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2026 World Cup - News, Updates and discussions


VinceA

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When it was first rumoured that Canada would bid for the World Cup I was quite excited, I visioned matches in places like Regina and Hamilton with the bigger matches being in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and possibly Edmonton, I figured some money would be made available for upgrades in all venues! Even before covid when this became a joint bid and we were given a handful of matches my enthusiasm waned, the chances of actually being able to afford and acquire tickets would not be great, I don't think the US would have won this bid solely due to politics! I have questioned before whether we would even be given host nation priority of automatic qualification, so to sum it up this whole World Cup thing isn't what it once was or what it could have been due to many factors!

Edited by gator
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There's actually no reason Vancouver couldn't host games. We are totally set up for it - stadium, practice facilities, hotels, transportation infrastructure. Really not that costly in the end and I always thought there would be a lot of pressure from the business community and the city to get this done. But doesn't look like that will happen now. It's too bad, really.  

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I want out of the hosting the world cup. Us and Mexico are likely going to get our own games and the games that the USA don't want. Can't wait until we likely get to host great matches like Peru vs Saudi Arabia or New Zealand vs Qatar really what hosting the world cup is all about. Yeah it will be great for people in Toronto to watch Canada play live in the world cup at home but like who wants to spends at least tens of millions of dollars for 2 or 3 Canada games and one or 2 knockout games.

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I seem to recall that when BC pulled out (didn't Chicago and some others do the same?), it was down to some egregious guarantees FIFA were requesting, some around money and some others as well. 

I think the underlying issue was doing business with what has shown itself to be a very ethically compromised organization.

Public funding of professional sports has never been a good idea (my opinion), but with some of the FIFA asks and their reputation, it felt like BC was making the principled and correct stand.  If other jurisdictions follow, I won't criticize (as much as I otherwise want to watch the World Cup in Canada).

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The essential problem is that the CSA seems to have signed into this bid without a written guarantee of Canada's automatic participation as host. Or am I wrong?

In any case, imo if we don't qualify as host and get all our group stage matches at home, by contract, guaranteed, there is no reason for us to be involved.

I hope the current CSA with our Concacaf president are clear about this. If not, it will be the biggest sell-out in the history of the WC: a host not playing in the tournament at home.

Edited by Unnamed Trialist
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1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

The essential problem is that the CSA seems to have signed into this bid without a written guarantee of Canada's automatic participation as host. Or am I wrong?

In any case, imo if we don't qualify as host and get all our group stage matches at home, by contract, guaranteed, there is no reason for us to be involved.

I hope the current CSA with our Concacaf president are clear about this. If not, it will be the biggest sell-out in the history of the WC: a host not playing in the tournament at home.

Technically, I think at the start no host is guaranteed a spot. It's voted on later to give them a spot and never fails to pass because it would be ridiculous not to. But I don't think it's technically part of any bid, hence why this is potentially an issue now.

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It appears that the Quebec provincial government is now no longer willing to help foot Montreal's World Cup hosting bill, preferring instead to support other post-pandemic efforts such as the arts, festivals, etc.
https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/soccer/2021-01-28/coupe-du-monde-de-soccer-2026/quebec-n-appuiera-pas-financierement-la-candidature-de-montreal.php

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14 hours ago, ShaneC06 said:

It's completely understandable why the Quebec government isn't putting money into Olympic Stadium. It's a money whole and might get used 10 times a year. Plus, the city if I'm not mistaken has already committed $250 million for a new roof. 

 

Sorry buddy, you're not looking at the big picture.  They ARE putting money into it, and it's a lot of money wasted on maintenance and new roofs, which is ridiculously expensive.  What they're doing is just ignoring the issue and kicking it down the road for the next govt.  

This isn't just about the World Cup, there are loads of events they can't have due to limited infrastructure.  Just tear the 60000 seat bugger down and invest in a smaller scale 40/45000 closed stadium which can host different types of events including CF Montreal year round.

This isn't like building a stadium in the juggle of Manaus, this is Montreal, there will always be events for it to be used.

