BC Today May 29: Province estimates costs to host FIFA World Cup | Costs of weddings

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]lower than last year's high range estimates to uh thanks to discipline planning, strong financial oversight and higher projected revenues. The largest revenue source offsetting these cost is the major events municipal and regional district tax also known as the hotel tax which is paid for by visitors staying in accommodations in Vancouver.

[00:00:24]as well. Additional funding from the government of Canada for operations and infrastructure and safety and security has helped offset our gross cost. These updated projections reflect our commitment to careful planning and responsible use of public funds. At the same time, the economic benefit remains strong and as well the opportunities to open new doors for trade, investment, and business growth.

[00:00:50]We're expecting 350,000 fans at BC Place throughout the uh tournament, plus thousands more at the FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver at the P& events and celebrations throughout the province. The impact continues well beyond the last match and the last pitch. Over the next five years, we expect approximately 1 million out of additional out of province visitors, more than 200 million in provincial tax revenues, and approximately $1 billion in additional GDP for BC's economy.

[00:01:26]This is more. This is about more than just a tournament. It's about supporting local businesses, creating good jobs, and strengthening BC's economy for the long term.

[00:01:37]Through our Look West strategy, we're using events like the World Cup to position BC as a top destination for investors and visitors alike. With Destination BC, we're actively showcasing the province through the beautiful seats marketing campaign to capture global attention. And we're making sure these benefits are shared throughout British Columbia. That includes legacy investments such as up to 20 community mini pitches throughout the province through a partnership with VIA Sport and with the Vancouver White Caps. Funding for 33 communities to host free public events during the tournament. Seven of these communities will host Canada celebrates events.

[00:02:21]partnership with Science World, including the FIFA Museum soccer and Technology Exhibition and the Science of Sport on the Road School program and initiatives with Christine Sinclair to inspire the next generation, especially young women in sport through a series of soccer summits as well as providing up to 350 free tickets so that children and youth with barriers to access can attend World Cup match.

[00:02:50]matches at BC Place through a partnership with PAFCO and the city of Vancouver.

[00:02:56]None of this would be possible without our strong partnership with the city of Vancouver, Muscuiam Squamish and Slaywatth, the government of Canada, BC Pavilion Corporation, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, our tourism partners, our safety and security partners, Translink, and the Vancouver International Airport.

[00:03:20]Together we have planned a world-class event and in just 13 days the world will be watching and British Columbia will be ready. Ready to deliver, ready to welcome and ready to turn this moment into a lasting benefit for people throughout the province. And now I will invite my colleague Minister Kalan to speak a few words.

[00:03:40]>> Thank you. I appreciate it. Uh it is fantastic to be here. I want to also acknowledge that we're on the traditional territory of uh the Coalish people. recognize the musculum, Squamish and Slayw nations. And my friends uh Vancouver is ready uh to host the World Cup. This is an exciting time for British Columbia, for Canada, and for soccer fans from all around the world.

[00:04:04]Not only is another generational opportunity for us to attract investment, to create new opportunities for BC businesses, to reach new markets, to create new jobs, and to showcase everything that we have to offer to the globe. Um, not only is the province total net cost projections for hosting the World Cup are about $31 million lower than originally expected, we also expect $1 billion in GDP growth as a result of the investments and we're keeping that momentum rolling. Now, uh, Minister Kang has made some comments, but I just want on a side note share that today is also the selection day for the team and, uh, I, uh, send my best wishes to the athletes. I know what that feels like to wait for a phone call to be notified if you get a chance to go to the World Cup and it can be a stressful uh time and um and I think it's important to note that soccer is unlike or football if you choose to call it is unlike any other sport when many of the sports around the world uh it requires deep pockets to be able to get to the highest level. Uh soccer is one of the most successful sports worldwide. Uh it's a sport where a kid can grow up in a refugee camp uh find themselves to uh to be able to live in Canada, be in Canada to the next uh chapter of their lives representing Canada at the world's biggest stage. Uh it's why soccer or football is called the world's beautiful game and the beautiful game is going to be coming to beautiful British Columbia.

[00:05:38]We're looking forward to hosting everyone and uh look forward to hearing your questions. So thank you.

[00:05:44]>> Thank you everyone. We will take questions from the media now. Media in the room, please walk up to the microphone provided and state your name and outlet. One question and one follow-up only.

[00:05:54]>> Uh hello, it's Ben Miler with CTV News.

[00:05:57]Um I note that uh the cost for hosting the FanFest uh at the P& is estimated to be $26 million. I wonder if you can go into any detail about how much that estimate is dependent on robust ticket sales for the uh amphitheater uh which at this point uh have not u been uh it just does not appear that there have been robust ticket sales.

[00:06:21]>> Thank you so much for that question and 80% of the revenues have been accounted for in uh this total planning. Um the tickets are not um the entirety of of the fan festival. In fact, we are depending on uh cost of food and beverages. Um uh Vancouver's hotel tax as we have mentioned in our our speech um was implemented in 2023 and is doing very well and the projections of that will also help uh offset the cost of uh the fan festival.

[00:06:51]>> I don't know that I heard an answer to my question there, but we can move on.

[00:06:55]Um when the original estimate for hosting these games came out, it was $230 million. Now not withstanding the revenue offsets that you are talking about now the cost is more than three times that for a lot of British Columbombians uh they they're looking forward to these games but they're wondering why the cost tripled uh and if it was known that the price was going to go up why were uh more realistic cost estimates not put forward from the beginning.

[00:07:25]>> Thank you. And and I'll try again with with the first question. What I meant to say about the FIFA fan festival and tickets is that it's not reliant on the ticket sales to have a successful game, uh, we have already recovered 80% of the cost of of our total planning. So, um, ticket sales will add a nice bump to it, but we're not dependent on it. Um, in terms of your question, so last year's update, uh, we did not provide the security and safety estimates last year because we didn't know the parameter and um, a lot of the safety and aspects of what FIFA would require of us. So that was not in the cost estimate last year.

[00:07:58]Um the bump up of what we see this year is with safety and security. Um with that we also saw um the the the contributions of the federal government with $100 million to support us with that. um the games that we are investing in is not just the seven games that we see here in British Columbia but it's also the investments the economic development opportunities that we see here um o sorry uh uh with the seven gains but over the next five years um so projection of economic benefits for British columbombians here is that we will see an additional uh 100 u million people in the next five years visiting here we will also see an additional $1 billion ion dollars of GDP growth in British Columbia. And so we're not just building for the seven games, we're building out within the f next 5 years of economic prosperity as well.

[00:08:50]>> Next reporter, please please state your name and outlet.

[00:08:52]>> Hi, uh Joseki, City News, Vancouver. Uh ministers, nearly 8,000 seniors are waiting for long-term care beds in the province. There's delayed construction to a 50-year-old Burnaby hospital and not to mention the high cost of living.

[00:09:04]And those are just some of the issues that residents have voiced to me that they say this money could have been spelt spent elsewhere. Uh I heard time and time again residents are feeling priced out of actually enjoying this uh this tournament. So how can your government justify spending nearly $700 million on a hypothetical economic boom?

[00:09:22]>> Thank you so much for this question and I think we need to look at this from many points of views. Um as we are uh Minister Kalan and I are both um responsible for economic growth either in trade diversification or in a grow growth of our tourism sector. When we are planning majors events like this this is one of the pillars that we have in our economic strategy. When people come and they bring their monies and spend it here when we see opportunities of diversity uh diversifying our trade we see an economic growth and we see a growth in our GDP. And with this money that we are making for the province, we're able to invest either in our capital projects or um our programming which seniors, kids, um schools need.

[00:10:04]And so we need to work at this from all fronts.

[00:10:07]>> Followup.

