Victoria could have hosted the same pared-back program as Glasgow for the same cost but the government never considered the option, Commonwealth Games Australia boss Craig Phillips says.
Glasgow announced its 2026 program on Tuesday after it stepped in to host the next event following Victoria’s withdrawal last year.
Using just four venues, only 10 sports will be contested at a projected cost of 114 million pounds ($A221.51 million).
Victoria cited a budget blow-out to $6 billion which Phillips said was “outrageous and overestimated”.
Instead of hosting, Victoria paid $380 million in compensation to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), of which $200 million has been directed to Scotland.
Phillips said the Victorian government withdrew without considering scaling back the multi-sport event.
“We were happy to talk to the Victorian government about finding ways of saving the costs of the Games and if eliminating sports from the program was part of that, we certainly would have had that conversation,” Phillips said on Wednesday.
“I’ve been on record as saying before, we really didn’t get that opportunity to have that conversation.
“We knew there was some budget pressure and we had some discussion with the Victorian government about ways of saving money, including potentially moving sports to Melbourne, reducing the use of temporary venues and overlay.
“But as we know now, with the cancellation of Victoria, much of that wasn’t taken up.
“It absolutely could have (been held in this format) but there wasn’t the appetite in this state to do that.
“We’re pleased that our Scottish friends put their hand up as it’s important for not only our own athletes in Australia, but the athletes from the 74 nations and territories around the Commonwealth.
“We know how important it is to athletes, particularly from the developing world, that don’t get the opportunity to go to the Olympics or World Championships.”
Phillips held a meeting with the Commonwealth sports earlier in the day and told them the CGA would look to change the constitution to ensure they remained in the fold.
He said there was no anger from sports bodies toward the CGA but there was toward the government, with 22 sports included in the Victorian model.
“I think that’s probably well-placed because if it wasn’t for the cancellation, they would be on the program, those sports,” Phillips said.
Hockey is one of the major sports axed from the 2026 Commonwealth Games. (AAP: Dean Lewins)
With 10 sports the minimum, he said there was scope for the next hosts in 2030 to increase the size of the program and change the sports included.
There have been questions about the appeal of such a slim-line program, down from 19 contested at the last Games in Birmingham, England, but Phillips expected it to still be sizeable enough for athletes and fans to embrace the event.
“It’s still a high concentration of sports and we know there’ll still be approximately 3000 athletes at the Games and we’ll have a team of somewhere between 260 to 280 athletes,” he said.
“We’re yet to get the medal event program but our initial estimates are, with the sports that have been included, the number of medals will probably be about 70 per cent of what was in Birmingham so it’s still a sizeable and fairly comprehensive program.
“We think it will attract good spectator attendance in Glasgow, and also good TV broadcast interest and media interest here for Australian fans.
“So we’re fairly confident it’ll still have the necessary weight to be an attractive event.”
AAP
