Taxpayer Group Wants More Transparency as Cost of Hosting FIFA Rises in Vancouver and Toronto

The FIFA logo is seen outside FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on Dec. 17, 2015. (Walter Bieri/Keystone via AP)

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on Vancouver’s mayor to release updated cost estimates for hosting the FIFA World Cup games.

Vancouver and Toronto are the two Canadian venues chosen to host matches for the 2026 football tournament, among 16 host cities across the three countries in North America.

“Vancouver taxpayers deserve accountability when hundreds of millions are on the line,” said Carson Binda, British Columbia director for the CTF, in a Feb. 28 new release.

“Costs have ballooned in Toronto and Vancouver needs to be honest with its taxpayers about how much the soccer games are going to cost,” he added.

Vancouver Costs

In Vancouver, the cost of planning, staging, and hosting the matches was estimated at between $240 million and $260 million in June 2022, when the number of matches to be held in that city were not yet known.

The CTF says the provincial and municipal governments have “failed to produce updated cost estimates.”

“They need to stop hiding the numbers and tell taxpayers how much these soccer games are going to cost us,” Mr. Binda said.

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In January 2023, Vancouver announced a temporary 2.5 percent “accommodation tax,” targeting short-term accommodation sales, to help raise money for hosting the games.

The tax was expected to bring in about $230 million in revenue over seven years, to cover the city’s incremental expenses associated with the tournament. That amount included planning, staging, and hosting, but not the B.C. Place Stadium costs, the city said at the time.

A City of Vancouver spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the city had originally budgeted to host five matches but is now planning on hosting seven. The spokesperson said the city will be looking at updating the estimated costs.

“While we’re still in the early stages of analysing the impact of hosting seven matches, we expect to see increased revenue opportunities from commercial partners and match day sales,” the email said.

More information will be released from the province and the city once the planning is done, according to the spokesperson.

Toronto Costs

The CTF says that the costs for the FIFA event in Toronto are “spiralling.”

In 2022, Toronto anticipated the operations and capital costs of hosting the games to be $290 million by 2026, according to a March 2022 update from the city. That number has increased by 31 percent, to $380 million, says a city updated in February.

This is putting too much burden on taxpayers, Mr. Binda said in the CTF news release.

“Toronto taxpayers can’t afford to pay for soccer games that are almost a hundred million dollars over budget already,” he said. “That’s unacceptable when taxpayers are getting clobbered with higher taxes.”

A Feb. 26 report by Toronto’s city manager and the executive director of World Cup Hosting 2026 says the additional $90 million came after the city was awarded a sixth match, instead of the five that had been anticipated. The report also included updated information on vendor prices, safety and security needs, and “inflationary uncertainty.”

The City of Toronto told The Epoch Times that the games are expected to raise about $393 million in GDP for the city. It said the province was anticipating $456 million in GDP in relation to the events and the country is expected to see $1.2 billion from the Toronto and Vancouver games combined.

“Staff anticipate that there are areas where savings can be realized as lower-cost alternatives are identified and FIFA requirements are negotiated,” Sharon Bollenbach, Executive Director, World Cup Hosting 2026 said in an email.

The city said it was also expecting to receive financial support from the province and the federal government.

The government of Ontario has already offered $97 million, and is asking for the federal government to offer the same.

To help Toronto with the costs, Ontario has offered up to $97 million and is asking the federal government to match it.

The Epoch Times reached out to the City of Toronto but did not hear back by publication time.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.