| |
Posted Aug 16, 2017, 6:22 PM
|
 |
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 37,480
|
|
Good article in the Winnipeg Sun today which explains why Winnipeg didn't put in a bid. It also offers some insight as to the other cities' chances of hosting MWC games.
Quote:
Winnipeg left off World Cup list
But it's no egregious slight against the 'Peg
By Paul Friesen, Winnipeg Sun
First posted: Tuesday, August 15, 2017 06:20 PM CDT | Updated: Tuesday, August 15, 2017 07:28 PM CDT
That was an interesting list of stadiums touted as potential sites for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday.
The U.S., Canada and Mexico are bidding for the 2026 FIFA extravaganza, and the bid committee released a list of 49 potential stadiums in 44 cities, including seven cities in Canada, that could either host games or national team training camps.
There are the obvious ones: Vancouver (B.C. Place), Montreal (Olympic Stadium) and Toronto (the stadium formerly known as SkyDome).
But the list also included Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium), Calgary (McMahon), Ottawa (TD Place) and Regina (Mosaic).
Noticeably absent was Good Old Home Town, and the facility inhabited by the Blue Bombers, which helped host the women's World Cup in 2015.
But hold your inferiority complexes -- this was no egregious slight against the 'Peg.
In fact, when the posturing ends and it's time for cities to put up or shut up, by Sept. 5, there likely won't be more than the Big 3 still standing.
It turns out some forward-thinking local types got ahead of the curve and asked some questions about what the World Cup requirements would actually be in a conference call with Soccer Canada officials, last Wednesday.
“We had some tough questions they had tough answers to,” Manitoba Soccer Association executive director Hector Vergara was saying, Tuesday. “And based on that information it was determined that it wasn't feasible. The requirement of the men's World Cup is much different than the requirements of the women's World Cup. It's the way FIFA operates.
“The players involved are worth millions and millions of dollars. So there are a lot of variables they take into consideration.”
Starting with the stadiums, which must have 40,000 permanent seats. Not temporary -- permanent.
“I don't know if there's space to put 40,000 seats in there,” Vergara said of the Bombers' home, which seats around 33,000. “But you can imagine the magnitude of the costs to put 7,000 seats in that space. FIFA will not pay for the rebuilding of those facilities.
“There's no sense in Winnipeg getting involved in a bidding process where you have to spend millions of dollars.”
It won't be feasible for Calgary, either, where there's talk of replacing McMahon with a new home for the Stampeders.
It won't be feasible in Ottawa, where they just opened the new place a couple years ago.
And it certainly won't be in Regina, where the 33,500-seat home of the Riders still has that new-car smell.
We haven't even mentioned the FIFA requirement for grass fields. Add another $2-3 million to change over from turf.
And we're just getting started.
“They require at least two practice venues per team, and they have to be grass fields,” Vergara said. “And they have to be at the same level as the actual playing field for the competition. Dressing rooms, all the amenities required by them -- you're talking about an investment of millions and millions of dollars.”
Safe to say the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex on Waverley would have to be bulldozed and rebuilt entirely.
Even if there was the political will to go all-in in some of the smaller Canadian cities, the payoff isn't there, since Canada is getting just 10 games, total.
“Pick three cities, and you have three matches in each city -- and that's it,” Vergara said. “The economic impact is not going to be that huge in a city that hosts just three games.”
So for Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, sure, they've got the stadiums in place and won't have to spend gobs of money for infrastructure.
They can also meet another of FIFA's demands: luxury accommodations for the pampered athletes and VIP's.
“They need five-star hotels, more than just the two or three we may have,” Vergara said. “The demands of a FIFA men's World Cup are huge... the number of rooms.”
Vergara touts the Brazil World Cup as an example, where the national teams of Spain and Germany rented a high-end soccer club, with four brand new fields, hotel-style rooms for the players, a kitchen, living rooms, meeting rooms, theatres – the whole nine yards.
“It became their venue for the entire World Cup,” Vergara recalled. “That's the kind of level you're talking about here.”
Teams will also want to be centrally located in the U.S., Vergara predicts, to mitigate travel.
So even the prospect of hosting a training camp before the World Cup is a non-starter for Good Old Home Town.
Within three weeks, Calgary, Ottawa, Regina and probably Edmonton will come to their senses, too, and that list of potential Canadian sites will get down to a sensible number.
“The reality comes down to this: Canada only has certain facilities that will be used for this World Cup,” Vergara said. “And it's obvious.”
[email protected]
Twitter: @friesensunmedia
|
http://www.winnipegsun.com/2017/08/15/winnipeg-left-off-world-cup-list
|
|
|
Prev
Linear Mode
