Cancelled International Events

[Eddie]

Victoria have pulled out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games because they can’t afford or justify the spiralling costs.
 

I know many on this forum including me felt France’s withdrawal of hosting the 2025 RLWC made the game seem tin pot, even though it was due to the French Government’s concerns about the economic viability of the event, but this puts things in perspective a bit and it may well not be the last global event to be cancelled in this time of turbulent finances. Hopefully New Zealand are able to step in to host our WC anyway. 

[Toby Chopra]

I find it astonishing the state had committed A$2.6 billion to host the games - an 11 day event. (And Australian governments in total A$7 billion for the Brisbane Olympics.)

We put on the three 2021 RLWCs for government support of just A$50mln, surely there's value in there for someone to host the 2025 RLWC.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

It should be added to that as well that this is the second Commonwealth Games in a row that has seen the original host pull out due to financial concerns with Durban doing so for the 2022 games. Also Durban were only awarded the 2022 games because the other bidder for that edition, Edmonton, withdrew their bid, again for financial reasons. It does seem that in these hard pressed times governments are not prioritising big sporting events which is very understandable really. 

[gingerjon]

33 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Victoria have pulled out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games because they can’t afford or justify the spiralling costs.
 

I know many on this forum including me felt France’s withdrawal of hosting the 2025 RLWC made the game seem tin pot, even though it was due to the French Government’s concerns about the economic viability of the event, but this puts things in perspective a bit and it may well not be the last global event to be cancelled in this time of turbulent finances. Hopefully New Zealand are able to step in to host our WC anyway. 

Nothing about the Commonwealth Games announcement gets the French federation off the hook for failing to deliver against their own projections.

[DACS]

Lets be honest, hardly anyone cares about the Commonwealth Games except athletes who have a better chance of winning something with the Yanks, Europe, China and Japan excluded. Part of the reason for the cost blowout was the Victorian Govt insisting on having events across the state rather than reusing existing venues as far as possible.  

[Henson Park Old Firm]

8 minutes ago, DACS said:

Lets be honest, hardly anyone cares about the Commonwealth Games except athletes who have a better chance of winning something with the Yanks, Europe, China and Japan excluded. Part of the reason for the cost blowout was the Victorian Govt insisting on having events across the state rather than reusing existing venues as far as possible.  

Speak for yourself I'm always enthralled to watch Isle of Man play Malta in the lawn bowls. So much passion so much rivalry.

[Eddie]

49 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Nothing about the Commonwealth Games announcement gets the French federation off the hook for failing to deliver against their own projections.

I haven’t seen the detail but maybe their original projections were reasonable at the time, then as inflation shot up and state funding went down they became unviable? 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

I find it astonishing the state had committed A$2.6 billion to host the games - an 11 day event. (And Australian governments in total A$7 billion for the Brisbane Olympics.)

We put on the three 2021 RLWCs for government support of just A$50mln, surely there's value in there for someone to host the 2025 RLWC.

A lot of it is probably accommodating the thousands of athletes? But yes agreed that seems an extraordinary cost for an event like the CG. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

44 minutes ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Speak for yourself I'm always enthralled to watch Isle of Man play Malta in the lawn bowls. So much passion so much rivalry.

You joke but bowls can be real edge of the seat stuff. I always turn it on if I'm flicking through the channels and see its on. The Isle of Man are actually a real powerhouse nation in that sport. 

[sam4731]

To be honest, I think the shelf life of the Commonwealth Games is coming to an end anyway. More and more countries are having discussions about leaving and that will only grow now that the Queen has gone. Saying that, if the Games do continue, getting nines on the programme would be a great idea.

[JohnM]

Australia confirms its commitment to international sport.

[RP London]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

Victoria have pulled out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games because they can’t afford or justify the spiralling costs.
 

I know many on this forum including me felt France’s withdrawal of hosting the 2025 RLWC made the game seem tin pot, even though it was due to the French Government’s concerns about the economic viability of the event, but this puts things in perspective a bit and it may well not be the last global event to be cancelled in this time of turbulent finances. Hopefully New Zealand are able to step in to host our WC anyway. 

This on the back of South Africa losing the last one and Victorian only being able to be announced later than normal after being persuaded to take it on.. I love the Commonwealth games but cant help but think, in its present format, its probably going to struggle. 

[RP London]

1 hour ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Speak for yourself I'm always enthralled to watch Isle of Man play Malta in the lawn bowls. So much passion so much rivalry.

https://ifunny.co/video/who-said-bowls-isn-t-funny-willie-wood-vs-david-BGlIImxNA

[Tommygilf]

9 minutes ago, RP London said:

This on the back of South Africa losing the last one and Victorian only being able to be announced later than normal after being persuaded to take it on.. I love the Commonwealth games but cant help but think, in its present format, its probably going to struggle. 

