Stadium to Dominate CSA News Conference...

[Winnipeg Fury]

Stadium expected to dominate Canadian Soccer Association news conference

TORONTO (CP) - It wasn't supposed to be like this.

The Canadian Soccer Association no doubt hoped that its new conference Wednesday would be a festive occasion as officials handed out the four remaining host invitations to Canada's big soccer party in 2007 - FIFA's World Youth Championship. Jack Warner, CONCACAF boss and FIFA vice-president, is slated to be on hand - as is CSA president Andy Sharpe, COO Kevan Pipe and under-20 coach Dale Mitchell.

But instead of discussing the merits of the bid cities that will join Toronto and Edmonton for the 24-team under-20 tournament, chances are the majority of the talk will focus on the uncertain future of the York University stadium project now that the Toronto Argonauts have pulled out.

The stadium was the cornerstone of Canada's winning bid. And winning the right to host the championship helped unlock the door to $35 million in federal and provincial government funding for a new Toronto stadium.

Commonwealth Stadium will serve as home for the tournament in Edmonton while the planned venue at York is scheduled to the focal point in Toronto, where the tournament will be headquartered. Both cities will host a first-round group, plus round-of-16, quarter-final and semifinal games.

In the wake of the Argos' flight, the CSA has gritted its teeth and repeated that the stadium - albeit a scaled-down 20,000-seat version - will go ahead despite the loss of the Argos' $20-million investment.

Some observers will believe it when the first shovel finally hits the ground.

For their part, York officials have only said they are examining their options.

The CSA solicited bids for four other cities to join Edmonton and Toronto.

In January, 11 cities submitted letters of intent to bid, but that number has since dwindled. Calgary and Winnipeg withdrew from the process while Hamilton reportedly also backed out. The CSA declined to details such comings and goings when it came deadline time for applications.

Letters of intent to host were also sent by Laval, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Vancouver and Victoria.

CSA officials scheduled one-hour interview sessions with the bidding cities Monday and Tuesday in Toronto.

Soccer officials in Montreal and Vancouver scheduled their own news conferences for Wednesday, suggesting they might be part of the CSA announcement. The Montreal mayor will be taking part, with speculation that some kind of stadium improvement announcement will be made.

The CSA mandated that the bid proposals included everything from budget and organizing committee information to stadium, training and hotel facilities.

The CSA borrowed from Hockey Canada in preparing for the tournament, using paperwork and frameworks Hockey Canada came up with for bid cities for the world junior hockey championships.

With 24 teams, the world under-20 soccer tournament is second only to the men's World Cup in terms of size in FIFA-sanctioned world championships.

Canada will kick off the 52-match tournament in Toronto on July 1, 2007. Initial plans called for Edmonton to host the championship game July 22 with the bronze medal match in Toronto, but now the CSA says the final will be either Edmonton or Toronto.

Each of the six host cities will play host to a first-round group. Two will finish with a round-of-16 game and two more will wrap up with quarter-final matches.

Pipe has said the 2007 championship will have a total budget of about $30 million, with FIFA paying a little more than half. The CSA budget is built around a break-even scenario.

Canada reached the quarter-finals of the last tournament, in the United Arab Emirates in 2003.

The 2005 edition of the tournament is set for the Netherlands this summer. Canada is in a group with Colombia, Italy and Syria.

Notes: A York spokesman rejected a newspaper report that the university was considering suing the Argonauts for pulling out of the stadium project.

[DJT]

I'm so confused about which cities are still in the running and which aren't.

We had official word that Calgary dropped out and Calgary is not listed in the article posted above nor on the CSA site, yet Radio Canada reported that Calgary has already been chosen.

We had virtually official word that London dropped out, yet London is still listed in the article posted above and on the CSA site.

We had virtually official word that Hamilton dropped out (scroll down to 13th post) and Hamilton is not listed in the article posted above, yet Hamilton is still listed on the CSA site.

We had unofficial word that Quebec, Sherbrooke and possibly Laval dropped out, but Quebec, Sherbrooke and Laval are still listed in the article posted above and on the CSA site.

What a mess.

[Bxl Boy]

No, I talked to Quebec and Sherbrooke delegation-head and they confirmed mw they withdrew

No news from Laval but they said they would withdraw if Montreal would present a new stadium, what will happen

So, there's still only candidate city in the province of Quebec : Montreal

[DJT]

quote:Originally posted by Bxl Boy

No, I talked to Quebec and Sherbrooke delegation-head and they confirmed mw they withdrew

No news from Laval but they said they would withdraw if Montreal would present a new stadium, what will happen

So, there's still only candidate city in the province of Quebec : Montreal

Alright, I know that you are a reliable source, but I didn't know that you actually talked to the delegation heads.

So my guess is that we are now down to Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria. Therefore, there is nothing to decide!!! Sounds to me like the CSA just wants to hype up their press conference as some big revelation when in reality we can put the pieces together and figure out what will happen. [|)]

[Richard]

quote:Originally posted by DJT

Sounds to me like the CSA just wants to hype up their press conference

Nothing wrong with that, puts soccer in the headlines for a bit and we can use all the publicity we can get.