[00:10:09]>> Just add that uh it's it's not whether you want to grow the economy or provide important services. It's both. We must grow the economy, create good paying jobs, increase revenues so that we can continue to do the things that we're doing. We're building long-term care uh homes at record paces. In fact, the highest amount of construction we're seeing in that space right now. Uh we not not only that, but the minister also mentioned that more than 40% of the costs for the World Cup so far that we project is coming from tourists that are visiting and paying the cost through uh the uh the tax at the hotel. So, uh, we need to continue to find opportunities to grow the economy so that we can provide long-term care opportunities, expand our health care, uh, expand the opportunities for education for young people. We need to do both, and that's what this uh, this initiative is about.

[00:11:00]>> Do you have a follow-up?

[00:11:02]>> Um, the, uh, you mentioned that, uh, 80% of the cost is accounted for. Where is that 20%? Uh I noticed in your uh in your slides that you sent out that uh security costs from uh the federal government still has yet to be seen. So where is that 20% uh how are you going to account for that? And uh can you give an update on the security cost that you're waiting for from the federal government?

[00:11:23]>> Uh thank you so much for that. So the 20% um we're hoping to recuperate that by the rental uh fees that we see at BC Stadium, either the tickets that we see at the amphitheater. Um perhaps we will see a better growth in our food and beverage sales at the Fan Festival.

[00:11:40]There's so many ways that we could recuperate this cost and um our our partners are working hard on that. Uh in terms of our safety and security um um cost, it's uh $242 million at this point. Uh we continue to work with our subject experts at the uh unit of safe safety and security unit. Um I will have to pivot this to um our our uh subject experts there. But um there there will be no um um line item cost as we want to make sure that uh we we contain um our safety and security measures and uh keep it confidential so that we can carry out the work that we need to keep our citizens safe.

[00:12:18]>> Next reporter, please.

[00:12:19]>> Hi there, Tanya Fletcher, CBC. Um, looking at the framing of this, you and the uh you're touting the updated um higher thanex expected revenue, but a lot of that is simply taxpayer funds from another level of government. You know, there's the $und00 million from public safety from the feds, but is it not misleading to taxpayers to call that a revenue stream when really it's still taxpayer dollars just from Ottawa instead of BC?

[00:12:43]>> Well, thank you so much for that uh question. And so today's update is about BC's um projected cost and revenue and economic benefit and we really thank uh the the federal government for their uh contributions. Um this is going to be a contribution from all taxpayers across British uh prom Canada as Canada is supporting Toronto and uh BC with our games. Um we are going to be um making revenues um on um with our partners at the city of Vancouver. in 2023, they had the foresight to say, "Look, we are going to be um hosting a lot of major events such as the Taylor Swift, such as the Invictus Games, um such as um uh other major events that are coming and people will be staying at our hotels.

[00:13:30]So, can we put in um a major events hotel tax?" And so, this is a 2.5% on top of the 3% that they have. So since 2023 they have been collecting 5.5 uh% from visitors who are staying in Vancouver hotels. And so in the seven years we're projected at a very healthy and uh stable projection of um 20 uh 20 $250 million to about $260 million are you in these projections especially looking at the economic return on investment? I mean a lot of that is hypothetical. And what is your measure of success beyond these numbers that as you say we might not even know till years down the road. So beyond living in this bubble of these hypothetical numbers, what will be your measure of of success especially for British Columbombians and Vancouverites who are still struggling with cost of living?

[00:14:24]>> Uh well I would say that these are not hypotheticals. These are pretty serious detailed numbers. There's no jurisdiction that's hosting a World Cup right now that is releasing the detailed information that is being released by the province of British Columbia. Um, when we project 1 billion of GDP growth, that's not a hypothetical. We've done this before. We've estimated and then we saw with Taylor Swift alone $140 million to our GDP. Now, Taylor Swift is amazing uh and it was a big catch for us to get, but the World Cup is one of the biggest events in the world. And so whether it's 900 million or whether it's $1.1 billion, we are going to see that and that means more tax revenues through taxes. It means more uh revenues coming in from investments and that is significant. Um every jurisdiction that's had hosted a World Cup has seen the economic benefits. Uh the modeling that we've done uh is based on modeling we've done in other major events that we've seen here. and um and the minister has highlighted that there's uh significant opportunities above and beyond the numbers that we've released today.

[00:15:31]>> Reporter please.

[00:15:33]>> Hi, Bob Mackin with the breaker. News.

[00:15:35]Uh I compared some of the numbers in the 2025 report with today's report. And I noticed that under other, it's substantially higher about $86 million for other. It doesn't explain what other means, maybe double last year's estimate, but for the city of Vancouver estimates, it's gone down 14%. So why is the city of Vancouver revenue lower this year and what is the other and why is that higher?

[00:15:58]>> Well, thank you so much for that uh question and so I understand that just uh moments ago you received a technical briefing from my deputy minister. Uh these uh very uh technical line-to-line items I think would be best referred to him. So I'll get you connected.

[00:16:12]>> Question and it wasn't selected. So were you briefed on that number and do you know the number?

[00:16:17]>> This is your portfolio.

[00:16:18]>> We can get that further.

[00:16:19]>> Okay. Um so uh this question will be best directed to the city of Vancouver as it is the aligned item. Uh >> it's in your report released to us today. So do you know what's in your report released to us today?

[00:16:30]>> We will get the city of Vancouver to get in touch with you.

[00:16:33]>> Okay. And the report also says that the net cost of uh the fan festival is $26 million. What is the gross cost of the fan festival? What is the province's funding formula? How much is the province putting into the fan festival?

[00:16:49]And why in this report is the pine amphitheater not actually included as a cost because it is necessary for hosting this event and it's on the schedule to host this event. I remember back uh before the Olympics the NDP properly held the IND the BC Liberals fee to the fire and uh noted that the convention center next door seway and other infrastructure was an Olympic cost. So why is the PE amphitheater not a World Cup cost? Uh thank you so much and so this is a aggregate uh sorry aggregate cost that we have come up with and um line by line items would be a technical briefing um so we could we could get um the deputy minister's office to get in touch with you.

[00:17:33]>> This is your portfolio.

[00:17:35]>> This is a so the technical briefing that you just had was the opportunity to ask those questions. Um right now we're talking about um the cost estimates and and political direction and the work that um all of the host committees are doing together as partnerships.

[00:17:49]>> Ravi about the empathy being the World Cup cost.

[00:17:54]>> I can just share with you that you're asking about a cost specifically the city of Vancouver. I appreciate you you have an interest on that and we can get the city of Vancouver to get that for you. But the uh the investment into the amphitheater by the city of Vancouver and the need for that is going to have a legacy well beyond the games. I wouldn't uh say that it was built for the World Cup u but it's been built for bringing more tourists and more economic opportunities to the P& grounds. It's going to have a legacy for years into the future.

[00:18:24]>> Any any more next reporter please? Next, next >> you don't know.

[00:18:30]>> I don't have the specifics of the >> next reporter, please.

[00:18:37]>> Hi, Radio Canada. When we look at the the revenue projection, even in the low range, it's significantly higher than what it was in 2025. When we set aside the 100 million from the federal government, what are the elements that make you think that the revenue will be higher than what they were in your estimation in 2025? Yeah, thank you so much for that question. And so when we take a look at the revenues that we have um in partnership with the city of Vancouver, the hotel tax plays a really large part of it. And so in the next uh seven years, we'll be able to see a 250 to $260 million uh revenue from tourists that are staying in uh Vancouver for that as well. Um we are also um receiving contributions not only the $100 million uh from the safety and security from uh safety security Canada but also um CA uh Sports Canada as well.

