2026 FIFA World Cup

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Which is why these cities were perfect for the Women's World Cup. France did something similar in 2019 when they hosted - Paris only used one stadium and it wasn't its largest, with games being held at Parc des Princes but not Stade de France. Other host cities included Valenciennes, Reims, Montpellier, Le Havre...the cities that didn't host were also some of their largest with their largest stadiums: Marseille, Lyon (new stadium), Lille (new stadium), Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne. France is a perfect example of having two different levels of hosts given what they used to host for Euro 2016 and the Women's World Cup in 2019.

Much like not including Toronto in 2015, France did not include many of its larger cities in 2019, instead opting for medium and smaller-sized cities with adequate stadiums. Canada did something similar in 2015 by not including Toronto at all. If Canada ever hosts the tournament again I think they give serious consideration to places like Victoria, Calgary, and Halifax - locations that now have suitable stadiums, or stadiums which could be brought up to standard with expansion, which did not exist in 2015.

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I have no idea why Toronto was not included in 2015. BMO Field already existed back then and it got money from the feds for the express purpose of serving as Canada's national soccer stadium.

In any event, if we look at your examples, Paris actually did host games during the WWC, just not at Stade de France (which isn't technically in Paris anyway, but just outside the city limits by a few hundred metres). Parc des Princes is still a big stadium, seating around 50,000.

Not sure how well attended WWC games would have been in Toronto anyway. It's not (perceived as) the crème de la crème of soccer (though it is for female soccer), and we all know how that often plays there!

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I have no idea why Toronto was not included in 2015. BMO Field already existed back then and it got money from the feds for the express purpose of serving as Canada's national soccer stadium.

Toronto didn't bid to host as a part of WWC because they were focusing on the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/can...iled-1.1299058

BMO serves as the default home for CMNT/CWNT most of the time so it's still serving its federally-intended purpose regardless.

Originally Posted by Acajack

In any event, if we look at your examples, Paris actually did host games during the WWC, just not at Stade de France (which isn't technically in Paris anyway, but just outside the city limits by a few hundred metres). Parc des Princes is still a big stadium, seating around 50,000.

Right, but the point is that it's not the premiere, largest stadium available, much like how they skipped over other larger stadiums in favour of smaller stadiums in smaller cities.

Originally Posted by Acajack

INot sure how well attended WWC games would have been in Toronto anyway. It's not the crème de la crème of soccer (though it is for female soccer), and we all know how that often plays there!

If games sold out in Ottawa and at times in Montreal i'm sure Toronto wouldn't have had any issues, especially at BMO.

[Tg11]

All I know is that in Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton these 3 cities in particular will be the places to be in the next 6 years. 6 years can go by just like that and before we know it, it is here. That being said since the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be in November/December I can only imagine that the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada/USA/Mexico will be a summer tournament in June/July the way it should be.

I wonder if since y'all are from different cities, if you guys will drive to the other cities to watch games should your countries other than Canada qualify?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

If games sold out in Ottawa and at times in Montreal i'm sure Toronto wouldn't have had any issues, especially at BMO.

Not sure that's an accurate comparator, as the three cities have quite different approaches to spectator sports.

The typical Ottawan is quite similar to the Edmontonian. It's the "good sport" attitude. This thing is happening here - let's support it.

Montreal is lukewarm-to-indifferent on anything that's Canadian-specific unless there is a major Montreal or Quebec angle. It's also good with most things (North) American as it's seen as the big time, but not as lock-stock-and-barrel as Toronto can be about US stuff. And Montreal is a bit of a whore for most anything that's international - a holdover from the Olympic and Expo 67 era.

Toronto is different in that the "big time" is the all-dominant factor that trumps everthing else. Generally speaking that equals "American" though there is a bit room for international stuff too provided it's sufficiently "big time".

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Not sure that's an accurate comparator, as the three cities have quite different approaches to spectator sports.

As yes, Toronto is filled with American-wannabes that only watch American sports. How could I have forgotten?

