Sebastian Coe sees future for troubled Commonwealth Games

SYDNEY – World Athletics president Sebastian Coe believes that the Commonwealth Games are a strong enough brand to survive their latest crisis, but they must innovate to do so.

The multi-sport quadrennial event suffered a major setback in July when the

Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 edition,

citing escalating costs.

It left the Commonwealth Games Federation searching for a viable replacement at short notice amid an apparent lack of interest in a spectacle seen as losing relevance.

The last Commonwealth Games in 2022 were held in Birmingham, but only after the English city stepped in to replace South Africa’s Durban, which was stripped of hosting rights after a series of missed deadlines and financial problems.

Victoria was the exclusive bidder for 2026 when no other countries showed interest.

Despite this, Coe said he saw a future for the event, which in 2022 attracted more than 5,000 athletes from 72 nations, most of them former territories of the British Empire.

“The Commonwealth Games will survive this. It’s a strong product, it’s about innovating and the Commonwealth Games have the opportunity to do that,” he told The Australian newspaper late on Tuesday, without detailing the innovations.

“There are less branding (restrictions) than the Olympics and sometimes the world championships, so there is potential.

“I don’t see the Commonwealth Games disappearing.

“It has a problem at the moment, and I am hoping others are prepared to step in.”

Coe, a former middle-distance world record holder, also said the event remained a vital stepping stone for the Olympics, particularly in track and field.

“The Commonwealth Games track and field is a strong event – to win a sprint you have to beat the Jamaicans; in endurance you have to beat the Kenyans and there are very strong, powerful nations there,” he said.

“Just under a quarter of those nations in world athletics are Commonwealth nations. It is important for track and field that the Commonwealth Games are seen as successful.”

Victoria – which was due to hold the Games across five regional hubs – pulled out after claiming the initial cost of A$2.6 billion (S$2.29 billion) would more likely spiral to around A$7 billion.

“I’ve made a lot of difficult calls, a lot of very difficult decisions in this job. This is not one of them. Frankly, A$7 billion for a sporting event, we are not doing that,” Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said in July.

“I will not take money out of hospitals and schools to fund an event that is three times the cost as estimated and budgeted for last year.”

Officials had talked up the legacy benefits from new infrastructure in the regional hubs of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Gippsland, and an economic boost of more than A$3 billion from tourism and thousands of new jobs.

“As a state, of course we were willing to help out, but of course, not at any price and only if there were lasting benefits for Victorian communities and benefit for the whole state,” Andrews added of the uncertainty surrounding the event.

Soon after the withdrawal announcement, Australian sports officials were touting the country’s most populous state of New South Wales as an alternative host for 2026.

New South Wales state capital Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympics.

“There’s no question we’ve got the venues... and March would be a good time to host it,” John Coates, an International Olympic Committee vice-president and former Australian Olympic Committee boss, said in comments published by Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

“I’d love to see it come here... The sports have the ability to organise it.”

However, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns shot down the idea. Several other states have followed suit. AFP, REUTERS