Adding beach volleyball - "a quintessential Gold Coast sport" - to the 2018 Commonwealth Games added almost $20 million to the cost of the Games and almost derailed the last session of the Queensland budget estimates hearing with a conversation about "sand sieving".
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When the Gold Coast made its bid for the 2018 Games, beach volleyball was not on the international body's list of eligible sports - only becoming eligible on the day Queensland won the bid.
With organisers having already submitted their 17 sports, including the 10 compulsory events, beach volleyball looked like missing the program until discussions between the international body and the government.
The government committed to supporting the sport's inclusion after advice from the local Games board and beach volleyball was added to the program.
Which brought the estimates hearing committee to the matter of sand.
"The international body is very particular about the sand quality," Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Corporation CEO Mark Peters said.
"We are, as is the City of Gold Coast, very confident that the sand will be appropriate, but they have had instances, on beautiful-looking beaches, where they have had to bring the sand in.
"We need to go through the formality of testing the quality of the sand."
How do they do that, LNP shadow minister John-Paul Langbroek queried, a sieve?
Games Minister Stirling Hinchliffe confirmed Mr Langbroek was correct.
"On talking to the International Volleyball Federation representatives they have special sieves that measure the nature of the sand," he said.
Which reminded LNP MP Rob Molhoek of a past job.
"As a former chair of finance for the Gold Coast council, I can assure you that the beaches get sieved every day," he said.
"Ten years ago they were spending $12 million a year sieving the beaches. I do not think we have too much to worry about."
Eventually, Mr Peters was allowed to return to discussing the cost of adding the sport to the Games program.
"The overall cost of adding beach volleyball to the games is just over $19 million," he said.
"We expect to receive revenue back through sales of seats etcetera, which will leave us at this stage with a cost of around $9 million - $9.5 million or $9.2 million.
"We are, as we say, value engineering now to look at how we fit the venue in. We are planning a 5000-seat capacity at the moment. It may well be more economic for us to run a 4000-seat-capacity stadium.
"In terms of the main costs that you asked for, some of the costs are technology, because we need to be able to broadcast pictures live around the world.
"There is just over a $2 million cost of getting the appropriate facilities in to run live broadcasts out of that site.
"In terms of transport, as you would be aware, we will need to provide opportunities for people to move particularly from the north and central Gold Coast down to Coolangatta.
"The addition of shuttle buses etcetera has a cost associated of about $1.5 million. We will need to bring extra staff on to run a venue. Those costs, in terms of paid staff, volunteers that need outfitting etcetera, are in the order of around $1.8 million.
"Security costs sit at just under $1 million at the moment. Our security people are working very hard.
"One of the questions in their present plan is to have the practice courts up on hard stand. There may be an opportunity to put those practice courts on the beach, which will save overlay costs, but we will then have security costs of how you guard against water entry etcetera.
"That is a lot of the work that we are going through at the moment. Then we come into overlay - all the temporary tents, fencing etcetera, to move athletes and spectators safely - and the catering that needs to be put in place to a site that is just an open site at the moment. They are the key parts of, I would say, the cost of putting the volleyball together."
Mr Hinchliffe assured the committee the Games venues would be ready well before the opening ceremony.
