletes and business people who want to see “the event saved”.
“Our dual proposal would have delivered billions into the national economy and given athletes, and para-athletes, a clear pathway towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics and then on to the 2032 Games in Queensland,” he said.
Glynis Nunn, an Australian Olympian and executive director of the Gold Coast Academy of Sport, said that many Australian athletes will now miss the chance to compete on the international stage.
“Tom had such a good idea. It’s disappointing for the athletes because when you have home games it means we really have the opportunity to put forward a full team of athletes in every event,” she said on ABC News.
Australia, by far the Games’ most successful competing nation, has hosted five of the previous 22 editions. The most recent was on the Gold Coast in 2018.
Canada is next, having staged the Games four times.
The last Games, in 2022, were held in England after Birmingham replaced original host Durban in South Africa. The event attracted more than 5,000 athletes from 72 Commonwealth teams. REUTERS, AFP