[00:19:28]Um they have uh provided up to $116 million in support of these games. Um there are other uh hosting and revenues that we get from uh BC Place as we are renting this to uh FIFA Canada. And so the services that they they are asking uh BC Place to offer is also a source of uh revenue for us.

[00:19:50]>> The contribution from the federal government is one of the main reason for the increase in the revenue projection.

[00:19:56]>> Um I would say it have to be the hotel tax and also um the the rental uh revenues that we're getting from BC Place.

[00:20:04]>> We are going to the phone line next. Uh reporters on the phone please press star one to enter the queue. We have Alec Plasby from Wakovasan. Please go ahead.

[00:20:15]>> Just wanted to ask a lot of these projections for revenue are, you know, speculative at this point as are the projections for costs. Um I'm just wondering what makes you certain that we will have such high revenue given some of the things that we've seen around hotel rooms not being booked around um lack of uh you know people buying up tickets for FanFest and you know what we saw with the uh Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 where you know projected revenues and projected benefits didn't necessarily um you know pan out the way that it was projected like what makes you confident that moving down the road that we are going to get that billion dollars in additional GDP that we are going to get the revenue that you say we're going to get um during the during the games just what makes you confident that the projections are accurate?

[00:21:10]>> Well, thank you so much for that question and I'm very confident about the numbers because of the economic modeling and the partners that we're working with to get this model modeling uh tool uh done. Um we are looking at our associate major events infrastructure investments and tourism activities. Um the patterns that we have seen in the past. Uh we are working with statistic uh uh sorry uh BC statistics as well as our partners in destination BC and destination Vancouver. Um the patterns that we have been seeing uh project uh a very accurate information as well as we see the patterns that have come up in the past uh few months. Um so I'm very confident with that. But I'm also going to hand this over to Minister Keelon.

[00:21:51]>> Yeah, thanks Alex for the question. Uh there's a couple things. One, I remember two months ago the story was not enough hotel rooms. What about short-term rentals? We need more of them. Uh now folks are saying there are hotel rooms.

[00:22:04]What's going to happen to the hotel rooms? Uh what I can say is that our hotels are going to be busy. Uh we're going to have people come in. And in particular, I think the the gap that we have right now is the fact that we don't know who's going to be in the round of 32. We don't know who's going to be in the round of 16. When we know that, that's when we'll see a flurry of uh interest from those jurisdictions and those fans to want to come here. Um we were just informed that just from last week to this week, the hotel association reports a 14% increase in hotel room bookings. Uh and so we we do expect it to be very busy. As far as the economic modeling goes, we have a lot of history in modeling this. We have Invictus Games. We have the the um Grey Cup. We have Taylor Swift. We've seen the economic activity that comes from that.

[00:22:53]We've seen the Olympics. Uh and so the modeling is based off that. And it's also two years of already collecting the hotel tax. That gives us a pretty clear indication of what we can project uh for the revenue that we want to see in the province.

[00:23:07]>> Alec, do you have a follow-up?

[00:23:10]>> Yes, I do. Uh thank you. In terms of a followup, I just wanted to ask um I just wanted to ask in terms of British Columbombians being able to go to these games. I know there's been lots of complaints about the fact that um British Columbians aren't getting access to advanced tickets or subsidized tickets or and I don't personally know many people who have been able to obtain a ticket to these games who live here in BC and I know it's great to be able to welcome the world but is there any concern um from either you Minister Kang or you Minister Kalan about the fact that most British Columbombians seem to not be able to partake in the games that maybe they had hoped to be able to a couple years ago.

[00:23:55]>> Well, thank you so much for that question and um we have communicated to FIFA that uh we would like to have more priority uh ticket sales to um British Columbombians and they have done that in the first few rounds of their draw. Um we're also providing opportunities for British Columbombians to enjoy the games all across the province. I know it's not just Vancouver but all across the province. People want to be excited about the games and so that's why our government has invested in 33 communities and supporting them in hosting watch parties. Now these watch parties may be a range of 1 day 5 days to a whole total of 28 days or 38 days of watch party in their communities as well providing opportunities for 350 free tickets to youth with barriers to access. Uh we continue to find ways to >> You have been listening to Tourism Minister Anne Kang and economic growth minister Ravi Kon giving the province's updated cost estimates for hosting World Cup games in Vancouver. As you heard, those gross costs to taxpayers in BC are now between 685 to 729 million. That's about at least 100 million more than the estimate the province gave about 1 year ago. However, the province also says its revenue projections are up, bringing the net costs down. We'll continue on FIFA World Cup games costs coming up, and we'll take your calls as well on BC today. That's right after the news.

[00:25:25]Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. The gross price tag for hosting FIFA World Cup games in Vancouver has gone up at least $100 million from last year according to the province's latest update. But the province also says higher revenue projections will bring the net coast cost down from a year ago.

[00:25:43]We'll go through the numbers in greater detail. And we're asking you, what do you think of the cost of hosting the World Cup? Is it worth it for BC after 12:30? They're not the World Cup, but weddings can still cost a pretty penny.

[00:25:55]So, let us know what you're spending in 2026. I'm Michelle Elliot. Welcome to BC Today.

[00:26:06]You can call us now on the FIFA World Cup costs. Our numbers are 604-6693733,604-669-3733 or 1 800825-55950.

[00:26:22]You can also just hit pound690 on your cell phone or email us [email protected].

[00:26:29]You can also leave a comment if you're joining us on Tik Tok. Now the cost of Vancouver hosting FIFA World Cup games are in. The pro provincial government just held a press conference starting about half an hour ago with tourism minister Anne Kang and economic growth minister Ravi Kalan. Now the estimated price tag h has gone up. Here are some numbers for you. Now the updated gross core and essential costs to government are now estimated between 685 and 729 million. So that's the range. Last year the province's projections started 100 million below that range. They said the increase is mainly due to a more complete safety and security plan and updated estimates for the FIFA fan festival. However, Tourism Minister Anne Kang said projected revenues are also up, bringing the net cost down after those revenues to 114 million. And that's down 31 million from last year's projections. Let us know what do you think of the cost of hosting FIFA World Cup games. Is it worth it for BC? Our numbers again 604-669-3733 800825-5950.

[00:27:46]our email again, [email protected], and you can leave a comment on our Tik Tok live. I'm pleased to welcome my guest Mosha Lander, the sports economist at Concordia University in Montreal. Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for joining us.

[00:28:01]>> Hello.

[00:28:02]>> What do you make of these new numbers we've heard today?

[00:28:06]>> Well, I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so. When we had this conversation years ago, uh the question was, is it going to deliver the bang for your buck that the mayor of Vancouver was promising? And my answer was unequivocal then as it is now. No, it's not worth it. Uh the fact that it's only $100 million uh worth of cost to the taxpayers, I think is actually understating the situation. Uh but it just shows that there's not money to be had in hosting these large scale events.

[00:28:34]I know that Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics and they should be very proud of what they hosted, but it didn't make money either, unfortunately. And so, if you want to do these for vanity or for ego or just because you want to have a good time, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm totally in favor of democracy, but our political leaders have flat out lied to us uh with what it was going to cost. It's now about three times more than the original numbers they presented, and I still think that they're off on those revenue numbers in this recent update. I think that they're overstating the situation. So I think that the ask on the public purse is still a little bit too low, but we'll find out in the fall.

[00:29:06]>> Is the the security cost though something not not um you know quite unpredictable? Is it not hard to estimate years away?

