$82 Million Per Match? The Real Cost of the World Cup in Canada | Your Morning

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]We know the World Cup is one of the largest sporting events on the planet and this is the biggest the tournament has ever been at 48 teams. So Canadian taxpayers will be forking over more than a billion dollars to help put on these games. The parliamentary budget officer puts the public cost of the tournament at around 82 million dollars per match.

[00:00:19]Organizers promise this is going to bring a major economic injection, but is it enough to offset the cost to taxpayers? For more of this morning, we're joined by Pedro Antunes. He's a chief economist at Signal 49 Research.

[00:00:30]Welcome back.

[00:00:32]Well, good morning. Thanks for having me. Listen, I'm glad you're here to break down some of this creative accounting for us. This football financing. We've reported the cost breakdown for a World Cup game sits around 82 million dollars per game.

[00:00:44]Previous hosts have paid more, but a reminder, these games are shared with two other countries. We are hosting only 13 out of 104 games. So do you think What do you think of this price tag for Canada?

[00:00:56]Well, it's not too surprising. I think the majority of the costs associated with hosting or or or putting on the each of the games are essentially security and you know, we know that security costs have ramped up significantly over over the last number of decades, I would say.

[00:01:13]So it's it's not that surprising. The total cost as per the parliamentary budget officer is as you mentioned just over one billion dollars.

[00:01:22]The economic ramifications according to FIFA and again, we don't really know all of the details that went into the analysis, but they seem reasonable at about two billion dollars in economic what we call GDP and what is GDP? It's essentially income generated from essentially wages that are pushed up by the event and profits for businesses that are operating or seeing some return from from that event. So So there is a return here, but yeah, it's it's it is costly. Okay, can you break down you mentioned security. Where else does this money go?

[00:01:57]Well, I think for the cities themselves there's been some capital investments as well. Again, most of it is hosting the events and and putting in place communication systems, audio video and you know, all of the requirements that FIFA FIFA has in their in their contracts with the with the two cities. So again, you know, most of it will be will be you know, with respect to that to that policing the event and making sure that that you know, security is maintained. I remember asking the Pan Am Games officials like it's and they explained it to me this way. It's like you have this honored guest. So it costs a lot to host an honored guest. Pedro, answer this for me. When people hear quote billions in economic impact, what's that actually mean?

[00:02:43]Yeah, I I I think we need need to be careful. There's a few numbers being strewn around. One of them is the the kind of what we call the gross output.

[00:02:51]It's it's double what the GDP impact is.

[00:02:54]What's really important here is the GDP and GDP is again is just income generated. So think about our wages.

[00:03:01]That's economic activity that we've generated and the income generated from that is GDP. Essentially how we measure that. And there's also profits as I mentioned. So those two components, why are they important? Well, first of all, if you have governments putting in a billion dollars, a lot of that will will get translated into income into GDP. But then governments can also tax that as you may know. I'm sure all of your probably listeners know that for every dollar made in income, the government takes about 40%. So 40 cents of that. So that means about 700 million dollars will be returned according to the study from that FIFA presented, returned back to government coffers, provincial and federal mostly, not at the city level as much.

[00:03:45]All right. We know business owners are taxpayers too and we've spoken to some already in the hospitality industry.

[00:03:51]This is a huge boost for them. But for the average citizen, you know, you outlined where our tax dollars could potentially go. We're talking health care, roads, infrastructure. So, is there an economic benefit to hosting the games?

[00:04:03]Well, I I think Yeah, I think the net Sometimes people refer to it as a return on investment. I don't think we'll see necessarily a positive return on investment here.

[00:04:12]But again, government spend on a whole bunch of things, as you just mentioned.

[00:04:16]Sometimes we're looking to spend on things that are productive that will enhance our production, our productivity, if you'd like. Those are investments in infrastructure, as you mentioned. Other times it's associated with health care. These are public services. And sometimes we do things like parks or recreation just for the benefit of of of the population. So, it really is up to the taxpayers and voters to decide whether these are the right moves. But I do think that we've had success in the past in the sense of national pride. There's value to that.

[00:04:47]You know, we've seen very successful Olympics in Vancouver, for example, the Winter Olympics back then. So, if our national team does well, I think this will be a positive for everyone here.

[00:04:56]>> I like that you're ending this conversation with a smile on your face.

[00:04:59]Pedro Antunes, chief economist at Signal 49 Research. Great to have you here.

[00:05:03]Good morning.

[00:05:04]It's a pleasure. Thank you.

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