Hosting FIFA World Cup will cost taxpayers $1B: watchdog report

Hosting the 2026 World Cup will cost governments across Canada more than a billion dollars, putting the cost per game at $82 million, according to a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).

The estimated $1.066 billion price tag to host games in Vancouver and Toronto will see the federal government cover $473 million with the rest covered by other levels of government.

In all, Canada is hosting 13 of the 104 games being played across Canada, Mexico and the United States from June 11 to July 19 with seven to be played in Vancouver and six in Toronto.

The bulk of the federal support is focused on infrastructure and security.

Federal transfers to other levels of government for operations and infrastructure total $220 million, while $145 million is being transferred to other levels of government for security operations with another $79 million going to the RCMP.

The PBO referenced a recent report from the City of Toronto indicating that, including federal financial support, it will cost taxpayers a total of $380 million to host its six games, while the seven in Vancouver will cost about $578 million, the PBO said.

The report also said that should costs in Vancouver and Toronto rise "any city-level hosting costs exceeding the grants provided by the federal government are expected to be paid for by other levels of government."

While the PBO says the government support of $82 million per game is "roughly in line with what was spent per game on previous tournaments" Canada's costs are significantly lower than some recent tournaments.

For example, the cost to governments in Russia per game for the 2018 World Cup was about $109 million, while Japanese and South Korean governments paid $112 million per game in 2022 and Brazil's World Cup in 2014 cost its taxpayers $125 million per game.

In contrast, France paid just $22 million per game in 1998 and Germany's were about $50 million each in 2006.

The PBO warns that its estimates for other World Cups "should be interpreted as lower bound estimates" because they only include organization and venue costs.

Before releasing the fall budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his intention to separate day-to-day operational spending from capital investments in all federal budgets going forward.

Doing that, he said, will make it easier to see what is being borrowed to spend on the business of running the day-to-day operations of government and what is being borrowed to spend on buying or investing in assets.

The PBO said that it estimates $128.1 million of the federal contribution could be classified as a capital expenditure, although it says that amount is not expected to be registered as a capital expenditure in the public accounts.

The PBO says that about $126.1 million of that capital expenditure will go toward BMO Field in Toronto, B.C. Place in Vancouver and other FIFA training sites in the country.