[00:29:15]>> Yeah, and that's the problem is that when you're going to host this event years in advance, anything can happen in that interim. So it's not just the security costs. We've now found out who is going to be playing in Vancouver. And I think if you asked 6 years ago, 7 years ago, who would be playing, we knew that, of course, Canada would be in because we're co-hosting the event. Uh, but I think that a lot of people would have said, "Well, I hope it's Argentina or Spain or Brazil or Germany or the the big soccer powerhouses." Uh, but they're not in Canada's group. A and no offense to the countries that are going to be participating in Vancouver, but I don't think that they're the headline grabbers. And so, unfortunately, that's going to drive the economic impact of this event, too. You have to deal with that uncertainty. And so yes, security for sure was a problem and nobody would have seen Trump 2 during Trump 1. And even if you saw Trump 2, you wouldn't have seen it as non-consecutive terms that he'd be the president right now. Uh and of course the closure of the straight of moves, what it's done to jet fuel prices, gasoline prices, uh and of course what happened with hotel prices uh and ticket prices was probably not foreseeable at the time either. But that's the uncertainty that you have to deal with. And then you have to deal with the consequences when it doesn't work out the way you thought. So when it comes to that revenue uh right so some of that is is again predicting um the ticket sales and the the attendance numbers but part of this also uh in that revenue bucket is this federal contribution. These are federal this is federal money of 100 million and so they're putting that into that revenue bucket. What do you make of how the province is calculating revenue here to get to that $114 million net cost? seems a little bit of a shell game, isn't it?

[00:30:53]That we're taking one level of government spending and calling it revenue for another level of government.

[00:30:58]Uh, you know, for me, uh, I live in Alberta. I work in Montreal. Uh, that's my tax dollars that's now going to Vancouver. So, if Vancouver says, "Hey, we're covering our costs." Yeah, you are with my tax dollars. Uh, and if you live in Vancouver, it's your own tax dollars that are being handed over to the federal government, but coming back through the provincial and municipal governments. Uh so you're really paying for it indirectly. Uh so it's again it's understating. I I think it's a little bit of a flim flam that they're doing here. Uh so again I if we're playing straight up is this money coming from people contributing to the World Cup? Uh I think that we've understated how much it's truly going to cost Vancouver and BC in general.

[00:31:39]>> What do you think we'll end up with as a cost by the end of all of this motion?

[00:31:44]>> Well, here's the thing. I I don't have my crystal ball to give you a number, but I'll tell you this. Canada's GDP is about $2.5 trillion. So if you take onetenth of 1% of $2.5 trillion, that is $2.5 billion. So the combined cost of Toronto and Vancouver together is less than onetenth of 1%. So whatever benefits come, uh the cost of the games is less than that. So we're really talking about 10 cents on $100 in terms of costs. Uh, I don't know that if you lost 10 cents in the couch cushions and you have $100 in your pocket that you're going to tear apart your couch looking for that dime. Uh, so, you know, when we're talking about these costs, in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big part of the Canadian economy. So, fine, it's going to come over budget. It's going to have to come out of tax dollars. It is going to be substantially more than $100 million. But even if it's $200 million, $500 million, a billion dollars, it is a rounding error in the grand scheme of the Canadian economy.

[00:32:40]And so, I think that we all should keep that in mind.

[00:32:42]>> Okay. And in the end, um, you know, studying other host cities, do they feel it's worth it?

[00:32:49]>> No. Uh, and that's why you don't see people lining up to host these events anymore, right? Or at least the countries that are lining up are non-democratic or uh don't really care what taxpayers have to say or they don't even rely on taxpayers to fund their governments. And it's partly because it was long ago realized that hosting the Winter Olympics, the summer Olympics, the World Cup, these don't make money.

[00:33:11]And if politicians would just say, "Look, we know it's not going to make money, but it's a great exercise in civic pride and let's just feel good about ourselves in really tough times these days. What does everybody say?"

[00:33:21]I'm totally fine if people say, "Yeah, I don't mind using my tax dollars for that. That's what voting is all about.

[00:33:25]We get to decide how to use our money."

[00:33:27]Uh, but what happened was when they kept saying, "We'll make money off of this.

[00:33:30]This will help with budget deficits.

[00:33:31]This will help finance schools and hospitals and roads and all of that wonderful stuff." Uh, when it failed to materialize, people became disillusioned. And it's funny that our political leaders consistently convince themselves that I know better. I don't need to listen to experts or I can fix the mistakes of previous hosts before them. Unfortunately, the only Olympics that ever showed a profit were the 1984 Los Angeles games. And that's because the vast majority of it came from private money, not public money.

[00:33:56]>> Let's take some calls now. My guest is Concordia University sports economist Mosha Lander. and we're asking you what do you think of the the latest uh cost and revenue projections from the BC government as to what it's going to cost to host seven World Cup games in Vancouver. And as we heard from the tourism minister, the updated projected gross cost is between 685 and 729 million and that is at least 100 million more than what was given as a projection a projection a year ago. However, they say projected revenues are also higher, bringing that net cost down uh and bringing it to 114 million. And that they say is 31 million less than last year. So, taking your calls, is it worth it for BC to host seven World Cup games in Vancouver 604-669-373300 825-5950.

[00:34:55]Liz is first up in Powell River. Hi, Liz. What's your reaction?

[00:35:00]Well, I have to be honest. I'm I'm appalled at the spending that's going into something like this when we have elderly people, the most vulnerable people in our society who's contributed all their lives are in really a state of really poor quality service for them in not only long-term care homes, but also in support they get at home. And it just bothers me so much that we have money to put into something like the FIFA World Cup and the millions of dollars they're talking, but our government is not taking care of the people who've contributed to our society, to our communities all their lives.

[00:35:44]>> Thank you very much for the call, Liz.

[00:35:46]Um, and Mosha, you alluded to this a little earlier. There was a question from a reporter to the minister as well saying there are long-term care beds and facilities that have been put on hold um in BC. Uh the second phase of the Burnaby hospital as well put on hold due to um to to cost and uh BC's projected deficit at 13.3 billion. So how do you how does the government justify this cost in the face of uh services that are in their in in the public side diminishing?

[00:36:18]It's really difficult to make that argument. I I think it's important to recognize that any decision that we make in life comes with trade-offs. You have to factor that there's no such thing as a free lunch. And so the fact that I'm uh on the air with you right now means that this is something that I could be doing with my time that I'm not to spend time with you.

[00:36:35]>> I apologize for interrupting your lunch.

[00:36:37]>> Not at all. Not at all. I'm very happy to do this. Right. But that's exactly it. Right. But there there are trade-offs and I felt that this was totally worth it. Right. Um, the government said that it's worth giving up health care or infrastructure or roads or hospitals or schools or whatever in exchange for having this once in a-lifetime opportunity. There's nothing wrong with that if they had told their taxpayers that this is what the trade-off is, right? So, uh, because they said it's 30 to 40 Super Bowls and they keep doubling down and tripling down and saying this is going to be fantastic, then you're going to get callers like that that are pretty upset saying, "Wait a second. uh you lied to me or or you misrepresented the facts on the ground and again it was not listening to experts or wasn't listening to previous hosts who said I won't do this again if I didn't have to uh or or people that are more fanboy and cheerleader for the event than they are for their own taxpayers. So, you know, I I think that the caller is right that there's some really difficult trade-offs that are now going to have to be made uh that probably didn't have to be made.

[00:37:36]And I I think that if they had gone to the public and just said, "This is one way in which we could spend our money uh and it's a once in a-lifetime opportunity for a really fun five weeks.

[00:37:45]What do you say?" If people had said, "Yeah, I'm worth sacrificing those things." Then hey, that's democracy and I'm all for that. But when you misrepresent and and deceive your your taxpayers, uh people are going to be upset when they realize what they've actually been sold. Our numbers again 604-669-3733 8008255950.

[00:38:07]Let's take another call. Mirna is up at Haidaguay. Hi Mirina. What's your reaction to the updated costs to hosting FIFA games.

[00:38:15]>> Ah, thanks for having me again today.

[00:38:17]Well, I have a quite a few quick comments. One is that people keep talking about things like civic pride.

