Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderball
That, or a not cheaping out/screwing around $200m + total renovation/rebuild of McMahon Stadium to be a proper ~40k seat football/soccer facility with a partial roof.
It's a pretty pathetic black mark on Calgary that we lack facilities to host any sort of event of this nature, but Regina, Edmonton and Winnipeg don't.
Further, the fact that Canada can only do a partial bid with two countries who will monopolize the tournament is pretty bush league too.
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Take what we can get. The cachet of being in the World Cup, regardless if the expanded format (assuming Canada doesn't get in before 2026 or not) and being a host gets them a bye, means a lot for corporate sponsors, never mind the chunk of the TV money that host countries get, which would fund the CSA for 5 or more years.
US and Mexico on a joint bid, as far as stadia and previous hosting situations, don't need Canada at all, truth be told, so having he acting Concacaf president being from Canada is a big reason why that's going to happen at all.
If Canada can get 20- 25% of the hundreds of millions of dollars that host countries get, and get a free pass into the tournament, the CSA and all soccer fans in this country should take that deal and run. For what it means to development programs at all levels before, and after 2026, and for the increased interest and corporate sponsorship that also grows from that naturally, whether we host 2 games or 20 and no matter how many stadiums we have..