CSA president Victor Montagliani, left, is aiming to change the culture and take Canadian soccer to a whole other level. (Sam Leung/Canadian Press) It has been less than a 100 days since Victor Montagliani was elected president of the Canadian Soccer Association, on a campaign of culture change and promising to take Canadian soccer to the next level, and already he has the CSA aiming high. On the phone from British Columbia, Montagliani confirmed to CBC Sports that the CSA has had discussions with FIFA about hosting a Men's World Cup. And while the next bidding process will not start for a couple of years still, Montagliani and the CSA are clearly already laying the groundwork to bring the world's largest sporting event to Canada. "It's not only a possibility; it's something we intend to do," Montagliani said. "We have verbally told FIFA that when the bid process begins for the next available World Cup, which would be the 2026 World Cup, that the CSA will be one of the countries putting in a formal proposal. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/opi...er-association-to-bid-for-2026-world-cup.html
Of course, I would love nothing more, but it's a really tall order unless they can find the right financiers who'll back the necessary stadium construction and expansions. One thing that could work in our favour is if for 2026 FIFA feels that CONCACAF is overdue.
This would be a great moment for Canada. I'm hoping Canada when the time is right for bidding goes all in and with them hosting the Women WC should also help give them a boost for winning the biggest football event.
it's a logical concern. but i'm more optimistic about money coming forward for the biggest sporting event in the world, compared to anything purely CSA related. if South Africa can build it so can we. if Qatar can win a bid so can we.
Financing would presumably be government related so I don't think there's any worry there about whether it is possible. Whether it would be a good idea or not would presumably be subject to the same sort of debate that comes up every time a Canadian city looks to bid on the Olympics, Pan Am games, etc.
I can agree with both posts above if the World Cup alone would recoup the costs, but if it relies on post WC revenues generated by these stadiums/expansions I'm not so sure. For one example, I have no idea what a 90k stadium in Toronto would be used for, other than major concerts. The problem in Canada is that our major sport is arena based rather than stadium based.
Why would they build a 90000 permanent seat stadium, or even 70000 for that matter? Think about who would use it. No good for baseball (and too big) no good for Argos (too big). Would the Canadian government help fund something that's only real use would be for a possible NFL franchise. Don't think so. We're a little smarter now regarding white elephants (Big O and to a lesser extent SkyDome) Even building an expandable 35000 seat stadium and leaving it as a legacy for the Argos and the community is stretching it. It's too bad both U of T and York will have relatively new stadiums by that point in time. There's a fair amount of nay saying and also nonsensical talk going on. I hope the discussion is a little more thought out here. Here's the situation we have to work with now: Vancouver - BC Place 54000 Edmonton - Commonwealth Stadium 52000 Calgary - (Flames increased ownership in Stamps looking at new arena and stadium) Saskatchewan - proposed 33000 (expandable to 40000) funding to be finalized end of July Winnipeg - Investor's Group Field 33500 (expandable to 40000) Toronto - Rogers Centre 54000 Ottawa - Frank Clair Stadium 24000 (expandable to 40000) Hamilton - Ivor Wynne/Pan Am Stadium 22500 (expandable to 40000) Montreal - Olympic Stadium 56000 (presently looking for refurb and downsize to 35000) Moncton - Moncton Stadium 10000 (expandable to 20000) All of the stadiums will be fairly new and the older ones are still in good condition. If Quebec and Halifax are in the running they are the candidates for new stadiums (and possibly Calgary as well) What you are likely to see are seating expansions for Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal. And considering three of them are enclosed it won't be easy. But the Houston Astrodome was able to squeeze some more seats in years ago so it is possible. There are many what if scenarios and I haven't even considered turf options but I'm confident that one is fairly solvable in ten years time. The technology is getting better all the time with more resilient turf and artificial surfaces getting closer to natural turf. Change is inevitable.
The problem is that FIFA has specific requirements on the size and quality of stadiums, and all stadiums must have a capacity of minimum 40k, with a requriement of 80k to host the opener and final. Right now we have 7 stadiums capable of meeting the 40k requirement (and one more that's capable right now but slated to be reduced below that level) and none that meet the 80k requirement. How many of those stadiums meet the other requriements I don't know. We will need to invest and build. As was said, Qatar and South Africa have done just that. Qatar is a place where they're more than happy to throw tonnes of cash to grandoise ventures, not sure what business case was made in South Africa, though I'd be interested to hear what it was. I'm not naysaying here, I'm still keeping an optimistic mind about us hosting it. Just saying that to be able to host it will require a serious amount of investment, and there needs to be a strong financial case behind it, whether the money comes from private enterprise, the government(s) or a combination of both. I'll be interested to hear who our competition is on this, that will also be a big factor in determining just how far we're going to have to go in order to win it.
One source of optimism is that by 2026, CONCACAF will be long overdue to host it. Since the last time it was held in this region: 1998: UEFA 2002: AFC 2006: UEFA 2010: CAF 2014: CONEMBOL 2018: UEFA 2022: AFC The only other region to not have hosted it since then is OFC (who will never host it as the largest country in that region is New Zealand with a population of 4.3 million). So unless Mexico or the US throw their hat in the ring, we may have this advantage going into it.
