Can you dig it? Massive volleyball event set for 2018
Eight hundred volleyball teams from across the country.
Ten thousand players. Fifteen thousand fans.
Both Canadian senior national teams playing friendlies against international opponents.
An economic impact of about $25 million for the city and $35 million for the province.
That’s how huge the Volleyball Canada Championships have become. And according to a local source, the country’s largest single-sport gathering of amateur athletes will descend on Edmonton in May 2018.
An announcement from Edmonton Events, which took the lead role for the bid, is expected next week.
The organization’s executive director Candice Stasynec would not comment Friday.
Volleyball Canada’s Jackie Skender said in an email the venue for the 2018 event would be announced “within the next week or so,” but did not confirm it was Edmonton.
The national championship extravaganza has only been staged twice before — in Toronto in 2012 and in Calgary in 2015. During the intervening years, national championships by age groups are held in several cities across the nation. This year, nine centres, including Edmonton, are hosting a tournament. The Saville Community Sport Centre will feature the U18/17 girls in May.
It’s also likely the Saville Centre will play a major hosting role in the 2018 event, given it sports 27 volleyball courts that could be teeming with national championship action from May 12 to 24. At least one other venue, perhaps the Expo Centre on the Northlands grounds, would have to be involved as the request for proposal from Volleyball Canada called for at least 60 courts to handle all of the games.
With 787 teams in 2015, Calgary topped Toronto’s 686 in 2012. Edmonton has to be prepared to accommodate more than 800 teams and 10,000 players, 15,000 fans, 350 officials and hundreds of volunteers. Calgary set the bar at 21,456 room nights in local hotels and demand in Edmonton might be higher.
By consolidating all championships from U14 to seniors in one spot, Volleyball Canada hopes to make a statement about the vibrancy of the sport.
To that end, they also showcase the men’s and women’s national teams in exhibition action against international opponents. At Calgary’s Corral three years ago, the women’s team played Puerto Rico and the men faced Cuba.
No word yet on the opponents in Edmonton and there is reason to wonder where those international matches will be played during the two-week championships. The request for proposal from Volleyball Canada stipulates an air-conditioned venue capable of seating 5,000 fans must be available. With Rexall Place heading for renovation or demolition sometime in 2018, the most likely venue would be Rogers Place, which can be reconfigured to accommodate medium-sized events.
A spokesperson for the Oilers Entertainment Group, which will operate Rogers Place once it opens in September, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.