FIFA World Cup cancels Vancouver’s 2026 dragon boat festival

Bob Mackin

Another casualty of FIFA World Cup 26: the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival will not return to Vancouver’s False Creek until 2027.

B.C. Place Stadium is one of 16 co-hosts of the tournament, with seven matches scheduled from June 13-July 7, 2026. Vancouver’s contract with FIFA, obtained by theBreaker.news, requires road closures and security barriers extending beyond B.C. Place Stadium. It also bans conflicting events around the city.

False Creek paddlers in 2017. (Mackin)

“It is causing quite a bit of disruption to our operations. Our entire year is planned around it. Our entire operations are planned around it,” said Dominic Lai, the senior development, marketing and operations director of the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival Society.

While it Is the society’s marquee event, the society runs regattas in other communities and it is sustained year-round by one of North America’s biggest paddling clubs. Nonetheless, Lai said it is not be immune from the federal and provincial funding crunch for community events and festivals or the general economic malaise.

Lai said the extent of the land and water closures is vague, because city hall has not provided a map. But he said he was told that club members will continue to be allowed to train in False Creek and the boathouse will remain open. Due to proximity to the Olympic Village, the boathouse was closed during the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Legacy of another mega-event

Hong Kong donated the original dragon boats prior to Expo 86. Since then, the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival has become one of the city’s top summer kickoff traditions.

During the June 20-22, 2025 festival, Lai estimated an audience of 125,000 watched more than 200 teams compete, including 7,500 racers and supporters from 10 countries. He estimated as many as a quarter of participants came from the U.S. and 15% from overseas.

FIFA’s demands

The FIFA contract states that, starting seven days prior to the opening match to seven days after the last one, the city cannot allow any other major sporting event.

Also, “no other substantial cultural events (such as music concerts)” shall be allowed the day before, the day of or the day after a match, except FIFA-approved concerts or events.

City planning

Internal correspondence in February 2022 between a Sport Hosting Vancouver manager and a director of the city’s film and special events office said they were working under the assumption that Expo Boulevard would be closed for the entire period that FIFA is using B.C. Place — 30 days before the first match until a week after the last. Additionally, Pacific Boulevard would be closed on each match day and the day prior.

Beyond B.C. Place’s outer perimeter, the city must create a FIFA-determined “controlled area” where certain commercial activities are banned on each match day and the day prior.

Vancouver must ensure that airspace above and around the stadium is “free and clear of all commercial signage and/or advertising.” That is because FIFA will showcase its own sponsors.

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Bob Mackin Another casualty of FIFA World Cup