World Cup Bids (Announced: 2018-RUSSIA, 2022-QATAR)

[getbak]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Ok let's work this out.

There are 8 stadiums in Canada. (The 8 CFL ones)

BC Place
McMahon
Commonwealth
NEW Taylor Field
NEW Winnipeg Stadium
NEW PanAM Games Hamilton Stadium
Skydome
Stade Olympique

Do we need more? Does Toronto get a new one? Does Ottawa?
Do we build one in the Martimes?

Ottawa's stadium will be re-opened in time for the 2013 CFL season (if all goes according to plan).

If Canada did win 2026, we'd probably see new stadiums in Toronto and Montreal as the showcase venues. Calgary and Ottawa would probably also get completely new stadiums or significant renovations to their existing facilities (assuming Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Regina get the stadiums they're working on currently), and Edmonton and Vancouver would probably see upgrades to theirs. A 10th stadium would likely either be a second venue in the Toronto area, or somewhere in the Maritimes.

It would be a very expensive proposition for Canada, and I don't know if the benefits are truly there to make it worth the investment. It would be billions of dollars in stadium construction alone.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by getbak

Ottawa's stadium will be re-opened in time for the 2013 CFL season (if all goes according to plan).

If Canada did win 2026, we'd probably see new stadiums in Toronto and Montreal as the showcase venues. Calgary and Ottawa would probably also get completely new stadiums or significant renovations to their existing facilities (assuming Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Regina get the stadiums they're working on currently), and Edmonton and Vancouver would probably see upgrades to theirs. A 10th stadium would likely either be a second venue in the Toronto area, or somewhere in the Maritimes.

It would be a very expensive proposition for Canada, and I don't know if the benefits are truly there to make it worth the investment. It would be billions of dollars in stadium construction alone.

Based on the 2018 and 2022 requirements FIFA requires a minimum of 12 stadiums, so add another couple of new constructions to the bill. At a minimum Canada would need to build 7 new stadiums and extensively renovate another 5. Looking at the budgets put forth by the 2018/22 bids the budget for that kind of undertaking is likely around $3bil.

Long story short, it ain't gonna happen.

[d_phaneuf]

bidding countries today in their rankings of press freedom

Netherlands (3)/Belgium (14)
Japan (12)
Australia (18)
England (19 as part of UK)
USA (20)
Spain (39)/Portugal (40)
South Korea (42)
Qatar (120)
Russia (140)

what to the winners have in common...

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by getbak

Ottawa's stadium will be re-opened in time for the 2013 CFL season (if all goes according to plan).

If Canada did win 2026, we'd probably see new stadiums in Toronto and Montreal as the showcase venues. Calgary and Ottawa would probably also get completely new stadiums or significant renovations to their existing facilities (assuming Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Regina get the stadiums they're working on currently), and Edmonton and Vancouver would probably see upgrades to theirs. A 10th stadium would likely either be a second venue in the Toronto area, or somewhere in the Maritimes.

It would be a very expensive proposition for Canada, and I don't know if the benefits are truly there to make it worth the investment. It would be billions of dollars in stadium construction alone.

We don't win a world cup with the current bunch of stadia that we have.

My take for whAt we would use to win a bid:
BC place
Commonwealth
New stadium in Calgary
New stadium in Regina ( with some temporary seats for the WC)
new stadium in winnipeg ( also temporary seats)
Hamilton's new stadium
Ottawa's new stadium
Upgraded secondary stadium in Toronto
New flagship stadium in Toronto (80-85,000 seats)
New large stadium in Montreal (70,000+ capacity)

The secondary stadium in Toronto could bereplaced with a stadium in Halifax, perhaps.

For FIFA requirements, all stadia must seat at least 40k, you need at least 4 significantly larger than that, and I think they require at least 10 in total.

The major after cup use of all that infrastructure would be the CFL, but Toronto might have have an NFL team by then, that would likely require a new stadium there anyway. If Toronto was to bid on an olympics, and win, that get the large stadium built as well.

By the time the bids would be required for 2026, a good number of those stadia could be under construction, so the burden just from the WC might not be as big as it sounds.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

bidding countries today in their rankings of press freedom



what to the winners have in common...

Maybe a World Cup will change these numbers for the good!

[valo403]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Maybe a World Cup will change these numbers for the good!

