David Kinch
FIFA pass
The province dodged a bullet after FIFA dropped Vancouver
from a list of potential host cities for the 2026 World Cup.
The decision came after Premiere Horrigan said FIFA was
asking for a “blank cheque” in their demands for considering Vancouver to host
3 early-stage games of the World Cup.
Freelance journalist Bob Mackin released FIFA’s conditions
last week. They included a ten year-long
tax break and permission to import and export an unlimited amount of foreign
currency through the city. Provincial tax
dollars would have supported all increased security needed to host the
event. Vancouver and the province would
be liable for any incidents that happened during the game.
FIFA wanted a visa-free environment for it’s employees, issuing
work permits “unconditionally and without any restriction or discrimination of
any kind.”
FIFA also demands it be granted exemptions from Canadian
labour laws.
FIFA even added in a “step in” clause into the deal,
allowing them to change the conditions of the bid at any time of their
choosing.
The games would have been at the provincially owned BC
place, which the tax-payer would have to pay to upgrade before giving almost all
the ticket sales to FIFA.
The decision from FIFA to drop Vancouver came after Horrigan’s
NDP were asking questions and attempting to negotiate a less one-sided
deal.
Critics of the NDP’s refusal to comply to FIFA’s demands cite
the success of the 2015 Woman’s World Cup in Vancouver. Unlike the Women’s World Cup, Vancouver would
not get the international attention of hosting final (or even semi final)
games. FIFA helped the city cover some
the cost of hosting the 2015 event and will do no such thing for 2026.
The “architect” of Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics, John Furlong,
told Global News that hosting the event would have provided marketing coverage “you
can’t buy.”
That might be true if Vancouver was hosting the final and
more popular games. Risking so much financially to simply host some obscure
first round games makes no sense.
Liberal MLA Jas Johal told Global News that he believes passing
up on this opportunity would be a step backward after Vancouver has ditched it’s
“No-Fun City” label.
It is better to risk being called “no-fun” than to allow an
organization with a history of corruption, bribery, and scandal.
In 2015, the FBI indicted 40 associates of FIFA on corruption
charges.
The former president Sepp Blatter did not even visit
Vancouver during the Women’s World Cup because he feared being arrested
according to Mackin. Blatter has since
resigned from the organisation.
The World Cup is the most viewed sporting event on earth. If the conditions were different, and
Vancouver was hosting more important games, this could have been a good
idea. FIFA has too many negative
connotations associated with its brand right now to allow them to change conditions
of the bid even after it has been agreed on.
The Liberals should have all been more skeptical of FIFA if
they want to brand themselves as the fiscally responsible provincial party.
The NDP come out
looking like the responsible adults on this issue after the terrible conditions
of this deal have come to light.
Vancouver did dodge a bullet, since the details have come out of the contract Vancouver would have had to sign; Chicago and Minneapolis have announced they aren’t interested either. Its crazy to think that in the contract a clause that each government is requested to assume full responsibility- at its own cost for safety and security of the competition without providing information how much this would costs is nuts. FIFA’s recently has way too many negative connections with its brand over the past few years and this was a smart move for Vancouver to not proceed any further.
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