Who will step up for the 2026 Commonwealth Games?

"We have informed Commonwealth Games authorities of our decision to seek to terminate the contract and to not host the Games," Premier Daniel Andrews announced on July 18.

"We are not going to spend $7 billion running a 12 day sporting event," he said.

The Commonwealth Games organising committee said it is "taking advice on the options available to us and remain committed to finding a solution for the Games in 2026".

But who, if anyone, will step into the breach?

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK hopes a "viable solution" can be found for the 2026 Commonwealth Games to be held in Australia.

The idea of the UK stepping in to host the event is "getting slightly ahead of ourselves", the spokesperson said.

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf said he has asked his staff to "explore" the possibility of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games as part of a multi-country UK bid.

Western Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart flagged interest in holding the 2026 games when the organising committee were originally selecting the host city.

The games were awarded to regional Victoria in April 2022 with events planned in Shepparton, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland.

NSW leader of the opposition Mark Speakman said "with Victorian Labor cancelling Melbourne's 2026 Commonwealth Games, the NSW Government should urgently consider bidding for Sydney to host them".

The idea was shut down by NSW premier Chris Minns who said "we're not bidding for the Commonwealth Games and we're not taking them on".

Perth lord mayor Basil Zempilas said Mr Andrews' announcement provided Perth had a "second chance" to host the games.

"Perth is in the driver's seat, they need us," he said.

WA premier Roger Cook is not convinced hosting the games would be in the state's best interest.

"Our analysis was consistent with the Victorian government's analysis that this would cost a significant amount of money and provide very little return on that investment," Mr Cook said.

"The Commonwealth games aren't what they used to be and as a result of that they don't provide the return on investment," he said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The South Australian government has decided not to bid for the games saying the cost was estimated to outweigh the benefits by nearly three times, a spokesperson said.

"While this decision will be deeply disappointing for athletes and supporters of the Comm Games, the South Australian Government has no intention of stepping in to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games," they said.

"Successive governments, both Liberal and Labor have considered hosting the games and determined the cost would outweigh the economic benefit."

"The previous state government conducted independent financial analysis on hosting the multi-sport competition, it was determined the event would cost $3.5 billion, with the economic benefit only amounting to $1.2 billion."

Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff also ruled out Hobart and Launceston as host cities for the games in a July 18 press conference.

"We can get a lot of things done in Tasmania, setting ourselves up for the Commonwealth Games in 2026 now, in 2023, is a stretch," Mr Rockliff said.

With Australian Associated Press.