The only thing certain about bidding to host a major sporting event is that whatever you suggest taxpayers might be on the hook for will ultimately be much, much higher.
It’s the golden rule.
To wit, it was no surprise when it was revealed last week the city of Toronto is already facing an $80-million cost overrun to host six games of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The original estimate of $300-million has jumped to $380-million. Anyone thinking that will be the end of it is a fool. It’s only March, 2024, for heaven’s sake.
But at least the city and its mayor, Olivia Chow, are trying to be up front about it. It’s quite the contrary in B.C., where no one knows for sure what the latest estimate is for hosting seven games – up from the original number of five – but it has “changed substantially,” according to the provincial minister in charge of the project, Lana Popham.
An endeavour that was supposed to cost somewhere in the $250-million range is going to be much higher. That’s all we know and that’s all the B.C. government is saying for now.
It’s the type of shiftiness you’d expect from an organization like FIFA, not a provincial government that is supposed to be beholden to taxpayers. Apparently, it doesn’t work that way any more.
Of course, as we know, anyone who asks too many questions about these things is a killjoy. What’s wrong with spending a little cash to host a major sporting event like the World Cup? Sure, there are more needs for that money in, say, the affordable housing or health care portfolios, or, well, almost any other ministry you can think of. But so what? People need to have fun, too!
I guess I’ve just become a little cynical about these things. The Olympics are bad enough, in terms of getting cities to pay for costs they have little chance of recouping. But FIFA? It’s hard to justify having to beg for its approval. Over the years it’s been one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet.
It was less than a decade ago that more than a dozen FIFA officials and their associates were arrested for corruption in a massive undercover sting operation. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, meantime, U.S. prosecutors accused FIFA officials of taking bribes in exchange for voting for Qatar’s winning bid in 2010, as well as that of Russia, which hosted the men’s World Cup in 2018.
But we’re supposed to now believe that FIFA has cleaned up its act and is suddenly a well-respected organization deserving of our praise and respect?
No, thanks.
Frankly, it’s appalling that cities like Toronto and Vancouver have to take marching orders from an outfit like FIFA. Toronto has to expand seating at BMO Field to 40,000 seats for the six games it will host, which is way more than the capacity needed for the regular occupants of the stadium – the CFL’s Argonauts and MLS’s Toronto FC. Soccer games at BMO had an average of 25,000 fans in attendance in 2023. The Argos drew average crowds of less than 15,000 people.
Meanwhile, Vancouver is awaiting instructions on what kind of natural turf it will have to install at BC Place Stadium, and also when and how. That is among a number of demands the city will have to meet to fulfill its obligations to FIFA. As is always the case with these things, you eventually get to the point of no return, where backing out over cost concerns is not an option.
Increasingly, I’m suspicious of any kind of Big Sporting Spectacle. Sure, they can sometimes be fun and conjure incredible patriotism in a city and country. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver remains the greatest sporting event I’ve ever covered. But it was also one of the best-organized Olympics in history. Yes, it cost taxpayers money, but not nearly what some Olympics have cost other cities and countries.
That said, it remains harder and harder to justify these things. In a country like ours, there are just so many other needs for the money being spent on events only a tiny fraction of people, mostly those with already fat wallets, will be able to attend. The reality is that cities entering hosting negotiations know that whatever preliminary cost estimate they provide to the public is likely going to be off by millions of dollars – maybe even tens or hundreds of millions. I can tell you that whatever number officials in Toronto and Vancouver are quoting today, or even next year, it will not be the final tally. Not even close.
And that’s a deception that should not be allowed to happen.
Gary Mason