Beach volleyball will be played on the Gold Coast’s sand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, "showcasing the city’s premiere attraction" to a TV audience of 1.5 billion people, according to Andrew Potts of the GOLD COAST BULLETIN. The sport’s inclusion follows an appeal by Games Minister Stirling Hinchliffe to Games Federation President Louise Martin in Brisbane last week. It brings the list of sports for the '18 event to 18 -- "the biggest field since the Games began" in '30. Hinchliffe said that an "iconic" location would be found and sites on the southern Coast are reportedly being considered. He said, "This will be the biggest Games ever held and the first time we are adding a whole new sport which is perfectly placed to promote and tell the Gold Coast’s story." Beach volleyball became a Commonwealth Games sport following the Gold Coast’s successful '11 bid but "it had not been expected to debut" until the '22 event in Durban, South Africa. The deal came three years to the day after the Newman Government’s cost-cutting meant beach volleyball "had slipped through the net to miss out on making it to the sporting list." At the time it was said that hosting the sport would cost A$12.5M ($9.4M) but deliver just A$5M ($3.74M) in revenue. The "ultimate cost of taking on an extra sport" will reportedly depend in part on where the temporary arena is built (GOLD COAST BULLETIN, 3/8).
