Should Canada Bid for 2026 World Cup?

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by bkd

I know exactly what ignorant means, thanks for the pretty picture though.

Yes, it is ignorance. You haven't a clue what you're talking about. Educate yourself and then form an opinion that is devoid of unnecessary hyperbole. But yeah, go watch some more paint dry.

Apparently you don't know what it means because it is not ignorance to think something is completely boring...

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Plus, only a few of your numbers include RDS, whose viewers are Canadians too and would boost soccer's ratings even higher.

Seriously, when I said soccer was a major spectator sport I didn't mean it was above all the others or even close to the top ones, but it is definitely on the radar now. It can't be called fringe anymore. It is up and coming and rising fast.

There has been way more talk about the Euro around my office in the past week than about the Stanley Cup final. Not saying that soccer has eclipsed hockey (if a Canadian team, especially Montreal or Ottawa, were in the final everyone would be abuzz about that it is true) but certainly it is on the radar and moving towards the mainstream.

And BTW, if one looks at TV ratings alone (which is the barometer that has been used here), is the NHL really a mainstream national spectator sport in the United States?

It has been the exact same here in Metro-Vancouver. There has been tons of talk about the Euro cup, but barely anything regarding the Stanley Cup. In fact, I honestly did not know that yesterday was game 6, or that the Kings won until this afternoon when I saw it on MSN (and i had already gone to several meetings in the morning, no talk of the Stanley Cup, but talk about soccer).

[Copes]

Originally Posted by Welkin

The point of this tread is not to debate whether or not Canadians love soccer, it is to consider whether or not Canada should bid on hosting the biggest soccer event in the world. The World Cup is by far the biggest event/party in the world for the billions of soccer fans around the globe. They could care less if we Canadians like hockey better than soccer. Their only concern is are we up to hosting their once-every-four-years extravaganza. These passionate fans only care if we are willing to spend billions of dollars in order to make sure their sport's biggest event is a world class event. If we aren't willing to do that, if we are not willing to spend what it takes to make sure we have world class stadiums, venues, hotels, etc., they will just take their party to some other country who will (see Qatar). They really could care less about the whole Canadian soccer vs. hockey debate.

The World Cup is an amazing party and Brazil will be rocking with everyone drinking, toasting and celebrating their national teams. The country will draw hundreds of thousands of soccer fans from around the world. The World Cup in Qatar will probably suck because everything we love about partying (drinking, sex, dancing in the streets, etc.) they tend to frown upon. The world's billions of soccer fans could probably care less whether Canada is involved or not.

This.

While I'm not going to jump into the "hockey is better than soccer" debate, I hope that any fan of sports can recognize that its embarrassing and negative that a developed and successful country like Canada is considered a non-factor at a global level, and can't take part in an international event such as the world cup. During the 2010 World Cup, I was really hoping for Ghana, and had a blast watching them play. How many sports does one get to root for Ghana?!? Soccer really is a global sport, and it would be nice if Canada could take part and compete a global stage. I consider it a major negative for our national athletics programs.

As for whether or not we should bid, we obviously don't have the stadiums. Further, the government wouldn't pay for it, as is the case in Qatar. None the less, I really do thing that hosting a World Cup would be the boost Canadian soccer needs to really bring in a large number of fans. I am a recently converted fan, and while I don't watch MLS as I do the NHL, I do follow it. Further, I enjoy watching our national team (we're currently looking great against Honduras). IF we did get to host a World Cup, I think you would see soccer grow here. I think Canadians are becoming more interested in the sport, and we've seen some stats in this thread to support it, as well as testimonies. I can further say that I have friends watching the Canada qualifiers that didn't even watch much of the World Cup in 2010. I have friends getting really into the Euro Cup now that its on as well. I do believe that Canadians are starting to enjoy soccer more. Unfortunately, the World Cup is a dream, but I'd love if it came true.

On a different note, King George V Park in St. John's is one of Canada's few soccer specific Stadiums. Obviously with only 10,000 seats it would need significant upgrades, but I would hope it would be strongly considered as a venue. Not only is St. John's an underestimated, gorgeous Canadian city, but hell, we've had a dedicated soccer stadium since 1925. Show us some love.

[bkd]

Originally Posted by The_Architect

Apparently you don't know what it means because it is not ignorance to think something is completely boring...

It is if you don't know what you're talking about.

[ZeDgE]

Originally Posted by Mister F

If billions jumped off a bridge....

