Are we really game?

In the absence of any other city in the Commonwealth willing to do so, the Commonwealth Games Federation has done the sensible thing; appeal to the ego of a city/state that identifies itself as the sporting capital of the world.

Brisbane is focused on the Olympics after beating no other city to host the games.

Adelaide pulled out of the Commonwealth Games bid and Sydney determined it wasn't worth it.

Listening to a representative from the Committee for Melbourne on radio, the view seemed to be that Melbourne should grasp the opportunity.

Work was already being done on a 2030 bid for the games to be held across Victoria’s regional cities but when asked about it being hosted by the regions, the spokesperson said something about the committee’s boundaries being where the city ends, but “Melbourne is the gateway to the regions”.

A bit like saying the beach is the gateway to the ocean.

I’ve never been a fan of the Regional Cities Victoria bid, mainly because I doubt it will deliver any lasting infrastructure benefits.

The Gabba in Brisbane is about to shut down for three years to be revamped for the Olympic Games.

The modernised ground will be the centrepiece of the games but its capacity will only be slightly more than it it is now.

Brisbane is part of the fastest growing region in Australia, yet it is still being cautious not to build a stadium that is beyond its post-Olympic needs.

The regional bid, which includes Shepparton, is built on the premise that it will deliver substantial upgrades to existing facilities which will have a life beyond the games in attracting national competitions.

Melbourne only hosted the 2006 games because Durban had failed a number of milestones for facilities.

Global accounting firm KPMG did a post-games analysis and concluded that for the $2.9 billion spent, there was an increase in Gross State Product (GSP) of around $1.6 billion over a 20-year period, with around half of the impact occurring in the year of the games; 13,000 full-time equivalent jobs were created but most were temporary or overtime.

The “Olympic effect” is the post-games benefit that flows from the exposure of an international event but KPMG could only nail down an estimated benefit to Victoria of $1.6 million in 2007 and 2008 from international tourism over and above the existing trend line.

That was after factoring out visitation for other major events including the Rugby World Cup.

There’s a reason why the Commonwealth Games (and more recently the Olympic Games) are not attracting fierce competition.

They are expensive to host and the benefits you derive haven’t increased at the same rate as the costs.

There is no doubt a regional games would deliver a sugar hit to the economy through investment in infrastructure and visitation during the event, but we need to carefully consider the downsides.

COVID-19 has increased the strain on organisations that rely on volunteers and the games would need thousands of volunteers whose time is already better utilised elsewhere.

There is great uncertainty about post-COVID international travel, and all that upgraded infrastructure will need upgraded care and maintenance.

Regional cities with like infrastructure will also compete harder for events in order to get the most out of their new toys. We could end up paying more to attract fewer events in future.

It won’t all be fun and games.

Darren Linton is chief correspondent at McPherson Media Group.