[00:38:24]Well, we already have that in British Columbia, so we don't need FIFA to help with that. Um, and I don't really see how it is because typically most people can't afford to do anything but maybe hope for a free screen somewhere where they're sitting with a lot of their other wonderful Canadians cheering for sports because in Canada, sports are what we love. Uh, and we always support them. Whether you're talking about your high school kids basketball games in Haidaguay right now, we have some uh wonderful athletes, high school athletes that are doing rugby. So, all of us are fundraising, donating things, and making sure that they can get there because costs are high. The other thing is I keep hearing tradeoffs, you know, that we every you don't get a free lunch anywhere. Nobody was ever expecting any of that. They're all kind of entitled comments as far as I'm concerned because you also can't compare the fact that we have healthc care funding shortfalls. We have shortfalls in helping elders in our BC. You know, to me, once you start going down that road, it's very negative and I don't find it helpful. I think the fact is we knew it would cost a lot of money. Costs are always only an estimate. But you know what I'd really like to know is who are all these security costs making secure? Do you think as Canadians we're going to start uh uh interfering with uh people coming for soccer or pro aletes? In fact, we're usually the humblest people in the world. And when it either comes to a movie star or when it comes to a pro alete, you know, honestly, we give them a lot of room when they come up to Haidaguay. uh they're in our little museum and cultural center. We don't all come up to them and and we're not rude to them. They don't need security. Sure.

[00:40:11]So, I'd like to know how much money is spent and who's supposed to be being secure.

[00:40:17]>> Okay. Mirna, uh a few points there.

[00:40:19]Thank you very much for calling again from Haidaguay. Uh Mosha, I'll let you She brought up a few points there.

[00:40:24]Perhaps um I'll I'll just let you respond. Go ahead.

[00:40:27]>> Sure. So, as far as the security bit, uh I I don't think that it's necessarily that FIFA is worried about Canadians. I I think that the fear is that FIFA views the World Cup as the crown jewel of its business. It's no different than Tim Hortons views coffee and donuts as the crown jewel of its business or Apple views the iPhone as the crown jewel of its business. Any business is going to make sure that it protects its products.

[00:40:51]And so in the case of the iPhone or coffee and donuts, you have uh not security costs, but you have marketing and advertising and other things to try and make sure that you put foot uh put forward the the best foot or the the best face uh for your product. FIFA is going to do exactly the same thing. The last thing that they need are protests, uh civil disruption, uh a terrorist attack, uh some sort of uh incident that's going to be broadcast to billions of people around the world. And of course, while it would make Canada look bad, FIFA is not particularly concerned about whether Canada looks bad or not.

[00:41:25]They're worried about whether FIFA looks bad or not. And so they go to the host cities and they say, "You better make sure that everything is secure." And so unlike when you go to a Conucks game where you can walk up to the door uh of the arena and show your ticket and then you just pass through a simple little uh metal detector and you go in, FIFA is going to say, "No, no, no. We're going to have various rings of cordons uh radiating out from BC Place to make sure that nobody gets even near the place that they're going to be able to embarrass FIFA. That's what the security aspect is. Uh and so once you sign on the dotted line with FIFA, they control you at that point. And if they don't like the look of things, they're going to say add to this, change this, redo this, tear that down, and add this up.

[00:42:06]>> Why doesn't FIFA pay for that?

[00:42:09]Well, they could, except apparently there are host cities that say we're willing to pay for it. And that's what I mean that we keep falling into the same trap over and over again where we show up and say, "Well, we'll cover the cost for you. Make sure that we get a chance to host the game and FIFA's not a fool.

[00:42:23]What they do is they play cities off each other and they say, "Well, if you're not going to pay for it, then maybe Montreal would be willing to pay for it or maybe we're going to move the games away from Vancouver and we're going to give it to Seattle." And Seattle says, "Well, I don't want to lose it to Portland, so I'll pay for and you end up then getting suckered into this. Um, if I can just go back to the original point that was made there about sport and and civic pride. Uh, civic pride does come from sports and and while I'm very very much badmouthing FIFA in the World Cup, I'm a sports fan.

[00:42:50]I'm going to watch. Um, you know, as Canadians, we took great pride in watching our Canadian Olympic hockey teams and while they only got silver, you know, we were all disappointed on the Monday when we got up and and they had lost, right? Like like that's part of our Canadian identity. So, you know, when we get a chance to wave the flag and have a little bit of patriotism and rally around sports, there is an opportunity here and presumably there are some people that would be willing to pay for it. Now, as much as I like sports, I'm not willing to pay for it.

[00:43:15]Uh, but I could understand why people would. And again, if the government had come to us and said, you know, we've been picked on by the US. We're having a hard time finding trade partners. Uh, the world is a scary place these days.

[00:43:25]We have our own internal problems. I live in Alberta. There's a separatist referendum coming. Um, you know, here's a chance to kind of bring everybody together as one. Uh, is it worth 20 bucks to every Canadian? Maybe it is.

[00:43:37]Uh, and that's the type of thing then where, hey, if they had sold us that that's what we're paying for, I think a lot of people would have been on board with it.

[00:43:44]>> Let's hear from another caller now on whether it's worth it. Cindy is joining us from Whistler. Hi, Cindy. What's your reaction to this updated cost and revenue projection?

[00:43:53]>> Well, first of all, it's not surprising.

[00:43:55]it's always the way as your um your speaker so eloquently has outlined for us and I agree with him in so many ways but I have to say and I'm so disappointed that we went with FIFA versus hosting another Winter Olympics either in Calgary or in Whistler or Vancouver for that matter. It would have cost us way less. It would have refreshed venues. And one thing about major games is they're timestamped and they required infrastructure that includes transportation and housing.

[00:44:26]Both of both cities desperately need.

[00:44:30]Had Calgary been successful for 2030, there might be a high-speed train between Calgary and Edmonton.

[00:44:36]But that's not going to happen now. And what are we getting out of Vancouver?

[00:44:40]Nothing. And then for 20, even though it's and I where I disagree with your caller, even though $200 million or $100 million is spare change in the overall budget, that amount of money in the sports system in one year is huge money.

[00:44:56]>> Can I ask you >> be would be a complete game changer.

[00:44:59]>> I'm going to go back to Mosha for a response because I think he's he disagrees on on another Olympics, but you're in Whistler, Cindy. um when it comes to uh spin-off from the Winter Games, you know, is that something you've seen there?

[00:45:15]>> Oh, yeah. Like I will say that I I was able to come back from working overseas to a job because of the uh the 2010 games and housing as well and an upgrade to the highway that was promised from Expo 86 but didn't occur until 2010.

[00:45:34]Vita Skyway >> in Vita Sky Highway and the upgrades to that to that highway to our highway here and and that has direct impact into tourism. I mean ultimately Whistler is a tour tourism destination as is Vancouver and it's part of the circle and it's part a big part of the economy in British Columbia. I don't think you can necessar that I think that FIFA and the Olympics are not comparable. Although I will I completely agree with your caller when it comes to overall in general if Olympics aren't well planned by the country hosting them. They cost huge amounts of money with very little benefit to the population.

[00:46:12]>> Cindy, really good to hear from you. Uh your perspective in Whistler there. It's 12:27 now. You're with BC today. I'm going to pause for a two-minute break for our TV audience. We'll see you back here in a couple of minutes.

[00:46:26]My guest is Mosha Lander, sports economist at Concordia University. I could see you shaking your head at the suggestion of going just turning to another Olympic games, another winter games. What do you think of that?

[00:46:38]>> No, let's not do it. Um, the Olympics don't pay for themselves any better than the World Cup pays for itself. Um, I live in Calgary. Uh, I'm a a 1988 fan.

