Regional towns to be focus of 2026 Games bid

The 2026 Commonwealth Games could help relaunch Covid-ravaged Victoria, with six regional towns set to be the biggest winners.

Momentum is building for Victoria to host a regionally focused Commonwealth Games in 2026.

The Greater Victoria Bid task force, which launched in 2017 to initially explore the possibility of winning the major event in 2030, have since brought forward their plans to focus on six key regions for the 2026 games.

The group, led by Shepparton council and made up of regional mayors, business people and political figures, has worked alongside councils to develop a concept that would place athlete hubs in the Latrobe Valley, Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Shepparton.

While some events would still take place in Melbourne, the task force’s chairman, Adem Karafili, said their plan could relaunch the state to the world after the pandemic.

Mr Karafili said the bold proposal would also help to shine a light on the regions.

“It’s a great opportunity to showcase the entirety of Victoria and show that we’re a sporting state, not just a city,” he said.

Mr Karafili said existing infrastructure would be used – avoiding costly new bids – and even raised the prospect of hosting the opening and closing ceremony at Geelong’s Kardinia Park.

“Each of (the towns) have got enormous capability and infrastructure in place already,” he said.

Bid architect, Mitch Catlin, who is also the chief of staff of Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy, said Victoria was the only mainland state that was able to offer reasonable travel times between the city and regional centres.

“There’s no question the Commonwealth Games Federation didn’t think it was the ideal model at the start (but) the reality is … you’ve got to look at models that provide long term economic rights, not just to one city but to multiple regions, and this concept does that,” he said.

It comes as the Saturday Herald Sun revealed that Victoria was close to launching a formal bid for the games, after the Commonwealth Games Federation reportedly approached the state government.

Premier Daniel Andrews this month said the government was always looking for more major events, but that he had no official announcement.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Victorian government would need to “carry the financial load”.