It's a slow tutoring night, so I'm reading while waiting for students to chime in. One interesting piece from the Globe and Mail posited the idea that Canada might host the World Cup in the future.
According to the [La Presse of Monteal] report, Liberal MP Denis Coderre, who was then the minister for sport, conducted months of meetings and exploratory studies and the Canadian Soccer Association had officially informed FIFA that Canada wished to host the World Cup.
The project envisioned using the stadiums that now house Canadian Football League games as well as new stadiums in places like Halifax. The opening and final games would be held in Montreal.
La Presse says it has learned that Mr. Coderre would like to revisit the concept once the current World Cup has ende.
2014 is already slated for Brazil. Since the US hosted the World Cup in 1994, we've seen it go to France, Korea-Japan, Germany and now South Africa. With a trip to South America next time, all the main federations will have had a crack at it and Europe has hosted it twice since the last time it made its way to CONCACAF territory in 1994.
That would mean that its CONCACAF's turn to host. Mexico is having some major security issues that would make hosting a World Cup problematic and anti-US feelings might make having the US host in 2018 a hard sell, depending on how we're seen when the vote comes down about 2012. The rest of CONCACAF doesn't have the size to host a World Cup (unless some consortium of Caribbean countries puts together a pan-CONCACAF package like the Japan-Korea one)...
...other than Canada. Canada is close enough to the US to allow for a large number of US fans to come up but yet not be the US. The good CFL stadia can be used for the games, so sites won't be a problem.
"[S]occer experts point out that a country that has little chance of qualifying for the tournament has little chance of hosting it." True, but having a guaranteed Canadian team in the Cup would give the country a six-year push (I don't remember the exact timetable, but there is usually a six-year lead) to field a competitive team
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Speaking of cups and things Canadian, a proposal by First Nations folks to rename Vancouver's Stanley Park (named after GG Lord Stanley of cup fame) Xwayxway Park after a native village that had been there in days of yore has been shot down for now. The powers that be are saying "No kwaykway."
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