Seriously, who cares what billions do? Certain fans of fringe sports like soccer (yeah, went there) have this hilarious chip on their shoulder when it comes to hockey. I think you'll be happier if you just accept that most people don't share your love of soccer, and that most people don't care what sport billions watch. Hey, I wish rugby were more popular in North America, but I don't lash out at more popular sports because of it.

All that said, I like watching soccer live, and I'm actually paying attention to how Canada is doing in the World Cup qualifying. But I'm still more of a fan of other sports, including hockey. By the way, if you want to see lame, Youtube "soccer dives". Hilarious.


Football? Fast paced? lol....gridiron has to be the slowest form of football there is! Even with the roughness, it's a very slow and methodical game.

By most people you mean Canadians right? A whopping 33 million... like hockey outside of this cournty who cares about Canada? As I said Billions watch Soccer. So "most" people do enjoy it. I don't have a chip on my shoulder either, I love hockey too. But i wish this country would take it head out of its ass, we are a joke on a global scale when it comes to sports..we are not even that good at hockey any more for petes sake.

Originally Posted by The_Architect

I tried watching Euro 2012, but it made me realise how fascinating watching paint dry is.

To each their own but the same can be said for many hockey games.

[trebor204]

If Canada does host the World Cup, it will have to compete with the CFL. The World Cup normally runs from mid-June to mid-July. During that time these stadiums won't be able accommodate any CFL games.
The CFL pre-season starts in mid-June, and the regular season starts early July.
You will need at least 4 stadiums to accomodate CFL football. (4 games / week)

However once the World Cup Knockout Stage starts (late June) some of the smaller venues can be converted back to CFL football.

You still have use to some of the other venues. (Empire Field in Vancouver, McGill Stadium can still be used)

Using the 2010 World Cup Calendar as a guide
June 11 - Start of World Cup (10 Different Stadiums)
June 25 - End of Group Stage
June 26-29 - Round of 16 (8 of 10 Stadiums still in use)
July 2, 3 - Quarter Finals (5 of 10 stadium still in use)
July 6,7 - Semi Finals (4 of 10 stadium still in use)
July 10,11 - 3rd Place and Final (final 2 stadium in use)

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by hockey rules!

The MLS is averaging 18 000+ in attendance this year. TV numbers are not that far from the NHL on NBC.
.

since NBC numbers are similar to infomercials my point is made.

i will of course admit that soccer is a rising spectator sport in north america and canada, but world cup and euro every couple of years does not make it a major sport....beyond those events the sport has tv ratings similar to tennis, figure skating and track and field....canada has 4 pro soccer teams and no league....world leagues have almost no presence in our media on a day to day basis.

awareness is growing for sure....huge steps have been made in the last 10 years.....perhaps because the americans have become good at the sport.....but the reality is that soccer on a professional level is not in the consciousness of the every day sports fan in canada...

when canada makes the world cup in brasil....all of this will change.

0-0 tie tonight against honduras if anyone cares.

[trueviking]

...and canada should absolutely host the world cup....it would cost a lot of money but it would pay for itself.

[ZeDgE]

Originally Posted by trueviking

when canada makes the world cup in brasil....all of this will change.

Now this I can agree with. Its a time bomb waiting to go off.

Didnt get to watch the game. This could hurt later.

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

It has been the exact same here in Metro-Vancouver. There has been tons of talk about the Euro cup, but barely anything regarding the Stanley Cup. In fact, I honestly did not know that yesterday was game 6, or that the Kings won until this afternoon when I saw it on MSN (and i had already gone to several meetings in the morning, no talk of the Stanley Cup, but talk about soccer).

The Stanley Cup is an annual league championship with cities competing and where most of the Canadian teams currently suck. Euro happens every 4 years and has national teams. A better comparison for hockey would be a major international tournament like the Olympics (the World Championships don't count).

Originally Posted by Copes

This.

While I'm not going to jump into the "hockey is better than soccer" debate, I hope that any fan of sports can recognize that its embarrassing and negative that a developed and successful country like Canada is considered a non-factor at a global level, and can't take part in an international event such as the world cup.

I'm not sure why that's embarrassing. We just have different tastes than most of the world, I'd like to think we're not so insecure that we're embarrassed by that. There are plenty of rich countries where soccer isn't the most popular sport, by the way.

Originally Posted by ZeDgE

By most people you mean Canadians right? A whopping 33 million... like hockey outside of this cournty who cares about Canada? As I said Billions watch Soccer. So "most" people do enjoy it. I don't have a chip on my shoulder either, I love hockey too. But i wish this country would take it head out of its ass, we are a joke on a global scale when it comes to sports..we are not even that good at hockey any more for petes sake.

