Edmonton’s impressive heritage in hosting major events requires little introduction to many in the international sporting community.
From the 1978 Commonwealth Games to the 2001 World Championships in Athletics to the ice hockey season’s pinnacle, the Stanley Cup Playoff, just last year, Alberta’s capital city has a track record that stretches back generations in terms of delivering memorable events.
Situated east of Alberta’s impressive Rocky Mountains, Edmonton is North America’s northernmost metropolitan area with a population of more than one million. However, sporting pedigree has arguably played as big a role in defining the city’s identity as its thriving gas and oil industry, which has helped to drive its continued growth as a hub of business, retail, art and culture.
After all, this is the home of the historic world champion women’s basketball team, the Edmonton Grads, and the five-time Stanley Cup-winning Edmonton Oilers, where the legendary Wayne Gretzky starred during the 1980s.
Now, Edmonton has set its sights on securing host city status during the 2026 Fifa World Cup, which will be staged across the United States and Mexico, as well as Canada.
Growth
Edmonton has certainly been at the forefront of the unprecedented growth of football in Canada by playing a central role in staging the sport’s biggest occasions in the country.
With its 56,000-capacity Commonwealth Stadium setting an attendance record that still stands from the 2002 Fifa U-19 Women’s World Championship, the city built on the momentum by hosting key matches during the 2007 Fifa U-20 World Cup and the 2014 Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup, before setting another crowd benchmark at the opening match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015.
“There’s a reason why Edmonton is ranked third in the country and 33rd in the world as a sporting host destination,” says Janelle Janis, director of Edmonton Events, who explains how Edmonton was one of two cities that became NHL hubs during the pandemic, due to its capabilities. “It is because we truly believe in harnessing the power of partnerships to achieve great things together, and that is exactly what happened with the NHL hub city here in Edmonton.”
Strategic partnerships
Edmonton Events is a strategic partnership between the City of Edmonton and Explore Edmonton, the city’s destination marketing organisation, that dates back to 2012. Together, they are the primary driver of attracting major sport and cultural events to the city, with the partnership ensuring that priorities are aligned, deliverable and measured.
When a bid is being weighed up for a major event, three key pillars are considered: the economic impact and potential return on investment; the opportunity to raise the profile and reputation of Edmonton; and the possible sport and social benefits that can be achieved in the community. Edmonton Events is involved throughout the whole process, from the bidding and negotiation stage to the delivery of the event.
Promising a “one-stop shop”, event organisers have access to various levels of support from both the city and Edmonton’s destination marketing organisation. This support spans areas such as securing the necessary funding, garnering local political support, building and enhancing the event marketing plan, connecting with local sponsor leads, sourcing local suppliers, designing a comprehensive sustainability plan, and building and executing on sport and social benefits as part of legacy plans.
Governance structure
Edmonton’s experience as a major event host has underlined the importance of collaboration, as well as adapting if required, to refine the bidding and hosting process.
Earlier this year, Edmonton’s governance structure was revised to feature two leadership committee levels – the Champions Committee and Bid Leadership Committee – ahead of a planned venue visit by Fifa delegates in November.
The Champions Committee features business and community leaders who will be engaged during the visit to demonstrate that there is widespread support for Edmonton’s candidacy. Chief Billy Morin, Enoch Cree Nation, is the chair of the Fifa Champions Committee and Tim Adams is the vice-chair of the Fifa Champions Committee, as well as Free Play founder and executive director.
The Bid Leadership Committee guides the preparations for the venue visit by Fifa delegates to ensure that Edmonton demonstrates effectively why the city should be selected as an official host city. The committee includes staff from City of Edmonton staff, who have a lead role in the venue visit, as well as Explore Edmonton, plus representatives from Edmonton International Airport, Edmonton Police Service, Emergency Medical Services, Alberta Soccer Association and each of the proposed training sites.
Other committees have also been established to enable the successful development and delivery of responsibilities ranging from logistics to content development and communications.
Unprecedented audience
According to Maggie Davison, interim chief executive at Explore Edmonton, hosting Fifa World Cup matches could be transformative for Edmonton and Alberta, helping to showcase the city and region to an unprecedented audience.
“This is a global stage unlike anything we have ever seen before where we can feature the multicultural talent of Alberta artists and performers as we programme around the 80 matches in the competition,” Davison says.
“With one in five Canadians being born outside the country and with the power of the world’s number-one sport as the anchor, we will use 2026 to celebrate Alberta’s diversity and inclusion by coming together in a celebration of sport, culture and connectivity. It will be one big celebration that uplifts us all and showcases an Alberta that’s proud, inspiring and united.”
Figures from multiple surveys illustrate growing levels of support for the bid.
In spite of the pandemic, a poll in August 2020 found that support for Edmonton’s bid to host FIFA World Cup games had actually increased from to 77 per cent from 71 per cent two years earlier.
Furthermore, in an open-link survey that was available on the City of Edmonton’s website for anyone to take, 94 per cent were supportive of Edmonton being named a host city for the tournament.
For a city steeped in sport, it is clear that the appetite from locals for the FIFA World Cup is stronger than ever.