[00:46:51]I watched with great pride when the city hosted the Olympics. Uh it it it hasn't done anything medium to longterm for the city. And for the argument that it brings in tourism medium to long term, you know what? We could have done the sickest advertising campaign for a fraction of the cost and accomplish the same deal. Uh Vancouver could have done the same thing. As far as the Confederation, uh not the Confederate, the Canada Line and the Seed Sky Highway, which Vancouver got out of hosting the Olympics. Those are 50 to 100year infrastructure projects. Are you telling me that the political leaders couldn't have made a compelling argument for why money needed to be put towards these projects?

[00:47:25]>> There were calls for improvements to that seed of sky highway for years. It was very dangerous.

[00:47:29]>> Absolutely.

[00:47:30]>> So, what it tells me then is that our political leaders are bad salespeople.

[00:47:33]Uh because yes, it was dangerous. It was it has improved substantially. Uh but it's a 50-year investment. So, you don't need two weekends of Olympics to be able to make the argument unless you're just really bad at convincing the people that have the money to hand over the money.

[00:47:49]So, you know, when they say, "Well, this will allow us to get these things done."

[00:47:52]So, in the absence of the Olympics, you don't know how to make a sales pitch for a $50 or a $50 for a 50-year uh subway line or for a 50-year fix to a highway that was so unsafe to begin with. It it it concerns me that we need these events then to try and allow our political leaders. Um, the other thing that I'd say is Canada needs to stay in its lane.

[00:48:13]And much as we might put our kids into soccer, much as we might like to get up on a Saturday morning and watch soccer over in Europe, we're not a soccer country. And it's very clear that we just don't have the infrastructure for it. BC Place, unfortunately, is not a soccer stadium. And I know the White Caps play there for now, but it's not a soccer stadium. Field is not a soccer stadium either. What they have in England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, those are soccer stadiums. What we have are hockey arenas. Now, if we had said, "Let's host the World Hockey Championships or the World Junior Hockey Championships or let's host the World Curling Championships, uh, or going on just a little up the road from you and Colona right now is the Memorial Cup."

[00:48:53]We're ready for that stuff. Those things deliver economic value because we don't have to splash out hundreds of millions of dollars to create the infrastructure to host something that we really shouldn't have been hosting in the first place. So, you know, if Canada just said, "Look, we're perfectly happy watching the World Cup. we just shouldn't be hosting the World Cup. I think we would have avoided this mess.

[00:49:12]It's just once we veered off into let's host something that we're really not equipped to handle. This is where you start to find those cost overruns can really become a problem.

[00:49:21]>> My guest Mosha Lander, sports economist at Concordia University. Are you okay to hang out with us for another 10 minutes, Mosha?

[00:49:27]>> Of course.

[00:49:28]>> Wonderful. Thank you. Lots more calls coming in and some emails I want to put to you as well on whether hosting seven FIFA World Cup games is worth it. The province just issued an updated uh cost and revenue projection. So, we'll get back into the numbers and back to your calls coming up after this CBC News update.

[00:49:49]>> Good afternoon. Highway 1 between Revel Stoke and Golden is now open to single lane alternating traffic following last night's landslide in the Glacier National Park area. Drive BC reports part of the road west of the skunk cabbage boardwalk remains blocked.

[00:50:06]Travelers are advised to expect significant delays due to congestion. A wide swath of southeastern BC is under a flood watch with rainfall and warm weather accelerating snow melt. BC's river forecast center says both the eastern and western portion of the coupneys as well as the upper Columbia region are seeing rising river levels that will approach or exceed banks. The center says high river flows are expected to begin late today and continue through early next week. And as we've been hearing on the show, the provincial government says hosting the FIFA World Cup could cost nearly $730 million, about a hundred million more than projected last year. The province says most of that would be offset by revenue with the net cost up to $114 million. Details of the revenue coming in were not released. Officials say the increase is mainly due to a more complete safety and security plan and updated estimates for the FIFA Fan Festival. And now the forecast on the North Coast, mainly sunny this afternoon with a high of 12. Highs around 20 with a chance of showers in the piece. In the central interior, including Prince George, a few showers with a high of 12 as well. Highs in the mid20s with some sunshine and a risk of thunderstorms in the Coupney. In the southern interior, including Colona, a high of 22 with showers and a risk of thunderstorms. And for Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria and the Fraser Valley clearing this afternoon with highs around 18. That's your CBC news update from Vancouver.

[00:51:42]>> Rob, thank you very much. It's Rob Zimmerman in the CBC Vancouver newsroom.

[00:51:46]Welcome back to BC Today here on CBC.

[00:51:49]I'm Michelle Elliot. Thanks so much for being with us. And we'll jump off of what you heard in Rob's news update there. The updated numbers from the provincial government on the cost of hosting FIFA World Cup games, updated revenue numbers as well, which a province says bring their costs down. Uh taking your calls on this and uh my guest that has been joining us for the last hour. Uh very good to have you Mosha Lander, sports economist at Concordia University. Let's take another call from Jeremy who's joining us from Grand Forks. Hi Jeremy. What's your reaction? What are your thoughts?

[00:52:22]>> Yeah. Hi. Hi there. That >> Sure. Go ahead. That's uh you cut out there, but go ahead.

[00:52:29]>> Well, so my my my comment would be very simple. Um when FIFA approaches your municipality, you know, knocks on city hall's doors and ask your city if you want to host a FIFA game, everybody should understand this is a known extremely corrupt organization worldwide. Everybody knows this. and you should call the RCMP. And the reason is because when on their way out, they might take something. You know that that's how corrupt they really are. And what I'm surprised by is that nobody in, you know, positions of power to know that. That's very strange to me.

[00:53:07]>> Jeremy, thank you very much. And that uh the the widespread allegations of corruption and bribery um at FIFA, where does that bring us now when it comes to its um you know, trust in the organization? Mosha Yeah, it it's definitely compromised.

[00:53:21]And to an earlier caller who was asking what all the security was for, I think you should maybe keep an eye on the Lionsgate Bridge there to make sure that FIFA doesn't walk off with that. Um um look, FIFA is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world. But you know what the IOC is as well. So for an earlier caller who said we should go after the Olympics, they're not much better. Uh the problem is that a lot of countries have realized it like this past caller just highlighted and that's why they're not answering the call to host Olympics anymore. Take a look at all of the cities that have hosted the Winter and Summer Olympics since uh Vancouver. Uh and it's increasingly countries in parts of the world where democracies are not necessarily valued and honored. And for anybody who says, "Wait a second, it was just in Italy."

[00:54:04]Yeah. So, they said they'd host it, but rather than it being in one city, they said we can only host it in three cities because otherwise it's going to bankrupt any one city that tries to host it.

[00:54:13]Paris was given the summer Olympics in a heroic move by the IOC that rather than awarding one games at a time, they awarded two because they were worried that if they gave it to the true best host city, which was Los Angeles, Paris would have walked away and not come back to bid in 2028. So, they said, "We'll give it to you in 2024, even though you really didn't deserve it, and we'll give it to Los Angeles to make sure that we have at least the next 10 years worth of Olympic host tied up." So, it is one of those situations where people are slowly starting to learn this is not worth doing. take a look at where the next World Cup is going to be. It's going to be spread all over the world because there's no one country that wants to host this anymore.

