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Originally Posted by thenoflyzone
My definition of a football nation: a country where all your major metro areas have soccer specific stadiums of 35,000+ seating capacity. And not because you can (Qatar), but rather because you have to, in order to support a sport that your country loves.
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What an oddly specific number. Why not 20K? 15K? This criteria means footballing countries like Norway, Slovenia, Albania etc. wouldn't qualify. I'm guessing you chose 35K because it enables some countries like Denmark to qualify despite ignoring things like population, population density and spread, and proportion of country's population.
The thing that a lot of countries have that Canada doesn't have is a National Stadium. Most countries can easily have this because they have one main metro where everything can be built nicely, but Canada (and, say, the US) lack this one major metro, meaning that a singular National Stadium can either be contentious to build (Canada) or simply not required (the US). Canada
could have a National Stadium in, say, Toronto, but i'm sure everyone outside of the city would argue and fight over the relevancy and why it's located there in the first place. A spreadout population prevents that sort of legacy-building from occurring.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thenoflyzone
Btw, the US isn’t a football nation either. They just happen to have a bunch of large American football stadiums that are well suited for soccer matches.
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The US/MLS has been building something like two large-scale soccer specific stadiums each year, which I think is pretty good. Ten new SSS in the past three years alone, including some nice builds in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Minneapolis. Venues like Banc of California in LA or Exploria in Orlando simply didn't exist five years ago, let alone further into the past.
Banc of California Stadium, LA
Exploria Stadium, Orlando
tql Stadium, Cincinnati
Providence Park (Portland) expansion
These aren't multipurpose venues being built for multiple tenants and uses - they're venues
just for MLS teams. The narrative that the US/MLS relied on large-scale gridiron stadiums is one very much from the 90s and 00s. Take the Gold Cup as one example - it used only gridiron stadiums until 2005 or so, and has slowly begun using more and more SSS as they become accessible and as they're built. They've gone from using one SSS in 2005 to five SSS in 2021 - an even split with gridiron stadiums. The narrative that this creates is an important one, as the sport goes from clearly renting bigger spaces for other sports to creating their own spaces and their own cultures. Football in the 2020s has a place in the US, and it's at grounds in places like Kansas City and Philadelphia that are devoted just to those teams and to that sport. It's a big mental hurdle to get over but an important one for the future of the sport.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thenoflyzone
As some others have said, this 2026 WC is becoming less about Canada, and more about the US/Mexico. We’re an afterthought.
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The 2026 bid was never about Canada. It's always been about the US and tagging Canada and Mexico along for the ride.
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Originally Posted by thenoflyzone
More proof that we aren't a soccer nation.
Copa America semi-final happening right now. Argentina-Colombia.
TSN and RDS are official broadcasters here in Canada. Neither are showing the match right now.
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TSN wouldn't air Canada matches when they had the rights - why do you expect them to air matches from South America?
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Originally Posted by Denscity
It would be nice if Vancouver stepped back in seeing as Montreal dropped out.
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Peter Schaad tweeted yesterday to stay tuned on Vancouver's status for WC2026.
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Originally Posted by esquire
Do people go home and complain about the configuration of the stadium?
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They do increasingly in Spain, yes. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid are being forced to pump millions into their stadiums because people are hesitant to attend matches in those stadiums. For Barcelona particularly, it's a combination of price point but also the stadium's age, accessibility, and lack of a roof.
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Originally Posted by rousseau
Why go out of our way to confirm stereotypes about Canada? What a shit show this is turning out to be.
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I think you're being a bit dramatic. People can travel to Canada and be assured they're not going to be robbed like in Brazil, or discriminated against like they are in Qatar or Russia. That safety alone makes Canada a sure bet for travelling WC fans.
Like I alluded to above, i'd have no issue building a large-scale stadium in Toronto for our national field sport teams (CMNT/CWNT/Rugby etc.) but the scale that people expect would be off and the need simply isn't there. Between BMO and BC Place we have two pretty suitable venues for what's needed at this point. Maybe in 20 years when soccer is solidly as or more popular than ice hockey can we have this discussion again.
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