Moaca, i believe Polygong is absolutely right, there's no way around investing in new stadia. and you actually think FIFA would allow a WC match to be played on turf? ludicrous, it would never happen. further, we'd never win a bid if we proposed to use relics like Olympic Stadium or Commonwealth stadium. creating world class infrastructure for the event is part of the whole process of showcasing FIFA and the host country. whether or not such stadiums would find significant use afterwards is beside the point, it's simply something that would have to be done. Rogers Centre is actually a very good facility, even now, the turf just really detracts from the appeal. the Blue Jays may move to natural grass by 2014 anyway. with its recent renovation, BC Place would be another candidate. other than that though, i think you'd have to build new facilities specifically for 2026.
First of all the word turf means grass, hence the term artificial turf. FIFA is gung ho for artificial surfaces where maintaining a proper turf surface is difficult. And in 10 years time the technology could get to the point where it is better than grass. There are artificial surfaces being worked on now with fiber optics that would allow for changing ads on the field and line markings that can be changed by a keystroke. The revenues that could be gained from this could mandate its use. Neither you nor I know what will happen in ten years time except for change. Second, I don't know where you get your info but the Big O and Commonwealth Stadium aren't relics. Commonwealth Stadium in the past few years has done renovations that are equal to NFL stadiums (because that's who they copied) This year they are replacing their seats at a cost of 3 million. Olympic Stadium is a recognized landmark. Septic Bladder himself called it a "jewel" Right now they are studying how to make it useful again. Gut the inside and get capacity down to 35,000 and remove all the concrete area outside . It's not all about expensive new facilities and some architects vision of a bird's nest. The Germans remodeled the Berlin Olympiastadion from 1936, the Americans used iconic stadiums like Stanford Stadium and the Rose Bowl. I prefer the word iconic than relic. Unless their is a sea change in people attending live events (numbers going up instead of down) there is no need to build a permanent 70000 seat stadium. You could build a 35000 seat stadium with temp stands up to 70000. It's highly unlikely we'll be regularly seeing 70000 people at professional sports events when we haven't had a history of it for the past one hundred years. But that's just my opinion. There are also tons of criteria aside from stadiums. Infrastructure, security, travel, communications, accommodations are all taken into consideration. And for all those who think that if the US puts in a bid they are automatic winners. Think of the recent bids where both England and the US had the best bids for 2018 and 2022. You just can't predict FIFA greed or politics. For more information: New Canadian stadiums thread
CFL boss calls for McMahon Stadium facelift Calgary needs to catch up with upgrades in other cities, says Cohon Kristen Odland, Calgary Herald July 19, 2012 ... So, what’s the latest news in Calgary? “With the new ownership (the Calgary Flames), I think their focus is on figuring out a way that they can modernize or look for new opportunities for the franchise,” he said. “I think it’s in the early stages right now. But when you look across the country and see what everyone is doing, obviously they want to catch up.” At the very least, an update, he said, is needed at McMahon Stadium. “Listen, older venues like this do need it,” Cohon said. “I would absolutely be very supportive of them moving forward because of the challenges for recruiting players, attracting fans. The fans travel around the country and see new stadiums in Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, B.C., and Hamilton. “We want to get that in one of the hearts of the league, right here in Calgary.”
In what universe is this? Rogers Centre isn't great at all for watching baseball, let alone for watching soccer seeing as it isn't a rectangular stadium. And do you really think the Blue Jays are just going to give up their stadium for nine weeks during the middle of the season? Highly-unflapping-likely.
SkyDome (Rogers Centre... whatever) is reconfigurable to accomodate rectangular pitch games by moving the lower stands. Also, they would only need to kick the Blue Jays out for a total of two weeks as the stadium would only host the first and final games (assuming that Toronto is where they would have those games), and since they'll know about it well ahead of time, the baseball league could plan their schedule to have the Jays on the road for those two weeks. That said, it's a moot point because it's not big enough to host those games or the semis anyway, and has no practical room for expansion. There is no existing stadium in Canada big enough for those games, they would have to be built from scratch.
The 100 level, yes. But this still gives you basically no seating at one end of the pitch, and being too far away at the other end. Actually, no. "Under FIFA rules all 12 tournament stadiums must be vacated for nine weeks before and during the event, with exclusive access also demanded for the year prior to the World Cup for testing purposes"
FIFA has an exclusivity clause on its venues. This was a major issue for the Australian bid in 2022 bidding. FIFA controls the venues in their entirety from a pre-event period of something like 3 weeks or a month to the conclusion of the Cup. There can be no other events working around World Cup game days in those stadiums.
The Jays could play in Ottawa for 2 weeks you could add 5000 more seats and a 15,000 seat stadium for say 13 games would work.
Perhaps not, but there's a novelty element to it that I think it could be forgone. Also, Buffalo has a decent sized baseball stadium (not MLB sized, but the Blue Jays don't draw very big crowds anyway). True, but if Canada is hosting the WC, their main stadiums will also be unavailable. That said, it's a moot point anyway. SkyDome is simply not big enough, nor expandable, and neither is any other existing stadium in Canada. A new stadium needs to be built.
A while back it was suggested digging under the stadium to add a third level and bring seating to 65,000 to bring in an NFL team.
I think that was more of a dream then anything else Toron't only real hope of a Nfl team is is Buffalo was to move to Toronto.
The NFL is still pretty adamant that they're never coming to Canada. We have our own football league, so I think that focus should be on other things.