City councillors in the Victoria-area community of Langford, B.C., have ruled out seeking to host a training base camp for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Councillors voted unanimously on Monday to withdraw Starlight Stadium from contention as a training site.
Ultimately, the city balked at the cost of replacing the stadium’s artificial turf with grass.
“Which would have costed the city approximately $1 million to $1.2 million,” Deputy Mayor Colby Harder said.
“We were looking forward to trying to facilitate that change, but again we weren’t able to secure provincial and federal funds.”
The federal government has allocated $115 million to B.C. for the tournament, but that money has been earmarked for upgrades to BC Place in Vancouver.
Starlight Stadium is currently home to the Canadian Premier League soccer team Pacific FC, the Canadian Junior Football League Westshore Rebels and is a training and competition venue for Rugby Canada.
Harder said FIFA rules would also have had a major impact on the public’s use of the facility.
A City of Langford staff report concluded that the city would lose about $50,000 in game-related fees, along with additional loss in revenue from other user groups.
“Pacific FC would have actually been displaced for about two thirds of the season, so that was definitely something that council considered. but we also considered the community impact on the other local sports groups,” she said.
“We would have saw the loss of some very significant community events like Canada Day that regularly takes place down at Starlight Stadium.”
Langford-Highlands MLA Ravi Parmar, who supported the bid, said he understood the city’s decision.
“Costs are tight for British Columbians right now, and we have to ensure that every dollar we’re investing is in social services, it’s in infrastructure to be able to benefit British Columbian, and so the City of Langford has been spending lots of money recently, and I’m sure they’re now coming to terms on the challenges they are facing,” he said.
Parmar added that B.C.’s Sports and Tourism minister is looking at ways communities across the province can benefit from the World Cup in the form of legacy projects, as well as how to spread the tourism the event is expected to bring beyond the Lower Mainland.
Vancouver will host the first of seven group round matches at BC Place on June 13.