Opinion: To get buy-in for Canada’s World Cup games, Canadians must be able to buy at all

Depending on your perspective, Toronto and Vancouver hosting 13 FIFA Men’s World Cup games in 2026 is a gigantic waste of taxpayers’ money, or the best thing that could ever happen to these cities.

Maybe it’s both.

As we recently learned, the updated estimate for the cost of Vancouver to host seven games is now between $483-million and $581-million. In Toronto: $380-million to host six games.

These numbers have ballooned. In January, 2023, B.C. forecast the cost to be $230-million – although that was for hosting only five games. The cost for Toronto to host five games was estimated in 2022 to be $300-million.

It is money well-spent, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim maintains. As these staggering figures were revealed, he called hosting the games “a month-long commercial” for the city. “We are literally hosting 30 to 40 Super Bowl equivalents,” he said, referring to the expected television audience. “You gotta figure a lot of people are gonna fall in love with our city when they see it.”

Over in Toronto, Mayor Olivia Chow made it clear this would not have been approved on her watch, but it’s too late for that kind of talk. “Fans want us to move forward,” Ms. Chow said. “We cannot look back.”

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, meanwhile, is apoplectic, calling the return on investment terrible. “Frankly,” the group’s B.C. director Carson Binda told CBC about the Toronto costs, “they’d be better off just giving that $380-million to taxpayers and businesses right off the bat and saving this whole boondoggle.”

I’m no financial expert, but I think it’s pretty clear that hosting these World Cup games is not exactly the bargain of the century.

But the deal with the FIFA devil is done. The games are coming, the money has been promised – and yes, costs might increase even further.

That said, maybe everything doesn’t need to be about dollars and cents. Vancouver has notoriously been called a “no-fun city.” And as the city experienced during the 2010 Winter Olympics, a huge sporting event can be a lot of fun – and inspiring, to boot.

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I attended my first MLS game Saturday, when the Vancouver Whitecaps hosted Austin FC. The game was a nil-nil draw – not exactly the most scintillating match, although it had its moments. But I was enchanted by what was happening in the stands: families enjoying a night out without having to remortgage their homes; teenagers loudly chanting with groups of friends; fans discussing plays and calls amiably. I witnessed no drunk or disorderly behaviour, and no fights – in the stands or on the field. It was a much more affordable, wholesome experience than an NHL game (go Canucks!). I described it as good, clean fun. (Yes, I’m 1,000 years old.)

As someone who has seen soccer transform my own screen-addicted teen, I have witnessed the value of the game up close. On Saturday, you could sense stars in the eyes of many of the young fans, with dreams of playing soccer themselves.

Way back in 1976, I was able to travel to the Montreal Olympics for the opening ceremony and a couple of other events. My family didn’t have a lot of money, but we knew some Montrealers and slept on their floor. The tickets were not expensive; we paid $2 each to watch women’s gymnastics.

And so I was at the Montreal Forum when Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci made history, receiving the first perfect 10 score in Olympic history. Best two bucks my parents ever spent.

My dreams took a twist. I went home and started gymnastics lessons. I was terrible, but I loved it. For the first time in my life, I became interested in sports, not just as a spectator, but as a participant.

“Perhaps most importantly, FIFA 2026 will inspire our kids to dream big,” Canada’s Sports Minister, Carla Qualtrough, has said.

So if that’s the goal – or one of them – here’s what officials can do moving forward: make those tickets accessible.

One of the many reasons Canadians are grumpy about the World Cup is that their hard-earned tax dollars are going to be subsidizing a bunch of games they can’t afford to attend. So if governments want buy-in from average Canadians currently dealing with their own domestic economic crises, they should find a way to ensure as many as possible can actually attend these games – perhaps through corporate sponsorships or other means.

The days of $2 admissions are over, obviously. But officials need to find a way to make it not cost the moon, for kids to get those World Cup stars in their eyes.