There are serious doubts now over whether the next Commonwealth Games (CWG), scheduled for 2026, will take place. This comes after Australia’s Gold Coast on Monday ruled itself out of hosting the quadrennial multi-sport event.
It bears noting that Gold Coast is the second potential Australian host of the 2026 Games to have “dropped the baton” on the event after Victoria earlier pulled the plug on it.
The Commonwealth Games Federation, organisers of the mega event, now say they may have to postpone or even cancel the next instalment of the Games, BBC reports.
The CGF had struggled to find a host for the 2026 Games before Victoria volunteered, and a month after the state’s withdrawal, the only contender for the 2030 Games – the Canadian province of Alberta – also dropped its hosting plans. This has raised further questions not just about the Games’ immediate future but also its long-term relevance.
Governments say the cost of the event is skyrocketing, while experts argue its global image and perceived relevance is waning.
Announcing Gold Coast’s decision to pull the plug, its mayor Tom Tate said in a statement, “In simple terms, it seems our Games’ vision doesn’t align with the vision of the state or federal governments.” For the record, when Victoria in July declared its inability to host CWG 2026 citing rising costs, it was Tate who had – unilaterally – insisted that the Australian coastal city, which had hosted the Commonwealth Games as recently as 2018, could do it again.
Estimated budgets reportedly surged from around A$2.6 billion ($1bn) to more than A$6bn, with the then Victorian state premier Daniel Andrews stating that they were not willing to spend that kind of money on a “12-day sporting event”.
Questions over CWG’s very future were already present when the CGF had to grapple to get a host in place even for the 2022 edition. After Durban was stripped of its right to stage the 2022 CWG due to financial troubles in 2017, Birmingham, whose bid was earlier deemed “non-compliant” by CGF, rescued the Games.
More than 4,500 athletes from 54 countries and 18 territories had assembled last year in Birmingham, which, according to the organisers and the BBC, was the most attended and watched CWG in history.
Speaking of relevance, hark back to 2019, when peeved by the exclusion of shooting for the Birmingham edition, then Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra had termed the Games “a waste of time and money” with “no standard”. The abrasive Batra’s comments now look to have been prophetic.