Originally Posted by Acajack

Montreal is lukewarm-to-indifferent on anything that's Canadian-specific unless there is a major Montreal or Quebec angle. It's also good with most things (North) American as it's seen as the big time, but not as lock-stock-and-barrel as Toronto can be about US stuff. And Montreal is a bit of a whore for most anything that's international - a holdover from the Olympic and Expo 67 era.

Montreal bandwagons harder than any other city i've seen for just about anything that can be seen as being hot at that moment. I've said before how I think Montreal is a poor sports city under normal circumstances...their crowds during WWC were whelming at best and those issues combined with the costs of an Olympic refurb are why I had such an issue with Montreal being more of a shoe-in than Toronto for 2026 in some people's eyes.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Toronto is different in that the "big time" is the all-dominant factor that trumps everthing else. Generally speaking that equals "American" though there is a bit room for international stuff too provided it's sufficiently "big time".

Of course big time is the all-dominant factor - I can choose to do literally anything in Toronto at any given time, if your product is inferior or not strong enough compared to competitors it's going to falter and be forgotten about. Just being average isn't good enough, and that goes for things beyond sport.

In saying that I think people would have turned out for the CWNT on an international stage. Given the groundswell of support the team and event saw in most markets for WWC I doubt Toronto would have struggled. It's mostly moot to argue about at this stage, regardless.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

As yes, Toronto is filled with American-wannabes that only watch American sports. How could I have forgotten?

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Weeeelll...

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Montreal bandwagons harder than any other city i've seen for just about anything that can be seen as being hot at that moment. I've said before how I think Montreal is a poor sports city under normal circumstances...their crowds during WWC were whelming at best and those issues combined with the costs of an Olympic refurb are why I had such an issue with Montreal being more of a shoe-in than Toronto for 2026 in some people's eyes.
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The FIFA MWC is the greatest show on earth along with the Olympics. I can't foresee any attendance issues in Montreal. (I wouldn't expect any attendance issues in Toronto either.)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Of course big time is the all-dominant factor - I can choose to do literally anything in Toronto at any given time, if your product is inferior or not strong enough compared to competitors it's going to falter and be forgotten about. Just being average isn't good enough, and that goes for things beyond sport.
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I see you've quickly taken on classic Torontonian traits since moving there!

I know that that's the way people see things in the GTA, but in terms of spectator sports, I'd much rather live in any number of U.S. metros (some smaller than Toronto) where they have 3 or 4 of NFL-NBA-MLB-NHL, plus a mix of an MLS club, maybe Arena football of some sort and NLL, good college football and basketball, and probably a decent tennis and golf tournament, and high level auto racing.

Toronto has NHL-NBA-MLB-CFL-MLS plus tennis and golf. College sports are non-existent, auto racing is meh. Junior hockey sucks from a fan perspective in Toronto. It has a decent tennis tournament plus golf course.

[Tg11]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The FIFA MWC is the greatest show on earth along with the Olympics. I can't foresee any attendance issues in Montreal. (I wouldn't expect any attendance issues in Toronto either.)

Exactly with the Men's World Cup it is the greatest showpiece on Earth with the world's best players, world's best icons playing in our backyard...once in a lifetime you can bet games will be sold out in all 3 cities

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The FIFA MWC is the greatest show on earth along with the Olympics. I can't foresee any attendance issues in Montreal. (I wouldn't expect any attendance issues in Toronto either.)

Do you foresee issues in Edmonton then?

[WarrenC12]

I think you guys are forgetting what other countries we are sharing this with. Canada will get the garbage games for sure.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Do you foresee issues in Edmonton then?

I wouldn't expect any issues there either. Edmonton has an amazing track record for supporting sports events hosted by the city.

[Nite]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Which is why these cities were perfect for the Women's World Cup. France did something similar in 2019 when they hosted - Paris only used one stadium and it wasn't its largest, with games being held at Parc des Princes but not Stade de France. Other host cities included Valenciennes, Reims, Montpellier, Le Havre...the cities that didn't host were also some of their largest with their largest stadiums: Marseille, Lyon (new stadium), Lille (new stadium), Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne. France is a perfect example of having two different levels of hosts given what they used to host for Euro 2016 and the Women's World Cup in 2019.

