City of Vancouver ‘extremely disappointed’ by BC NDP’s decision to pull plug on World Cup bid

Mar 15 2018, 1:36 am

Vancouver is out of the running for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the City’s not happy about it.

They’re not alone.

With reservations about potential costs of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event, the BC government missed a deadline and has since been removed from the North American bid.

“While we support the prospect of hosting the World Cup, we cannot agree to terms that would put British Columbians at risk of shouldering potentially huge and unpredictable costs,” said Lisa Beare, BC’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture in a statement on Wednesday.

With BC Place seemingly ready to host the global event, it remains unclear what costs would be most worrisome to the government. There hadn’t been a loud public outcry opposing the event, so the decision to pull the plug has caught most by surprise.

This includes Vancouver’s municipal government. Here’s what the City of Vancouver’s official Twitter account released on Wednesday afternoon:

“The City is extremely disappointed that Vancouver’s bid to be a FIFA 2026 World Cup Host City is currently not being considered as we believe hosting the biggest sporting event on earth would have offered significant economic benefits. Vancouver remains a city with an exceptional sports hosting history and we look forward to working with the Province and our Sport Hosting Vancouver team to identify future international sporting events that bring positive economic and cultural impact to Vancouver.”

The North American bid is currently up against Morocco for the right to host the 2026 World Cup, with a decision to be made in June. If successful, the North American bid would include 10 games to be held in Canada. Toronto, Montreal, and Edmonton were the other cities being considered.

 

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