Jumbo sent packing

OPINION: As white elephants go, it would hard to find a jumbo larger and more dazzling than the Commonwealth Games.

While Prime Minister John Key has made himself unpopular in some quarters for refusing to fund a bid for the 2018 games in Auckland, his reluctance to fund the elephant is prescient and a decision that he is unlikely to ever regret.

The problem with the Commonwealth Games is that they are an anachronism. The Commonwealth is a hangover from an empire that once spanned the world, but no longer exists.

It is an organisation based on a rag bag of countries with little in common other than they once belonged to Britain.

Hosting the games is the sporting equivalent of winning the Eurovision Song Contest – it is not only a dubious honour, but an expensive one as well.

Mr Key has based his decision on advice that shows the games would run at a projected loss of $600 million and that the resulting growth in tourism would not be sufficient to recover the loss.

In other words, putting the games on would cost us money with no hope of a payoff. Hosting the games would effectively be a charitable donation to the rest of the Commonwealth.

Critics of the decision would point out that the Government has dug deep for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and that not aiming for another big event is short-sighted.

There is some truth in this. The Government is digging deep, putting $265 million into a tournament which its organiser expects will return a loss of at least $30 million.

But the Government believes that the rugby tournament's boost to GDP will be roughly double that of its investment.

Rugby is our national sport and we are home to the best known team in the world. Hosting the 2011 Rugby World Cup is a great investment for this country.

Perhaps the clearest indication that we would be on a loser with the Commonwealth Games is the fact our state-run broadcaster gave up on its broadcast rights to the event because it was difficult to stand up financially.

The reason is that the Commonwealth Games are the poor cousin to the world's biggest event – the Olympic Games. To be sure the Commonwealth Games has given us some great sporting moments over the years, and the 1974 Christchurch event in particular will always be a cherished part of our history.

But the value of the games has declined since then and the event has pretty much done its dash.

The prime minister can endure the predicable howls of protest from interested parties in Auckland safe in the knowledge that, not only has he done the right thing, but the majority of the country is behind him.

- © Fairfax NZ News