Regional hotel owners in ‘state of shock’ over 2026 Commonwealth Games cancellation

Regional Victoria is reeling after the Commonwealth Games were scrapped, with some business leaders and mayors not learning of the cancellation until the premier’s press conference.

Regional business leaders and councils were informed of the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games just minutes before the Premier called a press conference, while hotel owners have expressed their dismay.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday morning confirmed the event would not go ahead, blaming a higher-than-forecast cost for the sudden cancellation.

Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson said he was phoned shortly before the press conference.

“You’ve learnt, as I have, this morning … that Victoria is opting out of the 2026 Commonwealth Games,” he said in a press conference.

He said Commonwealth Games Legacy Minister Harriet Shing contacted him “just prior” to the announcement, giving him “insight” into the projects that had been promised to the regional city.

Ballarat mayor Des Hudson found out the 2026 Regional Victorian Commonwealth Games were being cancelled just prior to the Premier's announcement.

“While disappointed by this morning’s news, we’re certainly committed to ensuring that the state government delivers on what they’ve committed to for our community,” he said.

Despite disappointment the city could not show itself off to a “global audience”, Cr Hudson said he hoped the Games funding would give Ballarat opportunities “for decades to come”.

“We will adapt, we will pivot, we will absolutely be able to move forward,” he said.

“And as I said earlier, the level of investment that Ballarat is to receive is almost a once-in-a-generation opportunity … If we had to lobby to state or federal governments for those projects alone, it would take us multiple election cycles to be able to get that kind of investment.”

He said the cost blowout of the Games to potentially $7b “ultimately comes out of taxpayer money”.

“I have two young girls, and I think of what the legacy, what the cost of living might have been for them as we go forward.”

Cr Hudson said recent appointments to the council, particularly a new ‘Economy, Experience and Commonwealth Games Director’, would have occurred regardless of the Games since other directors previously had “enormous” and “challenging” portfolios.

Committee for Ballarat chair George Fong said it was a “totally unexpected announcement”.

“Our job as the Committee for Ballarat is … to make sure that that legacy process is maintained,” he said.

“We don’t have the timeline and deadline of the Commonwealth Games in these issues anymore and we need to keep the pressure up to make sure that these sorts of things are continued on that basis.”

Committee for Ballarat chair George Fong says the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games was "totally unexpected".

Bendigo council acting chief executive Andrew Cooney and mayor Andrea Metcalkfe expressed their deep disappointment at the cancellation of the games.

Mr Cooney said he was “shocked and disappointed” to find out their city had lost the chance to host the Games through the Premier’s press conference.

He said people had moved from interstate and overseas to work on preparations, and the city had been working on this “even before it was announced when there was only a possibility of coming to Regional Victoria”.

The pair said Bendigo had done geotechnical and design work at the Flora Hill athletes’ village site which they hoped could still be used for housing.

They said they would “never apologise” for the optimism they felt and work they had put into planning over the past year.

Bendigo council acting chief executive Andrew Cooney and mayor Andrea Metcalfe had no notice the 2026 Commonwealth Games were being cancelled. Picture: Julieanne Strachan

Sovereign Park Motor Inn in Golden Point owner Tim Canny said his hoteliers had been asked to submit their allotment of rooms to the Games organising committee by Friday and were “encouraged to submit as many as possible”.

He was just about to offer up all 50 of his rooms for 17 nights.

“Like everyone we’re in a bit of a state of shock,” he said.

“We’re a little disappointed.

“I thought it was going to be a sensational event for our city, particularly with having the athletics here and even mountain biking and boxing.”

But Mr Canny said it was “pleasing to hear” the government’s infrastructure commitments would be kept.

He said as long as the government were “true to their word” and spent money locally, Ballarat would still “very much benefit”.

Some of Mr Canny’s staff were also planning on volunteering at the Games.

Meanwhile, the Bendigo business community is scrambling to make sense of how far reaching the losses will be from the decision.

It had expected wide ranging investment within the region outside of direct government spending on sports grounds.

Be.Bendigo, the region’s business chamber, had distributed fortnightly newsletters to keep local businesses informed about the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games Goods and Services Procurement Pipeline and other upcoming opportunities.

“Be.Bendigo will play a key role in delivering local information sessions to business, in order to make informed decisions on whether to participate and how. So for now, the message is clear: Be.Registered, Be.Informed and Be.Ready.”

Ahead of the Premier’s press conference, Bendigo business and civic leaders said they had no information about what the announcement would be.

The Golden Dragon Museum was expecting an increase in visitation with the Games. Picture: Zizi Averill

Golden Dragon Museum chief executive Hugo Leschen said the news was “very disappointing” as they were expecting tourism in Bendigo to pick up during the Games.

“We were looking forward to an increase in visitation,” he said.

“As you’d imagine we appreciated not everyone could attend the games all day, every day, for the full twelve days.

“We were looking forward to that. We were looking forward to the increased focus on Bendigo and our region which is a fantastic place to live and work and play.”

But he praised the Premier for making the decision earlier.

“We had started planning what we were going to do both leading up to the Games and during the games themselves,” he said.

“But I guess if you have to cancel, at the end of the day, it’s better to cancel sooner rather than later — hopefully before people have made long term commitments and contracted their money.”

