Opinion: Thanks to Toronto, Vancouverites have some idea of the real cost of hosting five World Cup football matches in 2026. became. That's a lot.
Thanks to Toronto. live in the west
Why? Because it was June 16th when he last heard of Vancouver hosting his five games of the 2026 World Cup. Sports Minister Melanie Mark and a small group of friends echoing in almost empty British Columbia. Deploying the stadium follows his FIFA announcement that Vancouver (followed by Toronto) is one of his 16 host cities.
No one knows what has been said about it since then at City Hall, or at Mark's Ministries.
Luckily, you can glean a lot of information by sifting through the Toronto City Council minutes. It's because of the Toronto City Council that a Vancouverite should at least face the fact that he could be being asked for $100 million. This is the estimate a Toronto City Council member got from his staff in his July report.
Upgrading the training site and the "Fanfest" infrastructure required to run the entire 32-day global event would cost the city That alone cost him $77.1 million. tournament. He needs another $24 million to cover "in-kind city services," including enhanced transportation, traffic management, local police and emergency services.
But that's just for the city. The 'expected' total cost of hosting his five FIFA matches is 'approximately $300 million', two-thirds of which is 'expected' to be paid by the governments of Ontario and Canada. there is.
The council then instructed officials to be preoccupied with finalizing negotiations and agreements with higher levels of government. Staff were also instructed to: Reorganize current and future operating budgets to reflect World Cup costs. Find other partners or sponsors to share the cost. Established the World Cup Secretariat. Start a discussion with your local transit agency. We will report community benefit plans by early next year.
This raises the question why there is a cone of silence at Vancouver City Hall. I think the answer is that our politicians have overcommitted us to hosting sporting events at a much higher per capita cost than in Toronto.
Toronto $100 million will be distributed to 2.93 million people. Assuming similar costs here, the burden is reduced to 675,218 people. At the provincial level, the B.C. government costs 5.2 million, while Ontario pays her 15 million.
But a bigger factor is that Toronto is not pursuing her $4 billion bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics. We are also not committed to hosting the 2023 Laver Cup Tennis Tournament or the 2025 Invictus Games.
This overcommitment was mentioned last month in a highly critical report from the mayor of Vancouver. The report highlights the potential for "endless financial risk" and the lack of resources and overstaffing responsible for making it through all these major events.
Buried in the Toronto report, though no exception, is the exponentially increasing cost of each high-profile sporting event awarded.
The estimated cost when Toronto signed his 2018 agreement with her FIFA host city was $45 million. Now it's more than four times that.
In May, when Toronto's cost was "minor" he estimated at $93.8 million, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart told reporters that the funding needed to host the World Cup was He told his council that $5 million would suffice.
If his recommendations were ever discussed, it was done behind closed doors, and if staff reports were made before or after that, they were never made public. Hmm. If they were discussed, it was done on camera. And the Host City Agreement, signed in January 2018, remains hidden. The City responded to my Freedom of Information Request on the last day that he may have passed 30 business days from the date of submission, and because this is an agreement with a third party, the City said that FIFA I said I needed another 30 days to find out if I was willing to do so. Publish information.
It may not be just Mark's fault. She was not a minister in 2018 when the hosting of the World Cup was first brought up. did.
Hogan said at the time that he would not sign the blank check that FIFA suggested was required. he wasn't alone.
Quebec withdrew its support for Montreal's bid in early 2021 after estimated costs more than doubled to his $103 million in three years.
However, Hogan had a change of heart this past February after football Canada and FIFA begged his B.C. state. rethink. The Prime Minister handed it over to Mark to deal with, even though he was in the midst of controversy over the proposed $789 million Royal BC. Expansion of the museum.
A month later, Alberta's premier Jason Kenny pledged him $110 million to help with Edmonton's bid. This is contingent on him winning five of his 10 bouts in Canada, including two knockouts in his round.
FIFA has yet to announce the schedule and location of the games, so B.C. If it's more than magical thinking.
Really a billion dollars. That's three times his expectations for Toronto and about ten times his expectations for Seattle, one of the 16 host cities.
With local elections in October and rumors of state elections soon after Hogan's successor was elected in December, now is the time for transparency.
dbramham@postmedia.com
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Daphne Bramham: Wow. Vancouver is his 2026 World Cup destination.
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Vaughn Palmer: Hosting the World Cup for fun can take only part of John Hogan's rationale into the bank
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For a worthy mega event.
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