Australia’s secret plans to secure sporting mega events revealed including 2026 Commonwealth Games

Sport-deprived Australians will be rewarded with some of the world’s biggest events in the next decade, including an audacious bid for another Commonwealth Games.

Julian Linden

2 min read

December 10, 2021 - 8:47PM

News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom

Australia could be set to host the Commonwealth Games again in 2026 under a new plan. Picture: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

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Bolstered by the stunning success of winning the hosting rights to the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, Australian governments are secretly hatching plans for an even bigger coup.

As part of the masterplan to reopen the country to the world after the gloom of Covid-19, state and federal governments are preparing to transform Australia into the sporting capital of the world.

It’s an audacious idea but Australia has already secured five major international events over the next 18 months and The Daily Telegraph can reveal that’s just the start of a green and gold decade of mega sporting events.

The Australian government has been holding talks with interested states about preparing a shock bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, with an announcement expected early next year, before the 2022 Games in Birmingham, UK so that a formal handover can take place.

A general view during the Opening Ceremony of the XXI Commonwealth Games at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast. Picture: Francois Marit/AAP

Federal sports Minister Richard Colbeck confirmed the high-level talks were continuing and the government would support a bid to bring the Commonwealth Games back to Australia as early as 2026, which would serve as a perfect lead up to Brisbane 2032.

The details are being kept under wraps because but a Commonwealth Games Australia spokesman confirmed that the talks had gone up a notch after the Commonwealth Games Federation’s recent announcement of changes that would enable future host countries to dramatically slash costs and save a fortune on costs.

“We’re great hosts and we want to host it again. And if it‘s not in 2026, then it’s not until 2038,” the spokesman said.

Australia is already in the box-seat to be awarded the 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup after being named as the preferred partner but what hasn’t been disclosed until now is that the government is also willing to help bankroll Rugby Australia in hosting the 2029 women’s World Cup after missing out on the 2021 tournament to New Zealand.

World Rugby – which has effectively aborted its old cutthroat bidding process to instead work with ‘preferred partners’ – has not yet spoken to Rugby Australia about the women’s World Cup but the government’s support would likely accelerate any talks.

Australia will host next year’s T20 World Cup. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“That‘s part of the discussion we’re having with rugby at the moment,” Colbeck said.

Australia has already been awarded the 2027 Netball World Cup and fresh bids and highly-placed sources have revealed that potential bids are being prepared for rugby league, swimming and athletics World Cups and world championships in 2029 and 2031.

But Aussie fans won‘t have to wait that long with three massive sporting events already locked in for 2022 – the T20 men’s World Cup, the women’s basketball World Cup and the road cycling road championships.

“These all contribute to the green and gold runway that we‘ve talked about in the lead up to Brisbane, that list of projects that’s building between now and 2032,” Colbeck said.

“It‘s also really timing as we start to open back up as a country and to the world, so I think it makes a big contribution in that sense.”