Commonwealth Games 2026 - Melbourne cancels

[Upsidedownpineapplecake]

What do we think about this? I’m a bit shocked

We don't have the facilities anymore. There is no athletes village. It is more than just stadium and pool.
Two weeks of competitions. Millions if not billions of $. What for? Who benefits from this? We can build pools, sport facilities , parks, ....where they are lacking for the same amount. All those schools with demountable classrooms.

Cancelling the games isn't the problem - offering to host them in the first place was. The Andrews government funded a feasibility study on this with a report in 2019 warning of cost blow outs and recommending pushing the timing out to 2034. So why did Andrews announce hosting the 2026 games in Feb 2022 - ignoring the advice he has paid for a couple of years earlier. It's not like things got cheaper between 2019 and 2022.

It is still a non-issue. It is just two weeks of sports. Who gives a crap about it. Yes, they broke an agreement, but so did the federal government with the French and the AUKUS, so I would say, typical Australian.

I give a crap about how much money has already been pissed up against the wall in planning for the games, and how much in total this aborted effort is going to cost Victorian taxpayers.

I also feel for regional Victorian businesses who had started planning for the games- will be interested to see how much of the promised investment will still make it their way.

Now Canada has cancelled its bid to host games in 2030 saying it is a burden too high for the province to bear.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66402140#

Maybe it is the end of the commonwealth games, formerly known as the Empire games, and briefly rebranded Stolenwealth Games.
In 1982 the games were branded the "Stolenwealth Games" by Indigenous Australians, a moniker it hasn't been able to shake.
"It's called Stolenwealth for a good reason," says Klugman. "These were the places where value was extracted and taken back to the heart of the empire."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-66229577

Perhaps they expect to be out of the Commonwealth by then. So won't commit to anything.

The Commonwealth Games can be rebranded however people see fit though. As a sporting event it’s quite inclusive and promotes sports not seen in the Olympics.
Surely it can be as expensive or cheap as it needs to be. There’s no need to treat it as a corporate event.
Not a fan of sport myself but I can see why anyone in the industry might be gutted.

Still not a the cost of other public spending. In the words of Chris Minns :
"hosting the Commonwealth Games would be something nice to do. Schools and hospitals are must do's".

No sporting event that runs for 11-12 days deserves such spending. There are Netball competitions elsewhere.

But who decides on spending? Why is it all costing billions?

Loads of people care plenty. Think of all the athletes and sports fans just for a start. What a ridiculous thing to say that no one cares, of course they do.

@StillWantingADog Birmingham organisation was a shambles behind the scenes, with so much money wasted on the wrong things - very little community benefits which were promised. Cost way too much as the main work was done during covid so they ended up using a lot of existing sites to make it work- why not do that in the first place?!
not sure why there’s a huge need to build so much for a ten day event that only a small number care about.
it’s just not worth the money and effort that goes into it and should be scrapped in this post covid world- the amount of money spent on management and consultants is beyond ridiculous!

But @Shedknowitwasmr do you care for sport at the expense of your medical care?
There are plenty of championships in Australian and around the world. There is no return, or insignificant return for the CW games. It is not like without the games, there is no career paths for the athletes. It is just 1 competition amongst many. And the big names, they don't even attend. Cate Campbell, the Aussie star, she didn't go to Birmingham.

It's a huge pity if they pull out now. I live close to Birmingham and the legacy is epic. My Foster son's cricket club was used for 2 1/2 weeks before the games started for practice for ladies teams. His club got 4 new high quality nets plus 3 grass wicket nets. The clubhouse got refurbished and a lovely mural of ladies playing cricket painted on the clubhouse outside wall. My Foster son got to bowl at the ladies teams as a net Bowler. It gave him such a thrill to do it. He bowled for 32 hours including at Edgbaston. He got many of the lady cricketers out. It really boosted his confidence. We went to see several ladies cricket matches, athletics, diving and DH and FS went to see rugby sevens and basketball. If other countries don't want to do it I'd love Birmingham to get it again. It would be far cheaper as so much infrastructure like the new cricket nets already in place.

All the events I went to were well run with very good volunteers. I know the ladies cricket was not a shambles. It was very well prepared, with volunteer net bowlers having a trial for ability months before the event. All volunteers had to attend presentations for their event and conduct during the games. The buses were really good taking people to different parts of Birmingham.

You surely don't believe you'll magically acquire a hospital instead do you? That's like Brexit and the NHS, lies all damn lies. I'd say the Commonwealth games are only second in line to the Olympics and very important for all the smaller countries to compete in including UK getting to compete as separate countries.