Western Victoria MP Joe McCracken called the announcement a “complete disgrace” which had caused “monumental damage to Victoria”.

“We are the laughing stock of the world, and my home town of Ballarat is at the epicentre of this disaster,” he sid.

“Daniel Andrews should hang his head in shame and resign.

“This is the same man who went to the 2022 state election claiming the Commonwealth Games would be ‘a Games like no other, in a place like no other.’ In a way, he’s right. But it’s so, so wrong.”

Western Victoria MP Joe McCracken called the cancellation a “complete disgrace”. Picture: File Photo

He said he had little confidence in the $2bn fund to be spent on the government’s “legacy” commitments, such as public housing, sporting infrastructure, and tourism.

“The former saleyards site at La Trobe St Ballarat is now under a cloud. Decontamination works, levelling off the site and other works appear to have been put on the back-burner,” Mr McCracken said.

“There is no clear information on what ‘legacy’ housing will be offered to Ballarat. This project was supposed to be completed in 2026. When will the housing be completed now that he has no deadline?

“We have no commitment from the government to fund a train platform at Mars Stadium, despite planned upgrades to the stadium.

“If Daniel Andrews can’t manage $2bn worth of Commonwealth Games projects, why should anyone think he can manage $2bn worth of ‘legacy’ projects?”

Mr McCracken said the government’s priorities now should be mending regional roads and funding schools and hospitals.

Gary Gibson, who runs the Oval Hotel Bendigo, said he had already had inquiries from numerous English teams looking for accommodation during the Games and was disappointed it would no longer go ahead.

“Oh look, it was just going to be huge. The lead up to it was going to be fantastic,” Mr Gibson said.

“The English team was looking for accommodation two or three months ago, they wanted to book the whole motel,” he said.

The hotel manager said it was a shame to miss out on the local business but they will just have to “go on as normal”.

“It would have been a bonus really having the Commonwealth Games, it would have been an absolute bonus,” Mr Gibson said.

Greater Shepparton mayor Shane Sali, pictured during the 2022 floods, was left in “shock and disbelief”. Picture: Kiel Egging.

Greater Shepparton mayor Shane Sali said his community had been left “in shock and disbelief”.

“There was no sign of this happening whatsoever,” he told the Herald Sun.

“I acknowledge that this was going to be a costly activation, but that was something that the government seemed to be really committed to.

“It’s hard to believe that $5bn possible cost increases is what the government would have been facing.”

Shepparton had been announced as the fifth hosting city and was preparing to hold a suite of cycling events and BMX Racing competitions.

Mr Sali said Jeroen Weimar, 2026 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief executive, had visited just two weeks ago and “was super excited to be further showcasing what’s going to be happening”.

Mr Sali said the Games were supposed to expose local businesses “to a global audience or take them from regional businesses to global businesses”.

“It was going to offer opportunities for regional businesses to tender for security, catering, transport, logistics. They were the real things that the community was heavily interested in,” Mr Sali said

“It’s disappointing that we won’t see any international events take place in regional Victoria, which is what the priority was. We wanted to get away from the standard events always taking place in metro Melbourne.”

Mr Sali said he was now focused on ensuring the government’s $2bn support package for regional Victoria covered the cost of building a brand new Shepparton Sports and Events Stadium, noting the current building was built in the 1970s.

“We need to make sure that we’re not waiting for the state government to come and tap us on the shoulder. I’ll be patting them on the shoulder to say this is where we want the investment to go,” he said.

Hepburn Shire mayor Brian Hood said he was “extremely disappointed” by the decision, despite understanding the financial challenges faced by the government.

“Economic pressures are being felt at all levels of government and across the community.,” he said.

“We acknowledge the Victorian Government’s announcement of the cancellation also comes with a regional support package, which we anticipate will bring other desperately needed benefits for our Shire and we look forward to further detail on this.”

Hepburn Shire was to host the Commonwealth Games mountain biking events at the 60km Creswick Trails Network.

“Council remains fully committed to completing this project, which will deliver important economic benefits for Creswick and the wider region along with health and wellbeing outcomes,” Mr Hood said.

“We invite further investment in this project from the State Government as part of the regional support package.”

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the cancellation at a press conference Tuesday morning. Picture: Valeriu Campan NCA NewsWire.

The Premier said money already allocated to the Games would be spent on sporting facilities, tourism and social housing.

In Ballarat, Eureka Stadium will receive a new athletics track and a stadium expansion of 5000 permanent seats, with improved accessibility access.

The train station will see passenger lifts on both platforms and a connecting pedestrian overpass built, while the Ballarat Sports and Events Centre will receive updates to the show court and accessibility works.

Miners Rest will receive an all-new facility, including competition-grade oval and sports pavilion with carparking, amenities and changerooms.

In Creswick, 60km of mountain bike trails will be created.

In Bendigo, the bowls club will have the five existing bowls and croquet greens redeveloped, while the showgrounds will receive an additional exhibition shed.

The stadium will get four new sports courts.

There’ll be better BMX facilities in Shepparton, while Gippsland will see improvements of the indoor stadium in Traralgon and the Ted Summerton Reserve in Moe.

The Gippsland Sports and Entertainment Park will have two pitches and two pavilions redeveloped and the Morwell Gun Club will get a new shotgun trap shooting range, all equipment required for air rifle and air pistol, and new security fencing.