When did sports become a popularity contest? If we're not passionate about the same sport as everybody else that means we have our heads up our asses? I don't see the logic. The only reason we might be considered a joke in the world of sports is because we don't have our own leagues.

I'm not sure where you get the idea that we're not that good at hockey anymore. We've won 3 of the last 4 major tournaments (3 Olympics and a World Cup). But formerly marginal countries getting more competitive is a good thing. It means the game is growing. Just like England doesn't dominate soccer anymore, we shouldn't expect to always dominate hockey.

[Dr.Zoidburg]

Originally Posted by Welkin

The point of this tread is not to debate whether or not Canadians love soccer, it is to consider whether or not Canada should bid on hosting the biggest soccer event in the world. The World Cup is by far the biggest event/party in the world for the billions of soccer fans around the globe. They could care less if we Canadians like hockey better than soccer. Their only concern is are we up to hosting their once-every-four-years extravaganza. These passionate fans only care if we are willing to spend billions of dollars in order to make sure their sport's biggest event is a world class event. If we aren't willing to do that, if we are not willing to spend what it takes to make sure we have world class stadiums, venues, hotels, etc., they will just take their party to some other country who will (see Qatar). They really could care less about the whole Canadian soccer vs. hockey debate.

The World Cup is an amazing party and Brazil will be rocking with everyone drinking, toasting and celebrating their national teams. The country will draw hundreds of thousands of soccer fans from around the world. The World Cup in Qatar will probably suck because everything we love about partying (drinking, sex, dancing in the streets, etc.) they tend to frown upon. The world's billions of soccer fans could probably care less whether Canada is involved or not.

Welkin here is just about the only one who has made any sense, everyone else seems to be missing the point.
Think of the World Cup more along the level of the summer olympics. Countries bid on both for mostly the economic benefit and to showcase themselves on a global stage. How do Olympic sports such as say fencing, track and field events, cycling, or even winter olympic sports like luge or whatever else compare on national north american tv for viewership? Yet Canada has hosted 3 Olympics. From what I understand the World Cup has more global viewership than the summer games, probably more attendance than the summer games, and pulls in more income than the summer games for both fifa and the host country. Also it is held in stadiums (which are fitted with a lot of temporary seating in most stadiums of host countries) vs olympic legacy venues which are much harder to find significant value in post games.

Canada, it seems, is going through a fairly substantial stadium rebuild phase right now and with new or almost completely rebuilt stadiums in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ottawa, Regina, Probably Calgary in the future, and the big O in Montreal to go through renovations and a new roof. With existing facilities like Commonwealth in Edmonton and Skydome in Toronto, we would need a few more Stadiums in cities like Halifax and Quebec City by 2026. Add temporary seating to the venues that need it to meet fifa standards. I was at a few World Cup games at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town and all the new and renovated stadiums in Canada at least be as comparable. Green Point, a very beautiful venue, was actually pretty bare bones with a lot of temp seating.

Canada has successfully hosted 3 fifa events in the past and will host the Womens World Cup in 3 years. We already have adequate existing airports and infrastructure to host this event. We have a good economy and pretty much every major event we host we are successful at. Canada and Canadians have a pretty good reputation around the world and will have no problem attracting enough tourists to fill all the venues and party with us for a month solid. If you don't think fifa is taking a serious look at us then you're not paying attention.

Look, I'm not saying that we're a shoe in to host the World Cup, there's still a lot that has to fall into place for us. All I'm saying is that we are better positioned to host this than most of you think. Canada does have an appetite to host these large global events, it may be whether or not the government has enough will to seize the opportunity (grease some palms) when it comes. It's all just big business anyway.

Besides who wouldn't want to party down with loads of happy fans and bikini clad Brazilian hotties for a month. Believe me it is the biggest party you've ever seen, even paint drying fans can have fun.

[cornholio]

What would be the feasibility of hosting one game in Iqaluit?

Yes I know sounds crazy but to ship in temporary grandstands, equipment and grass for one game would take one chartered ship and a few weeks of construction. Large portion of the media would be flown in which is achievable and all fans would come in, and stay for the game on cruise ships. Say 10 or so of them I suppose, and its not likely you cant find 40,000 people to pay a premium for a once in a life time football experience.

This would be all about the TV market and the publicity it would stir up.