You are annoyingly positive

If anythign a WC will just exacerbate the issue. Hosting large events is a great opportunity for things to go wrong, and even small screw ups can be big news. For Qatar and Russia this is a great reason for them to further turn the screws on any sort of media coverage to prevent even the smallest embarassment, hosting these events is all about ego for these nations.

[theonlywhiteout]

After letting it sink it for a little longer than 5 mins I have to say I'm awe struck by the stupidity of Qatar hosting a world cup. The corruption surrounding FIFA is astonishing.

[speede5]

Don't forget, Fifa plays on grass, so all the Canadian venues would have to be changed.

Canada just doesn't have the money or facilities to do this, nor shoud they try, as great as that would be.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by valo403

You are annoyingly positive

If anythign a WC will just exacerbate the issue. Hosting large events is a great opportunity for things to go wrong, and even small screw ups can be big news. For Qatar and Russia this is a great reason for them to further turn the screws on any sort of media coverage to prevent even the smallest embarassment, hosting these events is all about ego for these nations.

I'm actually upbeat with Qatar! Yes annoyingly

They hosted the 2006 Asian Games and those games were praised! Even more praised than the recent ones in Guangzhou. They will be hosting the 16-team Asian Cup next summer so we'll have a soccer example to go by.

I have heard that they are the most progressive of the Arab states so maybe they are the ones that will take the lead to be more open. Can't evoke change if you don't give people who want to change a chance to.

[Matty81]

I think Qatar will do a fine job but there is no way a team ranked outside the top 100 should be hosting IMO. At least it provides some hope for other nations with crappy teams.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by speede5

Canada just doesn't have the money or facilities to do this, nor shoud they try, as great as that would be.

We shouldn't even try? Seriously? Canada needs to have some bigger aspirations once in a while. If little countries like South Korea, Ukraine, Poland, Chile, Qatar can go after these bigger tournaments, and get them, we should be able to as well. Once in a while, a country needs to ignore the bottom line, and do something big to boost it's image for it's citizens and the world community. We've done well with hosting Olympics...it's time to prove we can something bigger too.

[Matty81]

With us it's not so much about being able to host as much as political willpower. It really takes your whole leadership team being onboard to land the World Cup and I don't think we have any kind of interest from anyone close to the top of the two major parties, they're mostly older white males who seem to be pretty old guard.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Matty81

I think Qatar will do a fine job but there is no way a team ranked outside the top 100 should be hosting IMO. At least it provides some hope for other nations with crappy teams.

They have 12 years to get better. I recall they've been close to making the World Cup in the past.. a game here or there.

The US didn't even have an FA when they were awarded the World Cup in 1987

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Matty81

With us it's not so much about being able to host as much as political willpower. It really takes your whole leadership team being onboard to land the World Cup and I don't think we have any kind of interest from anyone close to the top of the two major parties, they're mostly older white males who seem to be pretty old guard.

Actually, I think it has a lot to do with huge landmass and cities that are spread too far apart. So, we might learn a thing or two from Russia on how to make this work.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They have 12 years to get better. I recall they've been close to making the World Cup in the past.. a game here or there.

The US didn't even have an FA when they were awarded the World Cup in 1987

Really? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...cer_Federation says a federation was formed in 1913.

The problem Qatar is going to have is that they have such a small population to build a team from. It would be like trying to create a competitive World Cup soccer team with players just from Calgary and Southern Alberta.

Unless they are able to "expatriate" some Brazilians, etc and build a team using players whom just hold a Qatar passport in order to play for the team, they will have an extremely hard time becoming more competitive.

To me FIFA is stupid to pass up what would have been two huge money making tournaments (England and the USA), which would have needed little in the way of new stadiums or infrastructure changes, for what seem to be two risky host choices.

I thought that they would have went England, then Qatar, then US in 2026 to surround a weaker, more risky host country, with what are undoubtedly the two most profitable host nations you could have.

Qatar is going to be a cool host just because it is something different, and due to landscape of the country in terms of it's modern architecture. I could actually see myself going to Qatar for the games in 2022.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Table 5

We shouldn't even try? Seriously? Canada needs to have some bigger aspirations once in a while. If little countries like South Korea, Ukraine, Poland, Chile, Qatar can go after these bigger tournaments, and get them, we should be able to as well. Once in a while, a country needs to ignore the bottom line, and do something big to boost it's image for it's citizens and the world community. We've done well with hosting Olympics...it's time to prove we can something bigger too.