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English-language report on Quebec's pulling of financial support.
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-pulls-financial-support-for-potential-montreal-world-cup-2026-matches-1.5287425

One new piece of information that's mentioned here is that the provincial government's estimated financial burden has more than doubled from $50 million to $103 million.  And that's just the provincial commitment, ignoring costs to the city, federal government, CSA,etc

It's easy to see how they might prefer to stimulate arts, festivals, etc rather than a tournament that will bring at most 5 international soccer matches to Montreal over a one month period.  And there's no guarantee of the quality of those matches, especially since Montreal will almost certainly not host a knock-out match.  Although one hopes that the organizing committee would be smart enough to schedule at least one Canada group game, as well as games involving French-speaking countries, if possible.

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Shrug.

I'm pretty sure it'll all work itself out, even if the Feds have to expand their commitment.  

Any elected official who doesn't think the World Cup Finals aren't going to be the most massive sporting event in North America for generations is an idiot if he/she/they doesn't want to be a piece of that.  

But then I think FIFA is going to be a lot more flexible about venues with the expanded format.  They'll have to be.

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We're broke.. how else can you put it. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have world class facilities. We have the Big O and Commonwealth stadium. BC has a government run insurance agency loosing 1 billion a year so no World Cup for you. Ontario would use renta stands like we're hosting a pie eating competition at the county fair. Canada is a broke joke

Edited by SpursFlu
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15 hours ago, Northvansteve said:

There's actually no reason Vancouver couldn't host games. We are totally set up for it - stadium, practice facilities, hotels, transportation infrastructure. Really not that costly in the end and I always thought there would be a lot of pressure from the business community and the city to get this done. But doesn't look like that will happen now. It's too bad, really.  

Also, the security costs (Massive) + logistics + accommodation + tax breaks etc... The bill climbs very fast for like 3 games that the US won't be interested in showing while spending continues the entire time... Basically, your stadiums belongs to FIFA entire tournament and at least months in advance (too bad for the lions)

Economic fallout of 3 games this early in the tournament when everyone will leave Vancouver after those games vs. hundred of millions in commitment? Hard pill to swallow - I don't like that BC said no, but I understand it.

Olympics bring WAY MORE bang for the buck than 3 subpar games - that's how governments thinks! In their minds, they'll just push to host winter games again - just like Alberta is doing.

7 hours ago, SF said:

Public funding of professional sports has never been a good idea (my opinion), but with some of the FIFA asks and their reputation, it felt like BC was making the principled and correct stand.  If other jurisdictions follow, I won't criticize (as much as I otherwise want to watch the World Cup in Canada).

The business case made no sense - certainly not for just 3 games. That's a major flaw of splitting hosting the tournament in multiple jurisdictions. I get why Blatter was so against it. Infantino was wrong to expand it and push co hosting because now, you're weakening the business case in locations that normally wouldn't mind it.

If a "Federal" government is backing this, the case makes more sense but when you're trying to put local and state/provincial governments on the hook, that makes no sense for them to spend limited resources on that.

Great if you're Saudi Arabia, Qatar or China - but decentralized governments will have a harder time to see the value. That explains why provinces, states and cities said "We're out" so early on.

2 hours ago, spinrack said:

English-language report on Quebec's pulling of financial support.
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-pulls-financial-support-for-potential-montreal-world-cup-2026-matches-1.5287425

One new piece of information that's mentioned here is that the provincial government's estimated financial burden has more than doubled from $50 million to $103 million.  And that's just the provincial commitment, ignoring costs to the city, federal government, CSA,etc

It's easy to see how they might prefer to stimulate arts, festivals, etc rather than a tournament that will bring at most 5 international soccer matches to Montreal over a one month period.  And there's no guarantee of the quality of those matches, especially since Montreal will almost certainly not host a knock-out match.  Although one hopes that the organizing committee would be smart enough to schedule at least one Canada group game, as well as games involving French-speaking countries, if possible.

Bingo

That's how government works. They would rather spend on the Jazz Festival, F1 race and other big events than a one time bill for like 3-4 games.

Also, it's not just about the stadium but the crazy security bill that has to be paid. The stadium will get renovated sooner or later but in a COVID context and a Conservative provincial government who openly hate Montreal aren't interested. They look at this and they see more value in spreading that money around across the province which have much higher returns than the World Cup

Also, the cost of demolishing the Big O? At a minimum $1 Billion - not counting a new stadium. So - they are stuck with it.

