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The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) remains confident the 2026 Commonwealth Games will go ahead despite there being no host city following a dramatic termination of Victoria’s bid on Tuesday.
NZOC chief executive Nicki Nicol says there is still time for a replacement host to be found but confirmed it will not be New Zealand, despite the NZOC revealing an interest in hosting the 2034 Games with the support of the Government, back in April.
In a shock announcement, that blindsided both the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the NZOC, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told a press conference on Tuesday that the cost of his state’s bid had ballooned out from A$2.6 billion to at least A$6b (NZ$6.5b) and it would be withdrawing its bid.
Nicol said the NZOC was incredibly disappointed by Victoria’s decision.
“It’s quite unexpected, we’ve only had a few hours’ notice, so it’s something we’re still processing,” Nicol said.
NZOC will support the CGF to find a new venue but will not consider itself as a candidate. It’s too early to know who may put their hand up for 2026.
Phil Walter/Getty Images
NZOC chief executive Nicki Nicol said Victoria scrapping the 2026 Commonwealth Games was “unsettling”.
Nicol’s confidence the 2026 Games will go still ahead stems from Birmingham picking up the 2022 Games at late notice – after Durban was stripped of hosting rights due to failing to meet a series of financial deadlines – with the Covid-19 pandemic also thrown in the middle.
“We have got precedence,” Nicol said pointing to Birmingham. “It was really vibrant from a sport perspective and importantly it was economically viable.”
Victoria’s monumental costings for a unique model that the Australian state was hoping to achieve by growing investment in its regions, means the budget blowout has not dented confidence in a New Zealand concept for 2034.
“We know we have to do a lot of work to do to make sure that we can put together something that is feasible and doesn’t expose us,” Nicol said. “There’s some good reflections for us on this and we’ll be working really hard to make sure that we can take the learnings, particularly from Birmingham.”
The Victorian Games were to be held in the Australian state in 2026 between March 17 and March 29 across five regional centres: Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton.
STUFF
The Kiwi athletes who brought home gold from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (first published on August 9, 2022).
“The focus in Victoria was a lot of regional investment, housing, transport, infrastructure and all this other investment which was to help the regions thrive when they already had some of that infrastructure in Melbourne,” Nicol said.
“We know that Birmingham was £780,000 million (NZ1.61b) and that was from a late start with Covid, so you can see how ambitious the programme was that Victoria was thinking with those figures.”
Birmingham was an important model for others – including New Zealand – to look at, Nicol said.
The major focus for the NZOC after Tuesday’s bombshell was on its athletes who were also caught out by the Victoria axing.
“Clearly our thoughts are with the athletes because it’s unsettling until we know where the next venue is going to be,” Nicol said.
Mark Baker/AP
Melbourne last hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
Earlier on Monday, Victoria’s Commonwealth Games staff were called into a meeting shortly after 9am (11am NZT).
“I cannot stand here and say to you that I have any confidence that even the A$7 billion number would appropriately and adequately fund these games,” Andrews said when he fronted media.
He said it was “not a hard decision”, simply saying more than A$6 billion was too much, “we’re not doing that”.
The Commonwealth Sport Movement, the governing body for the Games, released a damning statement.
“This is hugely disappointing for the Commonwealth Sport Movement, for athletes around the Commonwealth and the Organising Committee who are well advanced in their planning and preparation,” the statement said.
“The reasons given are financial. The numbers quoted to us today of $6 billion are 50% more than those advised to the Organising Committee board at its meeting in June.
“These figures are attributed to price escalation primarily due to the unique regional delivery model that Victoria chose for these Games, and in particular relate to village and venue builds and transport infrastructure.
“Since awarding Victoria the Games, the Government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA).
“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 prior to this decision being reached by the Government.
“Up until this point, the Government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“We are taking advice on the options available to us and remain committed to finding a solution for the Games in 2026 that is in the best interest of our athletes and the wider Commonwealth Sport Movement.”
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