Councillor appeals to province to support Edmonton's World Cup bid

An Edmonton city councillor is calling on the Alberta government to provide support for the capital city’s bid to host 2026 FIFA World Cup games amid renewed competition from Vancouver.

Coun. Tim Cartmell says the federal government has pledged to support the city’s bid, but its funding is contingent on provincial support that’s yet to be secured.

“We need the provincial support to make this happen, it’s as simple as that,” said Cartmell.

“They’re trying to balance this request and other requests that the city has made with their own financial situation.”

In a statement, the government of Alberta says it is currently reviewing the city’s request but hasn’t yet made a decision.

The 2026 tournament is expected to feature an expanded field of 48 teams with games spread across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Edmonton, along with Toronto, was one of two Canadian venues seeking to host games after Montreal dropped out earlier in the process.

Vancouver had also dropped out of bidding with B.C. Premier John Horgan citing his reluctance to write FIFA a “blank cheque.”

But earlier this month, Horgan did an about face, saying his government would be “remiss” if it didn’t put forth a bid.

“We have in BC Place, a very expensive stadium that had a rebuild that was almost as expensive as the first construction, and it’s been virtually idle for the past two years.”

Cartmell said numbers around the bid’s finances remain confidential for now, but that Edmonton city council remains “fully committed” to hosting World Cup games.

“It’s no surprise that British Columbia and Vancouver see this for the incredible opportunity that is,” said Cartmell.

“We’ve done our homework here. We have a thousand-page business plan that we’ve worked on for over three years. We’ve done all the leg work. We’ve done all the preparatory work that, frankly, British Columbia and Vancouver are hoping to leverage to their benefit.”

FIFA officials were in Edmonton last November to evaluate the city’s bid as the national men’s team hosted World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and Mexico.

Colin Smith, FIFA’s chief competitions and events officer, was generally positive about the city and venues but was to the point on the state of the artificial turf at Commonwealth Stadium.

“Change it,” he told reporters. “We play the World Cup obviously on natural grass.”

BC Place, a 54,000 seat covered stadium near downtown Vancouver, also has artificial turf.

The City of Edmonton launched a survey in August of 2020 to measure how Edmontonians felt about hosting part of the tournament.

Survey results showed 77 per cent of people in the Edmonton region supported a bid, the city said, up from 74 per cent in 2018.

Cartmell says any funding agreement would have to come before the middle of March when FIFA is expected to finalize the 16 venues for the tournament.

“We need financial support,” he said. “We need the province to commit.”