Sim and Eby must come clean about FIFA World Cup costs

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Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and Premier David Eby must be honest with taxpayers about the costs of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

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Vancouver is scheduled to host seven World Cup games in 2026. FIFA is being spread across 16 host cities in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. In Canada, Toronto and Vancouver were chosen to host.

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In 2022, the B.C. government estimated the taxpayer cost for Vancouver to host the games would be between $240 million and $260 million. Meanwhile, Toronto pegged its costs at $290 million. Since then, the projected costs for Toronto have spiked to $380 million — an increase of 31 per cent.

Despite the massive expense, Toronto only expects to receive around $3 million in direct tax revenue from hosting the games. Even the indirect revenue Toronto is hoping for is just $118.9 million.

Ballooning costs and an abysmal return-on-investment are problems for Toronto taxpayers, but at least they are getting some transparency from the city government.

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Other host cities, such as Seattle and Santa Clara, have gone a step further and released their contracts with FIFA.

In stark contrast, both the City of Vancouver and B.C.’s provincial government have refused to release up-to-date cost estimates. That is unacceptable when hundreds of millions of tax dollars are on the line.

Sim and Eby owe it to taxpayers to tell us how much we are spending on the World Cup.

Despite calls from journalists, advocacy groups and MLAs for them to be open and transparent, the governments are remaining tight-lipped on what they promised FIFA and how much taxpayers are going to spend hosting the event.

Tourism Minister Lana Popham even brushed off calls for transparency saying, “We’re in a good place,” while also claiming “the numbers have changed substantially.”

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It’s hard to square those two statements. Either we’re in a good place, or the cost estimates have “changed substantially.” Which one is it? Popham owes taxpayers an answer.

Eby’s recent budget was also opaque on the costs for hosting the World Cup. The FIFA games were only mentioned once in the budget, where it was included in the $10.6 billion of contingencies the province set aside for the next three years.

Contingency funds are usually used to help rebuild after natural disasters or other unforeseen emergencies. It is unacceptable for money earmarked for emergencies to be going out the door for a couple soccer games.

Does the government really think pampering soccer players is more important than helping the residents of Lytton rebuild after forest fires? Or making sure the Fraser Valley can stop future floods? It would seem so.

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Take the renovations at B.C. Place as an example. Tax dollars are being used to build new VIP suites and hospitality spaces, a “premium entrance” and even a connector between the stadium and the nearby casino.

To put it bluntly: Taxpayers are paying for international elites to live in luxury. With their private entrances and suites, they won’t even have to mingle with the unwashed masses who are footing the bill.

Both the city and province claim FIFA will be a boon for tourism in B.C., but that doesn’t hold up to peer-reviewed academic studies.

A wide body of academic literature shows “hosting the FIFA World Cup is overall ineffective in promoting tourism.” That holds true for cities hosting the entire event, let alone just seven games.

Enough is enough. Sim and Eby must come clean with taxpayers about how big of a bill we are going to be left with to host seven soccer games.

Carson Binda is the B.C. director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

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