Commonwealth Games Australia to give millions to help save Scotland event

Commonwealth Games Australia has offered millions of dollars to the Scottish government — effectively paid for by Victorian taxpayers — to help it roll out the Games in Glasgow.

Commonwealth Games Australia is offering to hand over millions of dollars to Scotland to ensure a Games is held there in 2026.

Victoria was due to host the sporting spectacle in 2026 across five regional sites, but tore up its contract last year due to cost blowouts in a move that continues to reverberate around the world.

Commonwealth Games Scotland and the event’s international governing body, the Commonwealth Games Federation, have made a bid to revive the event in Glasgow — which was a host city in 2014 — on a slimmed down scale, with fewer sports and costs.

But the Scottish government has raised concerns about financial and reputational risks it faces if Glasgow picks up the hosting baton, and both it and the UK government have so far declined to underwrite the event.

The CGF has guaranteed about $A200m to be spent on the event, effectively paid for by Victorian taxpayers because that was part of a settlement handed over by the state under former premier Daniel Andrews.

Australia has offered $200m for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, effectively paid for by Victorian taxpayers under a Daniel Andrews settlement. Picture: Ian Currie.

Commonwealth Games Scotland has also offered more than $4.5m to help pay for security costs, and the CGA has the capacity to match that figure due to the money it received from Victoria tearing up its own contract.

The CGA’s president, Ben Houston, said the Australian sporting body was committed to a “multimillion pound investment” that would help make Glasgow 2026 a reality.

“As one of the beneficiaries of the settlement with the Victorian government, we today commit a multimillion pound investment into the Games to be further negotiated with Commonwealth Games Scotland and the Scottish government,” Mr Houston said.

“Now is not the time to walk away from a Games that has inspired for generations, and we look forward to working collaboratively toward an outcome that benefits Commonwealth nations, their athletes, coaches and fans.”

Commonwealth Games Australia President Ben Houston said the multimillion-dollar funding arrangement would reduce ‘perceived financial and reputational risk’. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Mr Houston said the money aimed to reduce any “perceived financial and reputational risk” that has been highlighted by the Scottish Government.

He said the investment by an Australian sporting body was worthy because the Games were a critical part of the “performance pathway” for our athletes as one of five “pinnacle event opportunities” outlined in Australia’s HP 2032+ Sport Strategy.

He said it would help boost green and gold success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with 46 per cent of Australia’s athletes competing for the first time at the Commonwealth Games.

“The Commonwealth Games are at the heart of Australia’s performance pathway, often providing the launch pad for continued and ongoing success by Australian athletes,” Mr Houston said.

“They are irreplaceable in terms of providing global competition and, in the absence of an Australian host, it is in the interests of Australian sport that we make an overseas Games a reality.”

The proposed Glasgow Commonwealth Games would be a slimmed down version of its 2014 event. Picture: Adam Head

The CGA does not get funding from taxpayers, and instead relies on income from private investments and commercial revenue.

A meeting with CGF Scotland and the Scottish government is now likely to discuss the offer.

Victorian abandoned its 2026 hosting deal last year, with former Premier Daniel Andrews saying the costs of the event being held across five regional towns in Victoria had blown out from $2.6bn to as much as $7bn.

A probe by the Victorian Auditor-General later revealed the cost was more likely to be $4.9bn, which was still a substantial overrun.

The CGA has previously slammed Mr Andrews for exaggerating costs and accused him of trying to “trash the brand with the Australian public” for political benefit.

Originally published as Commonwealth Games Australia to give millions to help save Scotland event