53 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Canada is a broke joke

The problem with Canada is that province have way too much power and the country is too decentralized. We're stuck with infighting and a Constitution virtually impossible to amend because you know that Quebec will make their 5 "Traditional demands" every F'n time (I'm from there so I can hate on my home province...sue me)

Other nations with a stronger federal government works better

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10 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Also, the cost of demolishing the Big O? At a minimum $1 Billion - not counting a new stadium. So - they are stuck with it.

This number was made up on the spot during an interview.  Demolition companies lined up on the record to do it for a fraction of that cost.

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8 minutes ago, costarg said:

This number was made up on the spot during an interview.  Demolition companies lined up on the record to do it for a fraction of that cost.

Au moins 700 M$ pour démolir le Stade olympique (2009 report)

L’analyse a été commandée par la Régie des installations olympiques (RIO) en 2009, mais n’a jamais été rendue publique.

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2015/06/16/au-moins-700-m-pour-demolir-le-stade-olympique

  • As of 2015 - it would have started at a $800M cost to demolish it

Demolition companies then would have overcharged the government after the facts, no way they do it "properly" at a fraction of the price. The article explains why demolishing it "piece by piece in the right order like Jenga" is the only way - can't blow it up nor bulldoze it

 

Edited by Ansem
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There is absolutely no way that the required renovations for Olympic Stadium will be less than half a billion dollars.
That was the cost of re-roofing and associated work on BC Place in Vancouver, and the Big O will require at least as much work, and probably a whole lot more.
That kind of money makes governments very wary of commitment and more likely to kick such a project further down the road.  I'm not saying that they are right to do do, especially since WC26 provides a perfect excuse to get the work done.
But the reality is that the pandemic has put extra strain on a lot of other sectors that are very important to the city and that could use the money NOW.

Edited by spinrack
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4 minutes ago, Ansem said:

The problem with Canada is that province have way too much power and the country is too decentralized. We're stuck with infighting and a Constitution virtually impossible to amend because you know that Quebec will make their 5 "Traditional demands" every F'n time (I'm from there so I can hate on my home province...sue me)

Other nations with a stronger federal government works better

Unlike our friends (or enemies depending on who you ask) down south, Canada never fought for it's independence. It was more of a convenient arrangement. Now this arrangement has some not-so-convenient consequences in the modern era. We unfortunately don't really have that strong unifying glue that other nations have, and I believe this is why we punch below our weight in many areas, such as hosting a world cup, for instance. Instead of everyone pulling in the same direction, everyone just looks after their own interests. That's basically the story of the CSA in a nutshell. 

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2 minutes ago, spinrack said:

There is absolutely no way that the required renovations for Olympic Stadium will be less than half a billion dollars.
That was the cost of re-roofing and associated work on BC Place in Vancouver, and the Big O will require at least as much work, and probably a whole lot more.
That kind of money makes governments very wary of commitment and more likely to kick such a project further down the road.  I'm not saying that they are right to do do, especially since WC26 provides a perfect excuse to get the work done.
But the reality is that the pandemic has put extra strain on a lot of other sectors that are very important to the city and that could use the money NOW.

The Liberals had agreed to spend upwards $300M to rebuild the roof and renovate with the World Cup in mind. The CAQ (Conservative government) took power and they don't want to spend it on FIFA's timetable nor the being the one's to swallow the pill and do it. They prefer to pay the minimum maintenance fee of ~$20M/year until someone else does what's needed.

Also, there's no up upside for them to spend that on Montreal just for FIFA and only for 3-4 subpar games. The CAQ have demonstrated that winning a majority government in Quebec is 100% doable without winning a single riding on Montreal Island... so why would they go beyond for the city?

So that's the politics of it.

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Unlike our friends (or enemies depending on who you ask) down south, Canada never fought for it's independence. It was more of a convenient arrangement. Now this arrangement has some not-so-convenient consequences in the modern era. We unfortunately don't really have that strong unifying glue that other nations have, and I believe this is why we punch below our weight in many areas, such as hosting a world cup, for instance. Instead of everyone pulling in the same direction, everyone just looks after their own interests. That's basically the story of the CSA in a nutshell. 

If we are ever to host a world Cup, it will have to be

  1. Federal Government leading it and being prepared to front MOST of the bill
  2. Solo did - so most provinces sees benefits which would encourage them to pull together and help pay the bill
  3. CPL & CFL growth leading to bigger, better and more venues

Now we know that you need 14 to 16 venues for a 48 team world Cup. We'll need like 5 brand new ones within the next 25 years on top of existing ones that are expandable and can be upgraded/renovated.

