Toronto on long, long list to host World Cup games

Joint North American bid for 2026 tournament sends information requests to 44 cities

A joint committee hoping to bring the 2026 FIFA World Cup to North America has approached seven Canadian cities about becoming official hosts. The United Bid Committee representing Canada, Mexico and the United States — which will be competing against Morocco to host the expanded 48-team tournament — sent out requests for information to 44 cities across the three nations, according to a release Tuesday, asking each city to declare its interest in taking part in the bid process. The deadline for each individual city to declare its interest is Sept. 5.

The committee says at least 12 locations could serve as official host cities.

Toronto’s BMO Field and the Rogers Centre were two of 49 stadiums identified as possible venues. Montreal also had two stadiums on the list: Stade Saputo, where the MLS’s Montreal Impact play their home games, and Olympic Stadium.

Other Canadian possibilities include McMahon Stadium (Calgary), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton), TD Place Stadium (Ottawa), Mosaic Stadium (Regina) and BC Place (Vancouver).

“We look forward to working with all levels of government and our stakeholders to find the best possible candidate cities in Canada,” Peter Montopoli, the Canada bid director and Canada Soccer general secretary, said in a release.

Municipal leaders in each city were asked to provide information about their transportation infrastructure, past experience hosting major sporting and cultural events, available accommodations, environmental protection initiatives, potential venues and more.

They are required to propose not only a stadium capable of hosting international soccer but also international-level training sites and location for team base camps and hotels for teams, staff and VIPs.

The committee overseeing the World Cup bid will review submissions and issue a short list by late September. Final bids from those selected cities will then be due in January 2018.

Capacity could pose a problem for the Canadian venues. Stadiums looking to host group stage matches must have at least 40,000 seats, while a venue needs 80,000 to be considered for the opening match and final. Only four are currently large enough to accommodate the minimum capacity required for a group stage match: Olympic Stadium (61,004), Commonwealth Stadium (56,335), Rogers Centre (53,506) and BC Place (55,165).

BMO Field and Stade Saputo are the only two Canadian venues on the list that currently have a grass playing surface.

The proposed bid ensures 10 of the 80 World Cup matches in 2018 will be played in Canada, with another 10 in Mexico. The U.S. would get the remaining 60.