[JHikka]

Continued from the previous thread as it hit its maximum posts/pages.

Originally Posted by Acajack

It says 20-25 cities in the bid, with 12 of those cities chosen to host. I can't see Canada and Mexico getting more than three each. Maybe even 2.

The fact that Mexico went in with only three sites means that, I assume, Canada is likely getting three as well. I can't imagine having more sites for the sake of spreading things around. Being compliant for FIFA events (especially the WC) is exhaustive to say the least...the general, non-event specific stadium guidebook is 400+ pages long. Guidebooks for particular events are between 100 & 200 pages. It would save CSA a lot of headaches and groundwork if they only have to focus on three stadiums instead of four or five.

Originally Posted by osmo

Canada co-hosting means that we don't get the side benefits of a full bid, which is largely infrastructure improvements. A full Canada bid would require Edmonton to build a rail link to the airport, a transformation of the Big O. A full bid would force Toronto to look at the opportunity to do something with the Gardiner. Plus lately, many smaller soccer facilities to be constructed as base camps would spring up all over the country to help in incubating Canadian soccer.

The entire point of opening up the World Cup to multi-country bids is to bring costs down. Bringing costs down means that the WC in the future avoids further issues of only having specific countries (see: Qatar, Russia, China) bidding to host. The previous costs associated with hosting were a disincentive to many countries seeking to host, Canada included. I can't imagine this current government would have committed to very much stadium funding and as it stands Canada doesn't have a dozen stadiums on its own to offer for hosting.

Originally Posted by osmo

CSA was slowly building up towards a WC bid with all the steps prior, new facilities (that would be good enough for a full Canada wide bid) were coming on line, a Canadian soccer league is being planted an started up, all points were going towards a shot at a successful bid but now this won't be a reality for quite some time.

Canada is still hosting some WC matches which is better than what we would have gotten anyway. I find it highly unlikely that Canada would have won a bid of its own going up against US or Mexico. We'll have to wait for another cycle to even contemplate it again, by that time the CPL should hopefully be in full stride with more options for stadiums to choose from.

The priority for Canadian soccer should continue to be its own domestic league which is still slated to begin as early as next year. That has a bigger impact IMO.

Originally Posted by osmo

It is just annoying that Canada could not go at this alone as it was intended. FIFA and its follies are to blame, and they should have just moved to the USA alone if FIFA wanted some place "Safe". Only FIFA is to blame with the silly expansion in teams that even the USA got cold feet.

FIFA's move towards the United Bid is them playing nice with CONCACAF and shows a willingness to play along with outside partners and associations. They desperately need to save face after Russia/Qatar and this is the best way to do so. Although the costs associated are often conflated with Olympic hosts the costs previously were still too high, along with the issues revolving around bribing and allocations.

Originally Posted by osmo

So then the question that must be asked then is what does FIFA do going forward? How many countries can host the WC at that scale? Not every region can do co-hosting. FIFA seems to be setting up a big trap here for the long term viability of the WC tournament.

2026: North America
2030: Uruguay/Argentina
2034: France or Germany or England

That's the way it sets up right now, anyway, and that's what the rumours are currently pointing to. EURO 2020 is being held in 13 different cities in 13 different countries and this UEFA experiment will almost certainly be watched with keen interest by those at FIFA. The WC would, of course, never result in something so bizarre on a larger scale, but the idea of host-sharing isn't new anyway; Japan & South Korea co-hosted 15 years ago.