[00:54:49]>> Let's take uh our final couple of calls here. Jeremy, thank you for the call from Grand Forks in Victoria. Greg is joining us now. What do you think of the cost? Is it worth it for BC? Greg, >> hi Michelle. Uh I've been following along here and like Mosha's arguments are are very compelling when you look at just the the costs rising another hundred million dollars and I can guarantee you they're going to be substantially higher than that when everything is said and done. So we're going to be well over the you know billion probably billion and a half by this time you know for the overall Canada contribution and we won't see that kind of revenue coming back. The people who will benefit are the the hotel years a few of the very high-end restaurant years and some of the people who are you know who are marketing and doing advertising through through FIFA and of course FIFA itself will rake in buckets. So >> mhm >> you know I I think it's we were putting this on for the vanity of a very few politicians and I think we need to smarten up and start looking out for ourselves for our for our education and the things that really are supposed to matter in Canada and that's you know >> Greg thank you very much uh for your call appreciate it. Now something we heard from the province earlier today was uh the part of the revenue projection is based on what they get from that hotel tax uh the municipal regional district tax. So that coming from the province uh this morning. Renee is our final caller today from Vancouver on FIFA World Cup costs. Hi Renee.

[00:56:31]>> Yeah. Hi Darren.

[00:56:32]>> Yeah go ahead. What are your thoughts?

[00:56:33]Yeah, I'm just wondering FIFA itself um how does it raise money or make money and what is it like the AOC and how do how do they decide how their money is going to spent be spent and um what kind of financial structure they have to make those decisions >> how does it like the IOC um so more about the structure of of >> yeah and how and how how do they make their own money like where does the money come from >> okay okay fairy fair question Ry thank you very match. Uh, yes. Uh, where does FIFA make money from, Mosha?

[00:57:07]>> Yeah. So, they're not that different than any other sports league. So, rather than talk about FIFA, which is an international organization, let's just think about the NHL, which is probably much more familiar to people in Vancouver, right? So, how does the NHL make money? Uh, one of the things that they do is they sell broadcasting rights. They sell merchandise. And so, a huge amount of that money comes up. Why would any broadcaster want to pay to broadcast? Because they can then turn around and use the commercial time to try and sell those spots to advertisers.

[00:57:31]If you can collect more from the advertisers, then you have to pay to the league for the broadcasting rights, then you make money in the deal, too. How does the uh business that wants to advertise during the game itself make money? Because they hope that they get an extra number of customers that pay for the advertising budget that they put in to associate themselves with the event. And so, FIFA is not really all that different. Uh, but remember that FIFA, like any other business, including the NHL, is a profit maximizing business with shareholders, quote unquote. And so what they're looking for is not an act of altruism in handing the games over to host countries, but to extract the maximum amount of money that they can.

[00:58:09]And one of the ways in which they do that is that they try and pit the various cities off each other. So you asked earlier, why doesn't FIFA pay for the security cost? because FIFA can say to Vancouver, you pay the security cost and if you don't like it, we'll give our brand to somebody else who does want to pay it. And so it's no different then that if the NHL wanted to put a team in Portland instead of Vegas, they would say to Portland, do you want to make sure that you have a ready set arena? Do you want to make sure that you paid top dollar to have the rights? Portland said no. Vegas said yes. So Vegas gets a team. It's the same thing here. Then they went to the US, Canada, and Mexico said you guys want to host it. Well, maybe there's some countries in Europe that do. how much money do you want to put up? And they said, well, we'll put up billions and whatever of dollars and we'll take care of all the security costs and you won't have to worry about a thing. You can just show up and enjoy yourselves. And they said, fine, you win.

[00:58:56]>> It's been really great to have you uh on this. Thank you so much for joining us and lending us your expertise.

[00:59:01]>> Anytime.

[00:59:02]>> Concordia University sports sports economist and that is Mosha Lander joining us from Calgary. It's 12:40.

[00:59:09]You're with BC today.

[00:59:12]Lots of emails are coming in on this.

[00:59:14]Frank writes from Siri, "I love the World Cup. I believe it is the best World Sporting event. However, I am sorry it's coming to Vancouver and Toronto. It costs an inordinate amount and average fans have no chance of seeing a game in person. It will attract some international fans who will spend a lot, but it does little for BC, Ontario, and Canada. Expo attracted a lot of people and was affordable. The Winter Olympics cost attendees more, but people who wanted to participate in some way could do so fairly easily without spending a lot. Both those events led to new infrastructure being built that is in use today. John Han was right at first. The World Cup was not worth the cost. Craig writes, "I think you spent if you spent a billion dollars building a new stadium for the White Caps or an MLB team, it would be a way better return on investment. When the Canucks go to the playoffs, for example, the economic spin-off affects the whole province top to bottom. Ry writes in Peton, "$100 million loss for seven games works out to about $285 per seat.

[01:00:20]I don't think we need to pay people to visit BC." Don writes, "Vancouver gets about 1.3 million visitors every June and then again in July. So, how is the alleged 350,000 going to amaze our restaurant and hotel owners? And Joanna writes, "Personally, the 10 cents on the dollar should be used for children's sports or busing to public schools, which in the Sanage school district, families are going to have to pay up to $600 a year for their children to get to and from school. Maybe the provincial government should look at hotel gouging so common folk could go to Vancouver when their children are in tournaments on the mainland. This reminds me of the $8 orange juice. Thank you for all your emails. bctoday at cbc.ca. Much more coverage on the FIFA costs here on CBC.

[01:01:13]Well, we are heading into wedding season. Can you feel it? But increasing costs and fears of inflation. uh that of course leads to increasing costs of weddings. So today we're going to walk talk about what it costs to walk down the aisle and we'd love to hear from you. Are you getting married and tell us about your budget and how you're approaching it? And if you are a wedding vendor or planner, how is the current economy affecting your own business?

[01:01:40]Love to hear from you. 604-669-3733 604-669-3733 or 1 8008255950.

[01:01:52]You can send us an email [email protected] or you leave a comment on our Tik Tok live.

[01:01:59]I have two guests joining me now. Selene Wilder is a wedding planner and creative partner of Above and Beyond Event Planning. Ashley Palawir is the owner and lead wedding planner of Joyful Weddings and Events. They have both joined me in studio. Thank you so much for coming in.

[01:02:16]>> Yeah. Thanks for having us.

[01:02:17]>> Thank you.

[01:02:18]>> Very good to have you. So, are things getting busier?

[01:02:20]>> Oh, yeah.

[01:02:21]>> Yeah.

[01:02:22]>> Yes.

[01:02:22]>> Okay. What are the signs? So, what does this mean for you? Um, what is your day like?

[01:02:28]I would say um confirming all the rentals, everything pre-prep the day of I would say is the probably the she would probably say is like Oh, really?

[01:02:38]>> Um all the pre-prep is really where all the magic happens. I would I would say so like all of the rental confirmations, all the timeline confirmations, making sure everyone's on the same page, right?

[01:02:48]>> Things like that. Do you have What about you, Seline?

[01:02:51]>> Yeah, actually I I have a wedding today.

[01:02:53]So after this, I'm headed there.

[01:02:54]>> You do? and I still felt like I could come and do this today because everything's pretty tied away already.

[01:03:00]So, >> yeah.

[01:03:00]>> Um, everyone has a timeline is on the same page.

[01:03:03]>> How far away do you start planning a wedding?

[01:03:06]>> Um, up to a year I would say, but it depends also when the client reaches out, but typically it's about a year, sometimes even a year and a half out.

[01:03:14]>> Okay. So, there's the time up to a year.

[01:03:17]What about the costs? Um, what kind of costs are are um people getting married facing these days?

[01:03:25]on average I would say the clients I see are like anywhere between 80 to 100,000 a year.

[01:03:31]>> Oh my good to 100,000.

[01:03:33]>> Yeah.

[01:03:33]>> And what does that go to?

[01:03:35]>> Um the main majority of it goes to venue catering, >> right?

[01:03:39]>> Yeah, I would agree. Actually, most of my clients are also sitting around 80 to 100,000. Um for a very lovely but average wedding, it's >> Hold on. So 80 to 100,000 gets you an average wedding? It gets uh some most of our weddings probably are about 120 to 140 guests.