Much like not including Toronto in 2015, France did not include many of its larger cities in 2019, instead opting for medium and smaller-sized cities with adequate stadiums. Canada did something similar in 2015 by not including Toronto at all. If Canada ever hosts the tournament again I think they give serious consideration to places like Victoria, Calgary, and Halifax - locations that now have suitable stadiums, or stadiums which could be brought up to standard with expansion, which did not exist in 2015.

For the Women's World Cup another facet that would have been considered more than a World Cup would be American travelers, given that the WUSNT is so much better than the Men's. Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Vancouver were all perfect landing spots for Americans to quickly and easily cross the border...you can see this in the lack of attendance for the American's Round of 16 game in Edmonton.

Anyway, long story short, Winnipeg can have an amazing stadium but the city itself is still more suited to mid-sized events and will always be further in line for larger-scale events. This isn't a Canada-only phenomenon.

The only reason Toronto wasn't a host for the women world cup was because of the 2015 Pan-Am games

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I think you guys are forgetting what other countries we are sharing this with. Canada will get the garbage games for sure.

Yes and no.

One city will be home to Canada's first round group. Under normal circumstances Canada vs. Saudi Arabia or Canada vs. New Zealand wouldn't be prime matchups but in a Canadian city those will attact lots of attention. More so probably than a game between pretty good teams like Sweden and Poland would in the same city.

I believe the groups will be smaller this WC so I suppose each of the three cities will have a group based there in the first round.

I don't know the exact details but generally a group has a strong team with a number of weaker ones.

Look at the top 16 or so in the FIFA ranking and you could very well have Brazil, Spain or Italy or at least the Netherlands, Belgium or England based in a Canadian city for the initial group stage.

Not sure if consideration is given but I can definitely see something like Canada based in Edmonton, France in Montreal and Italy or perhaps Portugal in Toronto.

[Tg11]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I think you guys are forgetting what other countries we are sharing this with. Canada will get the garbage games for sure.

I doubt it especially if since I looked at the proposed match schedule, Canada our opening game on Day 1 would be in Toronto at BMO Field

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I think you guys are forgetting what other countries we are sharing this with. Canada will get the garbage games for sure.

"Garbage games" isn't a fair assessment as groups are drawn at random and each city gets a group. I do agree with this to the extent that people were discussing in this thread as if Edmonton has to host all 48 teams the whole time.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Franco401

"Garbage games" isn't a fair assessment as groups are drawn at random and each city gets a group. I do agree with this to the extent that people were discussing in this thread as if Edmonton has to host all 48 teams the whole time.

If they go to groups of 3 (which I think I heard they will), then each city presumably will get one of the top 16 teams in the world based there. Look at the FIFA top 16. Lots of good teams there. Well, *all* good teams there.

[Tg11]

Yes it is 16 groups of 3 teams and Canada being a host nation most likely would be drawn with 2 other difficult teams in the same group...or Canada could end up with a favorable draw as a host but Canada is set to play their games at BMO Field and Commonwealth Stadium apparently looking at the proposed match schedule

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Nite

The only reason Toronto wasn't a host for the women world cup was because of the 2015 Pan-Am games

Yes, but I think it still would have been appropriate to have a WWC without Toronto even if they were interested in hosting.

Originally Posted by Acajack

I see you've quickly taken on classic Torontonian traits since moving there!

Ok.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Toronto has NHL-NBA-MLB-CFL-MLS plus tennis and golf. College sports are non-existent, auto racing is meh. Junior hockey sucks from a fan perspective in Toronto. It has a decent tennis tournament plus golf course.

You've forgotten the CPL, Super League, MLR, NLL, ECHL, AHL, USL League 1, NBA G League, and the soon-to-be NWHL team.

All of these, no matter how small or insignificant we think them to be, still carve up the sports entertainment industry.

Also, for the sake of posterity, Arena Football shut down prior to COVID.

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I wouldn't expect any issues there either. Edmonton has an amazing track record for supporting sports events hosted by the city.

Agreed