None of those countries are at all comparable to Canada when discussing hosting an event like the WC, the only ones that come close are Poland/Ukraine and their hosting is at least partially due to the fact that it's a previously untouched market in terms of hosting the Euro. Canada is not seen as a new market, it's America by a different name, so that edge is gone. We don't have nearly the population base or Korea, nor do we have a compact nation with a strong transportation network. We don't have nearly the financial capabilities of Qatar.

This is a much bigger task than the Olympics as it would span the entire country, we're talking a minimum of 7 new stadiums all of which would need to be better than nearly every stadium currently in Canada, and massive renovations to any existing stadiums that are still around and functional. And that's just the actual competition venues, transportation networks would need to be upgraded, complexes for media and team training would have to be constructed etc. And this would have to happen across the country, that's multiple cities having to overhaul things like local transit and other integral parts of hosting. And to top it all off, we'd not only have to come up with abid that met the minimum standards we'd have to come up with one that surpasses the bid that will surely becoming from the US.

Anyone who thinks that Canada has a realistic chance of hosting the 2026 World Cup is kidding themselves. It's simply too big of a task to undertake without spending absolutely absurd amounts of money, the type of sum that guarantees a loss that makes the Montreal games look like a success.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They have 12 years to get better. I recall they've been close to making the World Cup in the past.. a game here or there.

The US didn't even have an FA when they were awarded the World Cup in 1987

You're right - I'm sure lots of money will get pumped into their program to attempt to make it better but I don't think any amount of money is going to produce a good team from a country the size of Calgary starting from basically scratch. I don't think they have one player playing professionally in Europe or elsewhere outside Qatar and I think that the AFC/OFC bracket is the easiest qualification path by far so I don't buy that coming in 7th or 8th there is a big accomplishment.

As bad as the US was they had been in 4 world cups and were no where near being the 113th ranked country in the world as Qatar is now. I have no issues with them hosting logistically but the free pass in is pretty suspect.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by Locke

Actually, I think it has a lot to do with huge landmass and cities that are spread too far apart. So, we might learn a thing or two from Russia on how to make this work.

I would think that if that were the case the US never would have hosted it, their host cities were way further apart than ours could ever be. Size is a factor as to why we have no domestic league but I wouldn't think it would stop us from making a great bid if the money and desire was there unless there are logistical factors I'm not thinking of that you think would be shop stoppers.

[GirlySports]

Just going by memory there wasn't much of an FA or a national team in the US in the early 80s. I don't think they even played an international match for 2 or 3 years. Canada was miles ahead of them. We made the World Cup, we had players in Europe. USA had nothing but winning the bid for 1994 changed everything and gave them the money and structure they needed.

As for Qatari players abroad, why would a Qatari leave one of the richest countries in the world to go play elsewhere.

I would argue it's harder to get out of AFC than CONCACAF. They have Australia, Japan, North and South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran... China and even India are emerging.

CONCACAF have Mexico and USA only. The rest is a crapshoot.

[mmanzz]

Originally Posted by Table 5

We shouldn't even try? Seriously? Canada needs to have some bigger aspirations once in a while. If little countries like South Korea, Ukraine, Poland, Chile, Qatar can go after these bigger tournaments, and get them, we should be able to as well. Once in a while, a country needs to ignore the bottom line, and do something big to boost it's image for it's citizens and the world community. We've done well with hosting Olympics...it's time to prove we can something bigger too.

Hmm, to me what was successful about Vancouver 2010 was we won it! Hosting a World Cup and sucking at it is not really something that will add value to the Canada brand, let alone make people feel good about it. After all third world countries have hosted many times before, its nothing new.

Canada has nothing to prove here, hosting these things is just a matter of money and political stability. If you look back only Columbia and Iran have had to cancel out on hosting an Olympics or a World Cup and both were due to political problems. To me, it would cost a lot less money for Canada to do well and qualify then to put on a big show.

Remember, what was so successful about Vancouver was the feeling of unifying behind a winning team, many new Canadians who never watched the winter olympics got aboard.