New Commonwealth Games Federation president Chris Jenkins is confident that there will be a Games in 2026 despite Victoria in Australia pulling out of the event last year.

Jenkins, who was visiting Bermuda last week for the memorial of former Bermuda Olympic Association president Judy Simons, was elected president of the CGF just last year at a time when the organisation is looking for a new 2026 host city after Victoria withdrew in July, citing an increase in costs.

It is the No 1 priority for Jenkins as he attempts to move the Commonwealth Games to a more sustainable model.

“It is challenging and when Victoria pulled out last July it was a real surprise, a real shock and nobody saw it coming,” Jenkins said.

“We’re talking in real detail to three or four potential hosts and I can’t say where they are because they all want confidentiality, but they all have good links into government.

“I’m very confident we will have a host for 2026 and I’m much more confident than I was a few months ago.

“One of the reasons I stood for president is I want to accentuate the returns on investment, so yes the games cost a lot of money and we’ll bring those costs down but at the same time I think we can raise the return that the government gets for hosting and investing that amount of money.

“Traditionally, people look at tourism and infrastructure and there are some merits in that but some of the more social impacts and legacies are really powerful. By having a world-class Games you can change a lot of things, encourage investment and social cohesion.

“It’s about resetting the games. Yes, it’s about the sport and the sport catches the attention but at the same time we are saying to the people hosting, whether that’s the local community or the government, that you will get real benefits from hosting the Games.”

It remains to be seen where the Games will take place in 2026 but the location of the event has not been particularly global with the event not returning to the Caribbean since 1966 and yet to take place in Africa, but Jenkins has set himself the task of rectifying that and investigating the opportunity of the Games being hosted in more than one city or country at a time.

“In March I’m going to the African Games to meet all our members there, sports bodies and sports ministers to talk about how we bring the Games to Africa,” Jenkins said.

“It’s a journey and we’re going to start it in March. We don’t know how long the journey is going to last and we don’t know what it’s going to look like as we are just starting those discussions, but it is highly likely that it will be a co-hosted Games.

“We are going to do the same discussions with the Caribbean as well in several months’ time and we will see how discussions go but it is more likely to be a co-hosted event.

“We are very open to that and I wouldn’t say that it is a preferred model but it’s one we are going to see a lot more of, whether it’s two cities in the same country, which is quite possible or countries that are closer together. The move to sustainability would encourage an element of co-hosting where that is appropriate.”

Jenkins, who competed as a cox for Wales in the Commonwealth Games in the 1980s, has produced a thesis as part of his doctorate on making the Games more sustainable and is confident that he can make the Games more attractive and revive its impact.

“There are some fantastic benefits from hosting a multi-sports event,” Jenkins said.

“And we will bring the costs of the Games down by using exsiting venues and existing accommodation. By doing that it also helps the environmental side as there is a huge carbon footprint involved building any new infrastructure.

“Social sustainability is where we are very strong but we probably need to tell our story better. We have programmes around inclusion and let’s take Birmingham as an example, where there were programmes attached to the Games.

“There was one called Jobskiils Academy, which took people who can’t get a job for whatever reason and using the existing framework of education providers, teach them skills and give them a job inside the Games.

"Birmingham was only in 2022, but several hundred people went through that programme, got jobs, and let’s see where they are in a few years’ time.

“Government programmes had not got those people into the workforce but the Games can. We have several social programmes like that, so you have to take a holistic view over sustainability. It’s not just about one portion of the games but the whole package, the social side, the environmental side and the financial side, so working on those areas will take the Commonwealth Games from where we are today to something that will hopefully become the blueprint for how you run a multi-sport event.”