Behind Enemy Lines
Registered User
Lots of interesting posts here. Thank you.
I didn't realize the participants numbers were bumping up from 32 to 48. Per some points made, that is certainly diluting the talent and likely some teams which are completely overmatched. Hopefully it might tease out some some cinderella runs within it too. As well, such a strange dilution to run a three country hosting arrangement which I don't know if that has ever been done before.
On the talk of host costing, thought I would share this article with some details of scope and anticipated budget for Vancouver. Of course for super events, maintaining budgets is generally a major challenge. Thankfully the infrastructure component is in place with seeding a grass field showing as a smaller, controlled cost. It will cost up to $260 million to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Vancouver | Offside
I'm not a fan of FIFA, Olympic or most International sports governing bodies for their innate cronyism and grotesque graft. Agree with some here that Vancouver and Toronto are positioned better for international tourism (access and theoretical halo bump post event) than Edmonton. Edmonton might have positioned itself for a regional tourism audience aligned with its Festival brand positioning attracting inter-provincial soccer fans with international visitation via countries assigned to play in Edmonton. Vancouver and B.C. can spin this investment as a post-pandemic tourism strategy to drive tourism visitation and destination awareness during hosting with an anticipated 'halo' effect that inspires future visitation through exposure to watching the games via tv and online platforms. Even that though is heavily diluted with this crazy three country hosting with massive number of host cities sprawled all over the place. Most economic ROI studies are fanciful fairy dust and I expect much the same with these games.
Still, I'm stoked to experience a World Cup and hopefully to attend some games. Edmonton deserved a better fate for its history of support for large scale soccer events (and others). But the real economic effect was likely not there. And the provincial government trying to broker its terms with Fifa would be a total non-starter.
The bigger, hopeful picture is that more cities and regions are beginning to rebuff the 'privilege' of hosting Fifa, Olympic mega-events hopefully helping to reset the systemic corruption and graft that's become baked into their decision making and corporate cultures.
I didn't realize the participants numbers were bumping up from 32 to 48. Per some points made, that is certainly diluting the talent and likely some teams which are completely overmatched. Hopefully it might tease out some some cinderella runs within it too. As well, such a strange dilution to run a three country hosting arrangement which I don't know if that has ever been done before.
On the talk of host costing, thought I would share this article with some details of scope and anticipated budget for Vancouver. Of course for super events, maintaining budgets is generally a major challenge. Thankfully the infrastructure component is in place with seeding a grass field showing as a smaller, controlled cost. It will cost up to $260 million to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Vancouver | Offside
I'm not a fan of FIFA, Olympic or most International sports governing bodies for their innate cronyism and grotesque graft. Agree with some here that Vancouver and Toronto are positioned better for international tourism (access and theoretical halo bump post event) than Edmonton. Edmonton might have positioned itself for a regional tourism audience aligned with its Festival brand positioning attracting inter-provincial soccer fans with international visitation via countries assigned to play in Edmonton. Vancouver and B.C. can spin this investment as a post-pandemic tourism strategy to drive tourism visitation and destination awareness during hosting with an anticipated 'halo' effect that inspires future visitation through exposure to watching the games via tv and online platforms. Even that though is heavily diluted with this crazy three country hosting with massive number of host cities sprawled all over the place. Most economic ROI studies are fanciful fairy dust and I expect much the same with these games.
Still, I'm stoked to experience a World Cup and hopefully to attend some games. Edmonton deserved a better fate for its history of support for large scale soccer events (and others). But the real economic effect was likely not there. And the provincial government trying to broker its terms with Fifa would be a total non-starter.
The bigger, hopeful picture is that more cities and regions are beginning to rebuff the 'privilege' of hosting Fifa, Olympic mega-events hopefully helping to reset the systemic corruption and graft that's become baked into their decision making and corporate cultures.
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