Bob Mackin
The B.C. NDP government is updating British Columbians May 29 on the cost of hosting seven FIFA World Cup matches. More than 11 months since the last time and, conveniently, the Friday after the Legislature closed until September.
It is never a good sign when a government steadfastly holds onto a spending report in such a fashion. Clearly, it did not want to give the ball to the opposition Conservatives, Greens or an independent to score an easy one in the last Question Period until September.
Five storylines to watch.
Premier David Eby (right) and FIFA Canada’s Peter Montopoli with a giant, inflated Adidas Trionda World Cup ball on March 31, 2026 in Victoria. (BC Gov/Flickr)
1. The costs
Last year’s estimated range: $524 million to $624 million.
Mega-event spending is never static. It only goes up.
Rewind four years to March 2022, when it was supposed to cost $240 million to $260 million.
Is it now officially around $800 million?
Inflation, labour and supply line risks have increased, same with safety and security requirements. None of those got any cheaper. Statistics Canada said the country slipped into a technical recession in 2026’s first quarter.
Should it be closer to $1 billion, if the PNE Amphitheatre is added to the bill?
Rewind to 2006, when B.C.’s Office of the Auditor General analyzed costs to build and operate the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. It cited the Government of New South Wales’ definition for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics: “costs directly related to, or incurred in meeting, the obligations of the host city contract.”
City of Vancouver is building the $183 million PNE Amphitheatre (to be known as the Freedom Mobile Arch) and its first and biggest assignment is being the centrepiece of the FIFA Fan Festival watch parties and concerts.
After Vancouver froze property taxes and cut services in this year’s budget, the province has taken a bigger role in Fan Festival operations.
2. The benefits
From the B.C. government’s 2025 report on FIFA World Cup estimates.
The government has assumed 350,000 visitors to B.C. Place — all seven matches sold out.
The dominant storyline for FIFA 26 is high ticket pricing, which has scared some tourists away. FIFA cancelled bulk hotel bookings and hoteliers say June 2026 reservations are trending below June 2025. FIFA was supposed to be a bonanza.
The NDP government — unscientifically — claimed the World Cup would help bring $1 billion more spending over the next five years and draw another million tourists.
Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, studies mega-events. He found that they “simply supplant, rather than supplement the regular tourist economy.”
“In other words, the economic impact of a mega-event may be large in a gross sense but the net impact may be small,” Matheson concluded.
3. The draw: a dud or a sleeper?
Last year’s report said a $145 million contingency was included, because a wide range of risks were contemplated.
Top of the list was the tournament draw. In December, FIFA assigned Australia, Belgium, Egypt, New Zealand, Qatar, Switzerland and Turkey to Vancouver. (We already knew Canada would play twice.) The first round is populated by soccer “minnows.”
The X-factor: will the opponents in the two knockout round games on July 2 and 7 be one or more of the highly desired European or South American past champions?
4. Lukewarm local sponsorship
The province’s 2025 estimates cautioned about “less-than-planned net revenue from the host city commercial Program due to lower market demand.”
For the first time, FIFA granted host cities up to 10 local sponsor slots, who also get front-of-the-line access to tickets, lounges and suites. The catch: none could directly compete with an existing FIFA partner.
Nine local sponsors were announced on May 21. The PNE, site of the Fan Festival, is one of them. The only one that admitted terms of its contract, which is $0 paid and zero tickets to be bought from City of Vancouver’s inventory of 7,400, worth $14.4 million.
Rather than a revenue bonanza, did the local sponsors help Vancouver control costs?
5. Federal “partnership”?
The 2025 report anticipated Ottawa would become a “full partner helping to manage and fund extraordinary risks that materialize for the FIFA World Cup 26 event, such as potential global economic downturns, natural disasters like fires and floods and increasing threat levels from rising geopolitical tensions.”
At the time, it had given only $220 million, split between Vancouver and Toronto. Last November’s budget provided $100 million for federal services. Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden came to Vancouver for the FIFA Congress at the end of April to announce another $145 million for safety and security.
Sources say the increased federal funding was welcome, but still not enough.
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