Should Canada launch a bid to host either the 2011 or 2013 Gold Cup? Do we have the proper facilities? fan support? Could we win it? What do you think?
It's not about the facilities, or fan support. It's whether sponsors can fork up more money than Nike/Budweiser/Telmex, and ABC/ESPN sports. Until then, the Gold Cup will stay in the US and the finalists will conveniently be Mexico-USA to guarantee ratings and return on investment.
I see your point, but I think that having it in Canada can still be a financial boom. Canada's major cities are diverse and can attract sizeable crowds, and are close enough to the US border to bring US based fans over as well. It would also improve the legitimacy of the tournament to demonstrate that CONCACAF has a wider range of countries capable of hosting the tournament than just the US and Mexico. That legitimacy will translate to $ as well. Really, the Gold Cup has five real hosting possibilities: Canada, Mexico, the US, a joint Carribean-wide group and a joint Central America-wide group.
^That would be worth a vacation. Following Canada all over the Carribean or Central America? Yes please.
I think Canada should bid to host one of those tournaments. Canada certainly has sufficient facilities. Remember there are only three groups. Put one each in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal and you are set. The fan support would be there, especially if the games were hosted in the three cities listed above. Aside from Canadian fans coming out to see decent quality soccer, there are large expat communities to draw from. Money shouldn't be an issue. Whether it would be the same, better, or worse than the US is a question but it would be financially successful. While acknowledging the importance of financial viability, huge profits should not be the sole determinant of venue. Where viable the tournament should be spread around a bit much as we don't restrict the World Cup to large, wealthy soccer countries in Europe.
Obviously the big three would have to be included as venues, but they should also include games in cities like Hamilton, Ottawa, Calgary and Winnipeg where they're trying to bring in a USL-1 or NASL club, as hosting the Gold Cup will certainly help those efforts. And of course, Edmonton would also be a necessary venue to help with interest in EFC. Gold Cup attendance averages around 30K per match, and unfortunately none of the soccer-specific stadiums in this country have that kind of capacity. Again though, hosting the Gold Cup would be an excellent driver behind expansion of BMO, Saputo and Vancouver's new stadium.
Spreading it around would be fine. If you're concerned about losing a bid due to the financial side, however, you'd be better off concentrating on the big three. The average is around 30 000 but many games were much lower. 7000 in Columbus, 17 000 in Miami, 15 000 in Seattle. There are a couple of 80 000 games at the end that really help the average. We may not be able to get 80 000 for a US-Mexico final, but in the big three cities we could probably avoid the 7000 crowds and thereby make up most of the difference. Also, all the games in the US (except the final, of course) are double headers so the Guadeloupe-Costa Rica game gets a listed attendance of 85 000 even though I'd bet most of the fans actually bought tickets to see the Mexico-Haiti game that followed. So the attendance figures are somewhat inflated. If we used venues like Skydome and Olympic Stadium for the knock out games and separated the games we could probably bring in more revenue even if the actual attendance number didn't look as good. (35 000 in Skydome to see Jamaica-El Salvador and 55 000 in Montreal to see Canada-Haiti is better than 85 000 "twice" in Texas.)
A good point, though I would at least include Edmonton and one of the cities that has good potential for a USL-1 / NASL club for a total of five. A good balance of focus and growth. I agree the double-header approach is less desirable, for the reasons you outline and it will do a number on the pitch in stadiums using grass. I'm wondering if it's allowed to be decided which stadiums will host which games after the groups and fixtures are fully decided to ensure that the bigger draw countries will play in the larger stadiums.
Maybe hold the group games in the big three, the quarters in Edmonton and, say, Ottawa, and then distribute the semis and finals among the big three again? I don't see why that would be a problem, especially if it was arranged in advance. "If Mexico makes the quarters, the game will be played in Edmonton. If the US makes the quarters, the games will be played in Toronto." And so on for as many teams as you can without causing conflicts.
If we are really up to the task, I'd say we ought to put the group games at BMO, Saputo, and BC Place and hold the elimination rounds at Skydome, Molson and Commonwealth stadiums.
For what it's worth, here's a list from Wikipedia of the 15 largest stadiums in Canada that are soccer-capable. Of these, only BMO and Saputo have grass, the rest are turf and most will have Canadian football lines on them. I'm guessing that temporary grass fields could be implememnted in most cases. Stadium - Capacity- City Olympic Stadium 65255 Montreal Commonwealth Stadium 60081 Edmonton BC Place 59841 Vancouver Rogers Centre 53506 Toronto McMahon Stadium 35650 Calgary Ivor Wynne Stadium 30000 Hamilton Frank Clair Stadium 26559 Ottawa Molson Stadium 20202 Montreal BMO Field 20195 Toronto Stade Saputo 13000 Montreal King George V Park 10000 St. John's Lamport Stadium 9600 Toronto Complexe Claude-Robillard 9500 Montreal Royal Athletic Park 9247 Victoria TD Waterhouse Stadium 8000 London
I'm not sure how "soccer capable" is defined. I'd think that Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg and Mosaic Field in Regina (both around 30 000) would be fine. PEPS Stadium in Quebec would also presumably work and can hold nearly 20 000. Not that they would necessarily be needed for a Gold Cup bid but there are options in other large cities.
I'm guessing that the criteria used was whether or not they have hosted a soccer match in the past or not, but these are good considerations as well. I think we can see clearly though that we have more than enough stadiums that can be used to host the tournament. Many pitches will need some work to be of appropriate quality though. Any idea what CONCACAF's standards are for pitches used for the GC? Many of the games in the US are played in NFL stadiums, so I would think that CFL stadiums would be able to do whatever is necessary to meet the standard without too much grief.
Without looking it up I'd assume the same dimensions that are listed in the Laws of the Game. Any space big enough to hold a CFL field can easily accommodate a legal soccer pitch. Real grass can always be added if necessary.
I don't see why not the under 19 was here in Montreal and it was huge. kinda felt like a World Cup lol. 45 000 for the Portugal game
Oh I know the size is not a problem, I was thinking more in terms of whether or not they need real grass and whether or not the CFL lines need to be removed.
For the record, TD Waterhouse is expandable to 16,000 temporarily. To see Canada play in London would be amazing.
Not to pick on London but if Canada were to host the Gold Cup I'd suggest keeping things in the bigger venues as much as possible. After all, the 2007 U20 WC averaged well over 20 000 per match even with capacity limitations at some venues.
whichever teams we could get, I would pay to see, Haiti v. El Salvador London 2013!!! lol. Forca Salvador!!!!!
We [Canada] Hosted the 2007 U-20 World Cup, so we can certainly host the Gold Cup... Its a Jack Warner Cash Grab now, ever notice how it all changed when he came to power (early 90's)? Around the same time the US started exclusively hosting the tourney. This guy is so shady, I'm constantly amazed at how he gets away with it!
FIFA is not a governmental or charitable organization. It is a business that happens to have de facto control of world soccer. If all the non-corrupt (or at least less corrupt) countries (which would be the majority of the good soccer countries and a majority of the money) decided to replace FIFA with their own, virtuous institution then FIFA would be gone. Unfortunately a) there is a lot of momentum to overcome and b) most people just want to watch soccer and don't really care (except in a philosophical way) what happens to the money FIFA collects.