Victoria’s Commonwealth Games’ organising committee has admitted the challenge of hosting the event across five cities including Geelong, contributed to the cost blow-out that killed off the event.
The event was due to be staged in 2026 before the Victorian government pulled the pin.
Chair Peggy O’Neale told a parliamentary hearing the short lead-in time was also a problem.
“We were confident that we could successful game,” she said.
“But the cost of delivering those games would far have exceeded the estimates made.”
Committee Chair Jeroen Weimar said they had no clarity on the budget in June, a month before the event was cancelled.
“Time was ticking, we were already out in market with our major procurements,” he said.
“We did not have a day to lose.
“Although we were quite comfortable with a confident and transparent budget discussion process in February/March/April, by the time we got to June, we were starting to get quite concerned about needing clarity of decisions around the scope and budget.”