To be fair, finding hosts of the Olympics and FIFA world cups are becoming more difficult. For the former, the options are becoming narrower due to the cost of hosting. Brisbane 2032 won unopposed for example.

And for the latter, either autocratic regimes that can pump money into facilities they will never need again, or a growing amount of multi-national bids seems to be the only way for many to make it cost effective. Likewise the Olympics seem to be garnering "multi-city" interest, with regions considering joint bids.

The reality seems to be that unless you already have the facilities in place, which is rare, many of the facilities required for big international events is difficult for many to justify financially. How many massive atheletics stadiums don't become white elephants for example.

[Dirkgee]

And Victoria only took it on after the commission asked them to because no one else wanted it.

I think the Comm Games time is up

[RP London]

48 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

To be fair, finding hosts of the Olympics and FIFA world cups are becoming more difficult. For the former, the options are becoming narrower due to the cost of hosting. Brisbane 2032 won unopposed for example.

And for the latter, either autocratic regimes that can pump money into facilities they will never need again, or a growing amount of multi-national bids seems to be the only way for many to make it cost effective. Likewise the Olympics seem to be garnering "multi-city" interest, with regions considering joint bids.

The reality seems to be that unless you already have the facilities in place, which is rare, many of the facilities required for big international events is difficult for many to justify financially. How many massive atheletics stadiums don't become white elephants for example.

Totally agree.. but they do have the balance of adding a lot of tourism into the country when they come in so the investment by the Govt can be offset by extra corporation tax or sales taxes etc. where as what really does the Commonwealth games add to tourism or ROI for the local/national govt.

[Tommygilf]

8 minutes ago, RP London said:

Totally agree.. but they do have the balance of adding a lot of tourism into the country when they come in so the investment by the Govt can be offset by extra corporation tax or sales taxes etc. where as what really does the Commonwealth games add to tourism or ROI for the local/national govt.

I'd argue a lot is prestige and a local boost, like hosting the world championships of any sport. It isn't the Olympics, but the RLWC isn't either!

In some sense as well it can be either a trial run for a larger Olympic bid, or part of the Olympic legacy programme.

My point was rather that as financial belts begin to tighten, even for the biggest events, the smaller events will naturally suffer.

[Copa]

The commonwealth games has to change. They have to be able to fit into the facilities that are already available and have fewer athletes.

The Olympics will go this way too. What’s the point of building huge oval stadiums for athletics when the locals will most likely want to use it for rectangular field sports afterwards? And compelling hosts to build huge white water centres and hockey centres etc when they’d never use them again afterwards… 

[DoubleD]

55 minutes ago, Dirkgee said:

And Victoria only took it on after the commission asked them to because no one else wanted it.

I think the Comm Games time is up

Agreed, the Commonwealth Games will likely be consigned to history soon, it doesn't hold any relevance in the 21st century. Many countries no longer wish to be part of the Commonwealth anymore and the costs significantly outweigh the financial benefit. Athletics in general is another sport on its knees, you might have seen a report that the UK Athletics was bailed out recently to enable it to host the loss making Diamond League event. It's on the verge of bankruptcy

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Agreed, the Commonwealth Games will likely be consigned to history soon, it doesn't hold any relevance in the 21st century. Many countries no longer wish to be part of the Commonwealth anymore and the costs significantly outweigh the financial benefit. Athletics in general is another sport on its knees, you might have seen a report that the UK Athletics was bailed out recently to enable it to host the loss making Diamond League event. It's on the verge of bankruptcy

It can’t be that long ago that the forerunner to UK Athletics also went bust?

[HawkMan]

Was there any doubt about the Women’s Football WC in Australia? How much if any profit is it expected to make? Who paid for it? Are the locals bothered?

[Tommygilf]

14 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Was there any doubt about the Women’s Football WC in Australia? How much if any profit is it expected to make? Who paid for it? Are the locals bothered?

Up till very recently there was massive issues over the TV rights in Europe iirc.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

Up till very recently there was massive issues over the TV rights in Europe iirc.

A proper peeing contest between FIFA and the reality that FIFA helped create there.

[Copa]

20 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Was there any doubt about the Women’s Football WC in Australia? How much if any profit is it expected to make? Who paid for it? Are the locals bothered?

50629 turned up for the Australia v France warm up match the other day.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Copa

[Click]

2 minutes ago, Copa said:

50629 turned up for the Australia v France warm up match the other day.

Ah, so no one is bothered - clearly.