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“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.”
—Publilius Syrus
The fallout from the cancellation of the 2026 Victoria Commonwealth Games is now beginning to be felt throughout the sporting world.
The greatest damage may be sustained by Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews, who somehow didn’t have the foresight or the team around him to know that hosting Games is not child’s play — growing costs and global inflation is common knowledge.
According to the publication Inside the Games, countries and sports have reacted with shock and anger at the announcement. The announcement was provided by Andrews that the state had cancelled plans to host the Games. However, “the decision will have no impact on the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane.”
If breaking promises and poor financial management was a Commonwealth Games sport, Daniel Andrews would be the most decorated gold medalist of all time. pic.twitter.com/sG0t9TuKkR
— Rukshan Fernando (@therealrukshan) July 17, 2023
Aron Ping D’Souza, president of the Enhanced Games sent out a release saying, “The Enhanced Games fully supports the Australian Labor Party’s decision and calls on the Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk to put the Australian taxpayer first and cancel the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.”
How does an outrageous entrepreneur like D’Souza, who is betting at least part of the farm on his pet project, the Enhanced Games support of all things the Labor Party?
According to D’Souza, the Enhanced Games is planning “an infrastructurally-efficient games, focused on sports that have actual viewership and athletes with medal potential. The Enhanced Games is privately funded and is not a burden to taxpayers.”
He claimed that the sports world is changing and that the Olympics and Commonwealth Games are going the way of the World’s Fair.
D’Souza misses the point that the Olympic Games investment and return dwarfs the Commonwealth Games. Revenues generated by the Commonwealth Games from sponsorships, broadcasting rights, ticket sales and tourism are a small percentage of the revenue generated during the Olympics. His predictions are wild and indicate the roque style of personality he has.
Alberta premier Joseph Schow made the comment Tuesday that the Canadian province is still considering the 2030 Games.
Apparently, the costs for Victoria were spiralling from the equivalent of $2.4 billion CDN to more than $6.3 billion CDN or $2.6 billion to more than $6 billion AUS.
“At the moment, there’s no implication on our bid. It’s certainly disappointing to hear the Games are going to be cancelled in Australia,” he said.
Andrews rejected suggestions the state’s reputation as a sporting capital had taken a hit after pulling out of the hosting deal.
“I don’t think you’d want to be known as the place that tried to do a $2.6 billion Games and then ran them and they cost seven,” he said.
“I don’t think that’d be a particularly good thing to be known for.”
The Queensland state government put $1.5 billion Australian dollars into delivering the 2018 Commonwealth Games. While the £543m (US $751m) cost of hosting the 2014 Glasgow CWG. By comparison, the 2010 Delhi CWG was $4.1 billion US, which was the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.
According to the comprehensive post-mortem by Griffith University titled The economic impacts of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (2018 Post-Games Report) net revenues were generated. The authors were professors Tien Duc Pham, Susanne Becken and Michael Powell.
The benefits they measured cover nine years leading up to and following the WG from 2013 to 2022, “not just the 12-day period of the Games.” The total investment was $1.639 billion AUS, the total revenue was $1.670 billion.
As costs for nearly every good and service globally have gone up in an exponential-like manner, the difference in revenue versus expenditure is where the profit or loss lies (read: common knowledge), and perhaps reputational damage and benefits lie there too. Not in the difference in price from event to event. It is unlikely that future Games like the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Winter Olympic Games and future Commonwealth Games will be affected. However, Andrews may suffer political damage and this may end his tenure in politics.
The cancellation has more to do with Andrews’s inability to project investments and to sustain the common variables that happen leading up to all global events.
