CANADA - Stadium and Arena Development News

[me,myself and I]

sorry,but there's enough countries mad with football not to give it to canada .

I have no doubt it would be a great event but it's not gonna happen

[Lostboy]

Although I am all for hosting the world game in new footballing countries, there isn't the population justification for Canada that there was for the USA and Japan.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by LEAFS FANATIC

You obviously are not paying attention then.

I admit that I'm not especially interested in sports, but that's part of the reason I always notice when I forced to hear about it (that I find it annoying). I frequently notice things like sports being mentioned on both television and radio news, shows that I like being cancelled or posponed for big games, and sometimes the news being late because some stupid games has gone into overtime. But I don't recall any of those things happening with domestic (NA) soccer. It's always Hockey, Basketball, Football, Baseball, and occaisonally curling, golf, autoracing, or tennis. But never soccer.

[Schroedinger's Cat]

SkyDome is gorgeous!!!
http://anthonyprovenzano.com/images/...20Pano%202.jpg

[michal-skoczen]

I think they have a lot of american football and baseball stadiums. They can fix for soccer matches.

[Martuh]

Originally Posted by DrJoe

^ You forgot Skydome in Toronto, it has already hosted a couple soccer events. Capacity for soccer is 55,000

(pic)

Fixed and added another plus some pics.

[raymond_tung88]

well, we don't have the money. the popularity of the sport is not established enough compared to Europe and Latin America.

[DrJoe]

There is also a few Canadian cities vying for the 2014 Commonwealth Games so that could be another fairly large stadium.

Hamilton's proposed stadium...capacity 42,000



Dont know the proposals for the other cities, hopefully won one of them wins the games though.

Toronto is also building a smaller soccer stadium

[EllasOle]

Canada can host this, but the current CFL stadiums are really old and out-dated except for Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Those 4 stadiums would just need small works if any. It would be beneficial to the CFL teams to host a WC because the likes of Calgary, Hamilton, Ottawa, Regina and Winnipeg could get some brand new stadiums and the government might help them for the costs. My cities and stadiums would be:

Ready
Edmonton Commonwealth stadium (opening match) 60,000
Montreal Olympic Stadium (final) 65,000
Toronto Skydome 55,000
Vancouver BC Place 55,000-60,000

Upgrade
Winnipeg Canad Inns Stadium (current capacity 29,503)
http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium...nad_inns.shtml
(add stand on open end where training field lies. Capacity would become about 40,000)

Calgary McMahon Stadium (current capacity 37,317)
http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium..._mcmahon.shtml
(has had extra seats at Grey cups to make capacity more than 50,000. I would close both ends of the stadium and refurbish the existing stands. That would lead to a capacity of at least 55,000 when adding plastic seats to this stadium)

Hamilton Ivor Wynne Stadium (current capacity 29,183)
http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium...or_wynne.shtml
(same as Galgary but it would be nice if they replaced the two stands and made 2 nice big stands with cover and made the ends temporary. This would easily be 40,000)

Ottawa Frank Clair Stadium (current capacity 28,826)
http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium...nk_clair.shtml
(same as Hamilton but a new stadium would be a much better idea as this city has enough size to support a 40,000-50,000 permanent capacity stadium.)

New Stadiums
Regina 40,000 (not enough room around Taylor Field to expand plus it is an old stadium)

Quebec City 40,000-45,000 (This city wants a CFL team and a WC can put a stadium into place to make it a reality. I would make a stadium with temp seats on the ends to make a 20,000-30,000 seat stadium after the WC)

Halifax 40,000 (Same as Quebec City)

There are 11 stadiums here. A 12th stadium would most likely be a 2nd stadium in Montreal that the Allouettes could use when completed. Toronto already has Hamilton a 40 minute drive away from it so it wouldn't be necessary in Toronto.

[samsonyuen]

Canadians may be growing into it, I just think there are countries that are feverish about it.

[johnz88]

All of the stadiums that were mentioned (except for Skydome) would need major renovation/modernization and a higher cap. I dont even think some of those stadiums could pass to host a World Cup match.

[BobDaBuilder]

To answer the question, Canada could host the World Cup. And very well.

However, do the people of Canada actually want the World Cup? From my limited knowledge, Canada reminds me a lot of Australia. It has other football codes/sports that its populace enjoys more than soccer. It loses top talent to other nations, such as Owen Hargreaves and its national league is struggling to attract interest.

