It’s good to see FIFA get some pushback
When the joint United StatesMexico-Canada bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup came together, it struck me as an “it could be worse” moment. It’s very nearly inconceivable that Canada would ever win a bid to host the World Cup on its own: we simply don’t have enough or big enough stadiums for it, and we are too sensible a nation to spend billions of public money building new ones of a size for which we have no future use.
It was conceivable, however, people might waste great wads of money and time pursuing it anyway: back in 2014, the Canadian Soccer Association seemed to be considering going it alone. And even many sensible Canadians are capable of abandoning reason when a mega-event comes calling: many Torontonians lost their minds in 2015 when the 2024 Summer Olympics suddenly looked winnable. The bid plan is for Mexico and Canada to host 10 preliminary round games each, with the remainder in the U.S., and that struck me as a good way to scratch a few itches without breaking the bank.
Politicians could claim they “brought the World Cup to Canada.” Canadians younger than 50 could finally have a chance to watch the Canadian men’s soccer team be eliminated in the first round, 40 years after it crashed out in Mexico without a goal scored. It would still mean cutting cheques to FIFA, an organization that could reasonably be described as evil: the 2026 event will follow on from Qatar’s in 2022, which by some reports has already cost the lives of hundreds of migrant workers trapped in the country as indentured servants.
But at least 10 games couldn’t cost that much surely. BMO Field in Toronto is pretty much good to go; Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and B.C. Place in Vancouver would only need grass pitches; Olympic Stadium in Montreal would only need a grass pitch and a container ship full of duct tape.
Instead, common sense has broken out. The B.C. government looked at the deal the bid committee was offering, didn’t like the cost uncertainties, sought reassurances and received none, and on Wednesday took its ball and went home. Alberta followed suit. As it stands there will be no provincial support for games in Vancouver or Edmonton. The cities of Minneapolis and Chicago — a host city in the 1994 World Cup — have also withdrawn support.
If this is surprising, and I think that it is, it wouldn’t be in a rational universe. Online news outlet The Breaker got its hands on the agreement host cities were being asked to sign off on, and it presents much as a hotdog turd does on a cold day.
“The Swiss-based organization (FIFA), still reeling from the FBI’s 2015 crackdown on (its) massive bribery and kickbacks, requires host governments agree to grant it huge tax breaks for an entire decade and allow it to import and export unlimited amounts of foreign currency,” Bob Mackin reported. “FIFA also requires host taxpayers pick up the full bill for safety and security and assume liability should there be any security incident of any size.”
“(The host city) is also requested to grant exemptions from labour law and other legislation for companies and personnel directly involved with the competition,” the agreement reads.
All of that to host three soccer games? What kind of government, what kind of politician, would sign on to that? You might as well be bidding to host a Mafia convention.
Alas, our federal government is one such government. “It’s good for our athletes, it’s good for our communities, our economy, our reputation as an international sport leader,” sports minister Kirsty Duncan bleated on Tuesday at a BMO Field press conference, promising $5 million in taxpayer support should the bid succeed. “We are behind this bid.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory is more bullish than a reasonably bullish bull. “I think if you ask the taxpayers ... they’d rather have the money go to that than anything else we do,” he told the Toronto Star back in January — though City Council only signalled its approval provided the province and the feds pick up the tab.
If Vancouver and Edmonton are out, that just leaves Toronto and Montreal in the running among the Canadian candidate cities. I don’t hold out much hope that their provincial overlords will show Alberta’s and B.C.'s backbone. Quebec and Quebec City just recently split the cost of an NHL arena that may never host a regular season NHL game. And Ontario’s Liberals, who say they’re still considering the matter, are notorious suckers for exactly the sort of government “investment” that mega-event boosters insist will pay off in spades.
But as B.C.'s and Alberta’s NDP governments are showing, resistance is not futile. It might be unrealistic to think FIFA will eventually run out of jurisdictions willing to drink its Kool-Aid, but Canada ought to lead the way in not being one of them.