World cup fever

[GuillermoDelQuarto]

Wasn't really sure where this belonged, but I thought I would start a thread to talk about how to generate buzz regarding the world cup bid in for 2026.  

Its a long ways away but really the sooner the better, right? 

[FarmersFC]

I dont know if ppl have gotten over the expanded format yet! But ya I am all for the idea of games in Canada! 

[GuillermoDelQuarto]

Yeah no I expect many are still upset, but honestly I'm fine with it.  

If anything it makes it harder to win and what's wrong with that

[Ansem]

I'm fine with it too. My biggest worry is the co-bid part. Americans being predictable as ever will want the lion share of the tournament citing their 250th anniversary in 2026.

My worry is that Mexico and/or Canada just roll over with the lure of a few games here and there.

[dyslexic nam]

Yeah, I am coming at it from the uninformed perspective, but:

- I don't think we would get it solo.  I just don't see us submitting a solo bid, given the costs, so my two realistic options are a co-bid or no bid. And given those two options, the choice is clear.

- I am sure the US will pressure us to get the short end of the stick.  Our realistic objective should be to get as close to 50% (or 33%) as possible.  Not because we don't deserve more than that - I just don't see it as a viable possibility to go beyond that.

- and on the topic of the format change, I am okay with it.  If it gets us there, and I get to see Canada playing at the big event, that is a win to me.  Does the process cheapen it somehow?  Not to my kids who will cheer their assess off.

[Complete Homer]

I don't even think I want to try for solo. We could have probably gotten away with construction of a final 80000 stadium under the old format, along with upgrades to existing stadia. Now? It would be a huge undertaking that probably results in white elephants across the country

I think a joint USA bid wins, the only question is if the US bids alongside us or Mexico. I could see Mexico turning down anything less than 50/50, while we might accept that, so I'm putting my money on being a junior partner in a joint bid

Which is unfortunate. Ideal would be equal spread across Canada/Mexico/US with the final at Azteca

[GuillermoDelQuarto]

I just hope as many cities as possible get a chance to have a game or two.  Even if it means some of the major cities don't get as many.  I'm thinking of places like Edmonton Calgary and Winnipeg and Ottawa.  

No idea how realistic that is though.  

[Ansem]

Submitting a solo bid was always the CSA intention until FIFA massively expanded the world cup by 50%.

But what gets lost in that announcement is FIFA saying it would still be only 12 stadiums needed to hold the 48 team world cup... same as Russia and their 12 stadiums for a 32 team format. They would achieve that by having 4 match a day with no days off. However, what changes is the number of training facilities required for each teams.

Personally, I think submitting a bid respecting all of FIFA requirements puts us in the lead, anything less than that and the US are the favorites. Bigger isn't necessarily better. If we meet all the requirements, we have the fact that we're the only G7 Nation to have never hosted the games. We're the 10th economy on the planet with a league on the verge of breaking through...The Great White North market hasn't been penetrated by FIFA completely (business terms, I swear). There's money NEW money to be made in Canada, while the US already hosted once (30 years ago) and Mexico twice (last was around 40 years ago) and both markets I believe are saturated. Most importantly, FIFA wants 2026 to be 100% drama and scandal free. There isn't safer than Canada.

This talk of co-bidding started with the Americans, not Canada or Mexico. They obviously don't feel confident about winning the hosting rights by a landslide if Canada were ever to submit a quality bid. It was the USSF boss himself saying that a Trump presidency would hurt an American bid. Both the CSA and Mexico publicly said they would bid...the USSF hasn't officially said they would. The official word is that they are waiting for FIFA requirements to come out and have started backstage talks on a co-bid. The USSF are being smart. They know in a co-bid scenario they are guaranteed to host World Cup games while trying to force Canada and Mexico to surrender the finals, one of the semi-finals and most of the games. So if I'm wrong, why all of this if we all know they can host the game on their own tomorrow morning? Certainly not out of the goodness of their heart.

Tet to your point about costs, Vic not only said on record that the costs could be controlled due to having enough infrastructure not requiring us to build tons of new stadiums via upgrades but also our recent history of hosting very successful high quality world cups with smashing attendance records. The World Cup is bigger than the Summer Olympics. Last time they were in Montreal, all level of governments got massively involved, same for Vancouver recently. It's safe to assume that a successful bid would get the same response from all level of government for the biggest event on the planet where for 32 days the world is all about Canada.

Example? Sure the USA are bigger and have more money but we were still able to host Vancouver who was far superior to Salt Lake City. We host a bigger and better Women's World Cup than the Americans did. For the men's side, if we can't do bigger at the gates, we can do better in every other areas.

• Logistics: A Quebec-Windsor + Western cloister is easier to manage than the US where you still have to fly all over the place. Group stage could be in farther away places like the Maritimes and Prairies. Focusing on the Edmonton-Calgary-Vancouver triangle and the Quebec-Windsor Corridor is already a logistic advantage cutting travel time drastically compare to the US.
• Hotels and accommodations: Check
• Training grounds/facilities for teams: Existing municipal stadiums, universities & college facilities and new ones could be built on the cheap. Saputo Stadium and FC Edmonton would fall here as well.

Stadiums that fits or can be expanded to meet FIFA requirements of 40k minimum

Red=Quebec-Windsor Corridor

Green=Western Cloister

1. Montreal Olympic Stadium (Highest attendance for soccer was in 1976 with over 72k)
2. Ottawa TD Place
3. Hamilton Tim Horton's
4. Toronto Rogers Centre
5. Toronto BMO Field
6. Regina Mosaic
7. Winnipeg Investors Group Field
8. Calgary McMahon or/and "CalgaryNext" Plan B stadium
9. Edmonton Commonwealth
10. Vancouver BC Place

That's 10 or 11 depending on what Calgary does that are existing and can be made fit for a World Cup.

New Stadium and Legacy?

1. Vancouver Waterfront (Whitecaps could finally get the stadium they wanted and some of their own money would pay for it)
2. Halifax (For the CPL team and it can be built to be downgrade-able in number of seats)
3. Toronto 80k Stadium for the finals (Future summer bid? Special events? NFL?)

Yes the 80k stadium for the finals would be the biggest challenge in terms of legacy. Montreal could be reconfigured like the 1976 Olympic games to sit 72k fans. Don't know if we could push it to 80k.

But the whole bid lies in the Americans. Will they

• Go at it solo?
• co-bid and try to get most of the games (that will anger Mexico...hopefully us too)
• co-bid and play nice by splitting evenly and not hosting the finals
• A 2 vs 1 scenario?

Otherwise, we just accept that Canada will never host a solo World Cup because the Americans will always bid when it's North America's turn. In 2046 or 2050, expect the Americans to raise their hands again.

I await the day when this planet's 10th economy starts acting like it.

[Alex D]

I don't mind a shared bid and maybe only having matches in 4 or 5 cities, but every medium to large city in Canada should have a fan zone. 

As far as infrastructure goes I would love to not have to build any oversized stadiums and instead build 20+ training centres that can be utilized by the CPLand regional D3s. If we are really lucky we can sneak some small stadiums into these training centres so our D3 leagues have the opportunity to be commercially successful.