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Canadian Soccer Association to bid for 2026 World Cup

I'm going to have to look at this more. but I would guess just 2 cities.

They would probably play at a renovated BMO Field with 40,000+ permanent seats. World Cup will be played on real grass. Can't do that properly at SkyDome.
 
animatronic said:
The operations and security costs are substantial. Even if you don't build a single stadium the event costs far outstrip gate receipts and broadcast revenue.
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narduch said:
I'm going to have to look at this more. but I would guess just 2 cities.

They would probably play at a renovated BMO Field with 40,000+ permanent seats. World Cup will be played on real grass. Can't do that properly at SkyDome.
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The most obvious locations are BC Place, Olympic Stadium or a new stadium in Calgary or Edmonton. BMO could get enough temp seating for a second-tier draw. SkyDome will likely be out after the reno to baseball-only.

Of those stadiums only BC Place is sufficiently modernised to "World Cup Standards". My bet is a combo of BC Place, BMO Field and a new Calgary stadium, perhaps in concert with an Olympics bid.

The correct answer is whatever provinces agree to kick in $100M for stadium renovations or $500M for a new CFL stadium.
 
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I really don't think you need 60,000+ monstrosity stadiums for a 48-team World Cup.

There are actually going to be a lot of dud matches where a 40,000 seat stadium will be too big.

Maybe this will be the catalyst for Vancouver Whitecaps to finally get to build the natural grass stadium they have always wanted. Leave BC Place to the CFL Lions.

My guess is Vancouver and Toronto for this. 2 cities only if we are only getting 10 games.
 
narduch said:
I really don't think you need 60,000+ monstrosity stadiums for a 48-team World Cup.

There are actually going to be a lot of dud matches where a 40,000 seat stadium will be too big.

Maybe this will be the catalyst for Vancouver Whitecaps to finally get to build the natural grass stadium they have always wanted. Leave BC Place to the CFL Lions.

My guess is Vancouver and Toronto for this. 2 cities only if we are only getting 10 games.
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Totally agree that it's ridiculous you're expected to drop $100M in renovations or $800M for a new stadium for a one-off event that will generate maybe $20M in gate over three games.
 
It is not uncommon for
narduch said:
I really don't think you need 60,000+ monstrosity stadiums for a 48-team World Cup.

There are actually going to be a lot of dud matches where a 40,000 seat stadium will be too big.

Maybe this will be the catalyst for Vancouver Whitecaps to finally get to build the natural grass stadium they have always wanted. Leave BC Place to the CFL Lions.

My guess is Vancouver and Toronto for this. 2 cities only if we are only getting 10 games.
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6 of the 12 venues in Brazil 2014 and 6 of the 10 venues in South Africa 2010 had seating of 39,000 to 42,000.

The World Cup usually has an average of 12 venues. I agree that Canada would likely have only those two cities. According to reports, there would be 60 to 80 games and Canada and Mexico would only get 10 each.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/newsalert+canada+mexico+launch+world/13293132/story.html
 
If Toronto does become a host city, I think it would be a good opportunity for the Jays to jump into this bid. It's their best chance to get some money dedicated to installing grass in the Rogers Centre, and modernizing the entire stadium.
 
Tuscani01 said:
If Toronto does become a host city, I think it would be a good opportunity for the Jays to jump into this bid. It's their best chance to get some money dedicated to installing grass in the Rogers Centre, and modernizing the entire stadium.
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Except that the Jays modernisation has a good chance of killing the rotating lower bowl, making it unusable for football or soccer.
 
I've long been of the position that Canada should not host a world cup.

I don't now what Toronto would do with its stadium situation as BMO is too small for a World Cup.

That being said, I would hope the opportunity would be used to launch an MLS bid for Ottawa Fury. I think that would be great.
 
WislaHD said:
I've long been of the position that Canada should not host a world cup.

I don't now what Toronto would do with its stadium situation as BMO is too small for a World Cup.

That being said, I would hope the opportunity would be used to launch an MLS bid for Ottawa Fury. I think that would be great.
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The problem with using mega events to justify things is that they wouldn't otherwise have a sound business case and shouldn't be done. For a mega event to push something into viability it would have to be so close to marginally worthwhile that you'd need to question the need for additional justification. And if it's not evem a marginal case then it has no business being considered. That's why we have the Big O in Montreal.
 
animatronic said:
Shapiro says that fixing the lower bowl is one of their top priorities.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/plans-spring-facility-rogers-centre-renovations-progress/

The big problems with the lower bowl are the shallow angle and the seats facing the centre of the stadium. Fixing either makes rotating seats impractical.
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That article just reinforces what I said...

"What I would hope is that by mid-summer we have those concepts fully flushed out, a potential set of loose designs, not plans but loose designs along with some costs so I can begin to have those conversations with ownership.”

Still a lot of unknowns and no real plans. Just a bunch of ideas.
 
Tuscani01 said:
That article just reinforces what I said...

"What I would hope is that by mid-summer we have those concepts fully flushed out, a potential set of loose designs, not plans but loose designs along with some costs so I can begin to have those conversations with ownership.”

Still a lot of unknowns and no real plans. Just a bunch of ideas.
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The first thing he said is that they are turning it into a ballpark. That almost certainly means no soccer.

Regardless, why would they spend a wad of cash and mess up their reinvention of the dome just so they can host three or four soccer games? They don't need the flexibility of rotating seats any more - they can still use the stadium for other events, and there's a perfectly decent 30-40k soccer stadium a few blocks away.
 
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