I see this as a crazy but realistic idea, and actually a really good idea as it would be something incredibly unique and shine the spot light on one of the most remote places in the world. The world would pay for this undertaking plus some with their curiosity, then you would have people buying the cruise/game tickets paying a premium. "A once in a lifetime world cup match in one of the most remote places on earth in norther Canada on the shores of the Arctic sea." A unique Arctic cruise to the match from what ever European/east coast city, and after the match and a 3 day stay a cruise back with all games played live on board on big screen TV's etc. The key to this is the cruise ships as they are the hotels and the transportation. Everything else is just planing.

Oh and every man woman and child in Iqaluit would get a free game ticket.

[Copes]

Originally Posted by Mister F

I'm not sure why that's embarrassing. We just have different tastes than most of the world, I'd like to think we're not so insecure that we're embarrassed by that. There are plenty of rich countries where soccer isn't the most popular sport, by the way.

I'm not asking for soccer to be "the most popular sport" as you suggest. But really, Canada should be quite capable of fielding a team that is at least somewhat competitive. We have the resources, and we have the kids playing soccer at a young age, but we haven't developed a program that has made us an internationally competitive team. Further, the World Cup is arguably the largest international sporting event in the world, and brings countries together in a way rivaled only by the Olympics, yet Canadians largely have no desire to take part in this international event.

Both our lack of success in developing a program, and our lack of desire to take part in such an international event are embarrassing.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by patm

Should Canada bid for the 2026 world cup?

Yes, I think we probably should just as long as we're careful not to bid too high in case we end up actually winning.

[Welkin]

Originally Posted by Copes

I'm not asking for soccer to be "the most popular sport" as you suggest. But really, Canada should be quite capable of fielding a team that is at least somewhat competitive. We have the resources, and we have the kids playing soccer at a young age, but we haven't developed a program that has made us an internationally competitive team. Further, the World Cup is arguably the largest international sporting event in the world, and brings countries together in a way rivaled only by the Olympics, yet Canadians largely have no desire to take part in this international event.

Both our lack of success in developing a program, and our lack of desire to take part in such an international event are embarrassing.

Canada is currently ranked 77th out of 206 in the world FIFA rankings. We recently tied the 28th ranked United States in a match. While I am certain that we do not put fear into the hearts of Spain or Germany, we are not exactly an embarrassment on the pitch either. At the rate soccer is progressing in Canada, by 2026 we should be able to field a decent team that is competitive.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by trueviking

0-0 tie tonight against honduras if anyone cares.

16,000 in attendance in Toronto last night at BMO Field for the qualifier.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by trebor204

If Canada does host the World Cup, it will have to compete with the CFL. The World Cup normally runs from mid-June to mid-July. During that time these stadiums won't be able accommodate any CFL games.
The CFL pre-season starts in mid-June, and the regular season starts early July.
You will need at least 4 stadiums to accomodate CFL football. (4 games / week)

However once the World Cup Knockout Stage starts (late June) some of the smaller venues can be converted back to CFL football.

You still have use to some of the other venues. (Empire Field in Vancouver, McGill Stadium can still be used)

I was wondering about this. Is there any way the World Cup and the odd CFL game (perhaps one during the tournament) could coexist in the same stadium during the same time period?

[Acajack]

I think Canada has everything required to host the World Cup except for the stadiums - which unfortunately happens to be one of the most important things.

FIFA would probably love it if Canada could get its act together on stadiums and put together a bid. It is true that the US and Mexico hosted a while ago but FIFA tends to spread the cup around wider than that when it comes to frequency of hosting. Giving it to those countries this *soon* (in FIFA terms) after the last ones might not fly that well in other parts of the world.

So Canada would be great for FIFA since it would give them a chance to have a pseudo-"American" World Cup (proximity to the U.S. and its fans, media and sponsors, favourable time zones), without actually having it in the U.S.

These are basically the same reasons the IOC really likes having the Olympics in Canada when it can.

[patm]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I was wondering about this. Is there any way the World Cup and the odd CFL game (perhaps one during the tournament) could coexist in the same stadium during the same time period?

Delay the season by a month or however long you need to free up the amount of stadiums that you need. So say you only need 4 (4 teams start the season on the road) you wait until the group stage is done.

The CFL might be okay with this considering they would must likely get massive, free upgrades to their stadiums.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by patm

Delay the season by a month or however long you need to free up the amount of stadiums that you need. So say you only need 4 (4 teams start the season on the road) you wait until the group stage is done.

The CFL might be okay with this considering they would must likely get massive, free upgrades to their stadiums.

Good suggestion. It definitely seems like some arrangement is feasible.

Other options could be extending the season by a week or two in the fall (scheduling home games in the cities with domes or where it is not so cold in late November), and also tightening up the schedule with the odd mid-week games as well.