Can we get there in the 2040s?

 

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7 hours ago, Cheeta said:

Shrug.

I'm pretty sure it'll all work itself out, even if the Feds have to expand their commitment.  

Any elected official who doesn't think the World Cup Finals aren't going to be the most massive sporting event in North America for generations is an idiot if he/she/they doesn't want to be a piece of that.  

But then I think FIFA is going to be a lot more flexible about venues with the expanded format.  They'll have to be.

The BC government said no. The Quebec government said no.  The Alberta government said no. The people of Calgary voted against bidding for the Winter Olympics again.  The Federal government doesn't get invested in sporting infrastructure like new new stadiums or arenas, because they don't want every city running to them with their hands out.

FIFA has already gotten flexible about venues by already places like BC Place, Commonwealth, or the Big O to even be on the initial ballot, and not requiring all new (or recently built) stadiums the way they have with past World Cup bids.  With so many new stadiums in the US bidding, there's no reason for them to compromise further.

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5 hours ago, Obinna said:

Unlike our friends (or enemies depending on who you ask) down south, Canada never fought for it's independence. It was more of a convenient arrangement. Now this arrangement has some not-so-convenient consequences in the modern era. We unfortunately don't really have that strong unifying glue that other nations have, and I believe this is why we punch below our weight in many areas, such as hosting a world cup, for instance. Instead of everyone pulling in the same direction, everyone just looks after their own interests. That's basically the story of the CSA in a nutshell. 

Yeah, the US really looks unified.

The Gold Medal game in Vancouver is the highest viewed sports event in Canadian history, followed by the opening and closing ceremonies for that Olympics, and the 2002 Gold Medal game.  Just because soccer isn't the sport that "unifies" Canada doesn't mean there's "no unifying glue" in sports..

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1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

Yeah, the US really looks unified.

The Gold Medal game in Vancouver is the highest viewed sports event in Canadian history, followed by the opening and closing ceremonies for that Olympics, and the 2002 Gold Medal game.  Just because soccer isn't the sport that "unifies" Canada doesn't mean there's "no unifying glue" in sports..

Not sure what you think I was saying, but it wasn’t that there’s no unifying glue in sport, because of course there is. You just provided a great example.

The challenge I was referring to in Canada goes beyond soccer, but soccer does provide a great example of it, especially when you look at the CSA and how ineffectual they’ve been over the years, with each province doing things their own way. To our credit it has gotten better, but Canadian Soccer has very much been the tale of different groups working separately more than together.

The structure mirrors the political structure of the country too, with each province caring about their own affairs first and foremost, and the federal government (the CSA) representing us at the international level. 

It’s not so much of a complaint as an explanation for why we aren’t further along in soccer and beyond soccer.

Hockey is the exception and actually a great example of what we can do when we put our regional differences aside for a greater goal. To be sure though, our regionalism does hamper us in ways it doesn’t hamper the Americans, and it comes from our history and who we are as a “nation”.

The Americans have their own problems that stem from their own history.

Edited by Obinna
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18 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Not sure what you think I was saying, but it wasn’t that there’s no unifying glue in sport, because of course there is. You just provided a great example.

The challenge I was referring to in Canada goes beyond soccer, but soccer does provide a great example of it, especially when you look at the CSA and how ineffectual they’ve been over the years, with each province doing things their own way. To our credit it has gotten better, but Canadian Soccer has very much been the tale of different groups working separately more than together.

The structure mirrors the political structure of the country too, with each province caring about their own affairs first and foremost, and the federal government (the CSA) representing us at the international level. 

It’s not so much of a complaint as an explanation for why we aren’t further along in soccer and beyond soccer.

Hockey is the exception and actually a great example of what we can do when we put our regional differences aside for a greater goal. To be sure though, our regionalism does hamper us in ways it doesn’t hamper the Americans, and it comes from our history and who we are as a “nation”.

The Americans have their own problems that stem from their own history.

Yes, there's certainly regionalism in Canada. I don't think America is a good example of it not hampering them right now. But settling that aside, part of my point was that its not that Canada couldn't co-host the tournament, it's that it has no interest in doing so. The unifying factor is that people don't want to do it.

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  • VinceA changed the title to 2026 World Cup - News, Updates and discussions

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