The Canadian NT that I saw 10 years ago was the equal of Oz but from their more recent results they look to have slipped. If you cannot qualify in the North American zone you have problems. It is a very weak Confederation. The USA and Mexico are not world beaters.

They need to start getting results on the pitch, qualify for the World Cup and do some damage. A start would be to get regular invites to the Copa America to get your NT skill level up. CONMEBOL would probably accept Canada, as they were talking about having Oz over last year and we are on the other side of the Pacific.

The other thing they need to do is to create a vibrant national league with strong skill levels and good attendances to prove people love soccer.

Where there is a will there is a way.

[j4893k]

Originally Posted by Lostboy

Although I am all for hosting the world game in new footballing countries, there isn't the population justification for Canada that there was for the USA and Japan.

Lol... Yes it can. You don't think that a World Cup game would not be filled? Give me a break.

Soccer is pretty big in Canada (in BC atleast). Vancouver is building a new 30 (expandable to 35) seater right on the waterfront for Van's team; the Whitecaps.

[EllasOle]

People were saying the same thing about the US in 94 and they set attendance records. I don't think that any Canadian stadium is unlike the stadiums that South Africa has. The key would be the refurbishments done. There is a future use of these stadiums for the CFL teams as they all average between 20,000-30,000 for their games. This would also give the MLS reason to go to other Canadian cities as I think Montreal and Vancouver are much better options than most american cities. Canada is a very multicultural country and every game would sell out. I would go anywhere in Canada to watch Greece play if they were in the WC and that is the same case with many Canadians of European heritage or any heritage for that matter. The WC will have to come to North America again, does everyone really want it in Mexico for the 3rd time? I know I don't.

[Zaki]

Canada can easily host a soccer world cup and in most parts of the country there are enough people interested in the sport to fill the seats. Sure in some parts of the country with smaller immigrant populations soccer may not be that big but in most parts soccer is quite huge. The only problem i see is i dont think the government is willing to spend the money to host the world cup. With the winter olympics in 2010 and Toronto wanting an olympics of its own Canada's goals are somewhere else currently when it comes to sports.

[algonquin]

I really don't see how Canada could support the world cup. There's little support or interest here for professional soccer, and the stadiums aren't up to snuff. As for enlarging existing stadiums in smaller cities, it would never fly because they'd go to waste afterwards. Canadian professional sport is on a much smaller scale.

The optimism here is great and flattering, but it's a bit mislead. I mean, did I catch someone here mentioning Sudbury? My God, that's pure fantasy!

[bubomb]

No way could Canada get the World Cup. At the moment only one stadium is good enough (Skydome) and even that's debatable. Most one the ones listed on the thread are not even close to being good enough. Canada would need to build 9 new stadiums.

Shame really, as i'm emigrating to Toronto very soon. Thankfully there is a massive Rangers supporters club there.

http://media.putfile.com/final-minute

[mauritius gunner]

Don't make me laugh, Canada made a balls-up of the Montreal Olympics in 76.

It seems to me that much Public investment would be needed to host a tournament of this size. Not dissing the country as I know that it has some of the greatest wealth in the world. However, I believe the government has always been relatively non-compliant on such projects.

Plus Canada has a very small population (22M or something like that) I don't honestly think it has the manpower or the resources to host the single biggest sports event in the world single-handedly- yes, way bigger than the olympics even. Hordes of european hooligans, media focus, security, accomodation of teams, media and tens of thousands of fans, Police presence, upgrading of public infrastructure in at least 6 to 7 cities, besides building new stadiums and upgrading current ones (your present grounds are not upto FIFA standards or inadequate for FOOTBALL).

Your government would shirk from taking on the commitment, or fear that project costs would over-run. Though I do believe that Canada could co-host the tournament with the United States, this is a possibility.

[Lostboy]

Lol... Yes it can. You don't think that a World Cup game would not be filled? Give me a break.

Thats not the point when FIFA is trying to encourage new markets for football America was a good choice with 270 million people at the time, Japan and South Korea were fine choices as well with 180 million between them. Canada with just 30 million (and by 2022 its likely not to include Quebec's Population) is just not big enough to justify it.

[bubomb]

Where's Quebec going? Are those froggies at it again?