Questions mount over gov’t spending on 2026 FIFA World Cup given cost of living pressures

There is growing pressure on the provincial government to tell everyone how much it’s going to cost to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Vancouver is sharing hosting duties with other cities across North America and several matches will be held in the city.

We know the cost will be hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe more, but the province has remained tightlipped.

CityNews hit the streets to ask people if that money could be better utilized, especially given the high cost of living, including groceries and gas.

“Yeah, I think they should work on something to help people here, instead of having FIFA here,” pointed out one man.

“I think people’s needs for housing should come first before sports,” added one woman.

“Like any government, they’re going to be more likely to do something that’s going to benefit the economy and bring people in, rather than try and help their own people,” another man said.

“It’s a double-edged sword. We want to bring business to Vancouver but then we also have so much homelessness, we have so much poverty, we have so many things that yes, we absolutely could be spending on that and we’re not,” said one exasperated woman.

Others were excited about the prospect of being lifted to the world stage once again and welcome the tourism dollars it could bring, but again pointed to the extreme lack of affordable housing options.

“There’s a housing crisis in Vancouver, so that should always be our priority,” said another woman on Broadway in Vancouver.

“It’s expensive, especially if you’re working on minimum wage, you cannot live here in Vancouver anymore,” said one man who doesn’t like the idea of hosting the World Cup.

Some people pointed out there are city residents who are working multiple jobs to make ends meet while the province hasn’t taken any steps to issue cost-of-living rebates to help bring prices down.

“Frankly, I think it’s a waste of money. I think there’s a lot of other things that should be a priority, and I mean, we see from the Olympics and World Cup around the world, we see that there is always a promise of, ‘This will bring in revenue,’ but at the end of the day, it actually just ends up being worst for the economy,” said one man.

“How is this going to impact our costs for rent, for housing, for food even and transit… something we’re worried about,” added another man.

On Thursday, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Lana Popham said the ministry is being as forthcoming as it can be about the costs.

“I think people should understand: if I had that number, I would share it, because we’re going to be completely transparent. There’s a lot that’s changed since 2022 and there’s a lot that’s changed just in the last few weeks,” said Popham.

“We didn’t expect to get seven games, so what seven games means to the province is that the costs are going to go up because everything we were trying to figure out with five games, like security, etcetera, is now up by two. So, we have to rework those numbers.”

In June 2022, the province estimated costs of hosting the World Cup would be between $240 million and $260 million. However, that was when Vancouver was slated to host just five games. Inflation has also fluctuated since then.

Toronto’s costs ballooned this week to $380 million.

–With files from Chris Woo, Hana Mae Nassar, and Cole Schisler