[01:03:58]>> Oh, okay.

[01:03:59]>> Um and then that gets you a very good venue, a very good catering team. It gets you good photo and video and um >> yeah, >> you're not like doing your florals yourself. You're hiring someone for everything.

[01:04:13]>> And what are the what are costs like for someone like yourself? How how has the uh current economic situation affected you? Um, it's been okay for us. I think >> having a wedding planner in itself is still a luxury for a wedding.

[01:04:28]>> Um, and our packages we we vary. So, some of them is a full plan, some we start 6 months out, some we start two months out, we have one that we start two weeks out. Um, and so I would say we probably have less people going for the full plan and more trying to condense it a little bit.

[01:04:45]>> Um, >> yeah. And and what do your plans cost?

[01:04:49]Our biggest one is uh 7,500.

[01:04:53]Um and then it goes 6,500 and then 4,000 and then 2500.

[01:04:59]>> And not everybody gets a wedding planner, right?

[01:05:01]>> No, absolutely not. Some venues in the city require it. Um but you you don't have to choose like we've been in business since 2018. You could also go and choose a wedding planner who's much newer and you just need to have someone who's a wedding planner. Um, so I would probably guess that there's people who are just finding someone a bit newer.

[01:05:19]>> Yeah. And Ashley, so when someone comes to you, um, how do you talk about budget? You know, what advice do you give them to kind of try and set up a a realistic budget for themselves?

[01:05:29]>> Yeah. I think the for the most part, I really set up realistic expectations to begin with or I try to. I think that's the biggest key when it comes to walking into wedding planning because nothing is more of a let down when you go into wedding planning. Think you can plan your wedding for 30,000 and I want a Pinterest board that looks way more extravagant.

[01:05:47]>> My dream wedding.

[01:05:48]>> Yeah. Exactly. So I really I feel like I scale down a little bit more when it comes to realism. So I talk about okay, what is your budget? What does that look like? So we talk about we compare the vision to the budget and what it looks like. Um >> how far apart are they usually?

[01:06:02]>> Usually uh it depends. For the most part, it's pretty much I would say for the most part, it's a lot of a learning curve for a lot of my clients. So, it's not so much um talking about um I think they're willing to accept what's realistic, especially with economy right now with everything's a lot higher.

[01:06:19]>> Um and if if that makes any sense. But um >> but for the most part, a lot of it is >> teaching moments with my clients. So, we have that in the very beginning in our conversation whenever they we talk about planning.

[01:06:32]>> Okay. Okay. And what about for you?

[01:06:34]What's the first step, the first conversation when it comes to the budget?

[01:06:37]>> Yeah, it's setting a realistic um expectation and it's explaining it to them because people will come in and say, "I have 40,000 for a wedding.

[01:06:45]40,000 is a lot of money." But when you're talking about the scale of where that money is going. So, we talk about their priorities and then I explain it like this is a range from a photographer, this is a range from a florist, this is what this gets you. And then they'll really quickly start scaling down of what they actually care about.

[01:07:04]>> Yeah. And this and and again to be clear, we're kind of talking about high-end the higher end of a budget here, right? When we're talking about 80 to $100,000.

[01:07:11]>> I would say the cheapest wedding I have done in the last year is probably still 50 to 60,000.

[01:07:18]>> Sure. But I mean, people can literally go to city hall and and and have a small dinner.

[01:07:23]>> Yes.

[01:07:24]>> Um so we do want to ask our audience uh how are wedding costs for you? Are you getting married this year? We would love to hear from you. What are your costs like? What is your budget like? You can give us a call 604-669-3733.

[01:07:40]604-669-3733 or 1 8008255950.

[01:07:48]Taking your emails to [email protected].

[01:07:52]Basil is calling us from Port Kitlam. Hi Basil.

[01:07:56]>> Hi. Yes, thank you for the the topic today.

[01:08:00]Yes. When when my wife and I got married, we're thinking, well, it's very expensive. We calculated maybe 20 30,000 at that time and a lot of money. Uh and then maybe it's equivalent to about 40,000 now. Anyway, so we figured, well, you know, spending that kind of money just on the two of us for one day is an awful amount of money.

[01:08:25]>> So, we thought, what can we do to make it even more special? And so we and our wedding is not just for ourselves, but it's for the children overseas.

[01:08:35]>> So we decided to ask our friends who had a big garden if we could use their garden. This is no cost for the the the facilities and then we suggest asked if we wouldn't mind making a potluck. Then we had just tremendous variety of food, home-cooked food, which is really special. and they all brought potluck and we said instead of giving gifts to us please donate to help children overseas and there's tremendous suffering of children overseas and that so our wedding was not just for us it was for helping children overseas as well >> so I would really encourage people to think about that rather than just being for them their day them they've also done something with on that day for some people children who are suffering overseas. Yeah, that that's lovely, Basil. Thank you very much uh for that.

[01:09:26]I guess do people um take up causes at that at their weddings as well and try to highlight them.

[01:09:32]>> Um I haven't seen any recently that are that come up with causes to be honest with you. Sometimes I've had instead of wedding favors, they do charities, >> so donate to charity. They'll have a QR code to upload to I've had that a few times, but it's nothing.

[01:09:48]>> And what charities? um like whatever the the bride bride and groom love like I've had um BC Cancer Agency, things with children, things like that.

[01:09:57]>> Okay. And Seline, what about that idea of potluck? Is is you know, if you're looking to bring the cost down, what is the typically typically the most flexible part of a wedding?

[01:10:07]>> Um yeah, I've had weddings do potlucks.

[01:10:09]Um in particular, dessert is quite a common one.

[01:10:12]>> Um and it's a great way to bring your cost down. it isn't a great way to keep your stress level down of like how much you're asking of people. Um, >> so it's that's probably the trade-off of it, but a potluck is delicious.

[01:10:27]We have some emails here now as well.

[01:10:30]Joanne writes, "From a parent perspective, if I was facing this, I would set a maximum of what I could afford and the rest would be up to the couple. My contribution would be what I could afford." Uh, that is really interesting. Yes. Do parents um contribute as well to the budget?

[01:10:47]>> Sometimes.

[01:10:48]>> Yeah.

[01:10:48]>> Um for the most part, a lot of at least my clients want to try to fork it themselves for the most part. Um if anything, uh a parent would invest in maybe like the bride's dress or maybe the venue for example, like food and drink. Um so there's certain portions that they would um invest in for their kids.

[01:11:06]>> Okay. Um yes, you wanted to jump in on that.

[01:11:09]>> Yeah, I agree. I don't I don't actually have a lot of couples um where the parents are paying for the entire wedding. Um but it's generally a portion. It's it's exactly what Ashley just said. It's maybe they're paying for the rehearsal dinner or the brunch the next day or they said, "I want to take care of the bar." Um but typically the couple pays most often for their wedding.

[01:11:29]>> Okay. Now, taking your calls on the cost of weddings and of course they can be whatever you like. So you let us know how you how you're approaching budgeting for your wedding if you're getting married this year. Love to hear from you. 604-669-3733 800 825-55950.

[01:11:49]And Dwight has a story about uh a wedding and Dwight's calling from North Vancouver.

[01:11:55]>> Hi there.

[01:11:55]>> Hi.

[01:11:56]>> Yes.

[01:11:56]>> Hi. How you doing?

[01:11:57]>> I am well. Go ahead. Tell us about what your your plan was and your budget.

[01:12:01]Well, listening to all these stories of grand weddings and everything and having gone to many a wedding of that type, they all kind of blend together and and become the same sort of thing. Uh 45 years ago, my wife and I just decided to fly to Kauaii, got married on the beach, uh arranged the whole thing remotely before the internet. I think the whole thing cost us $2,000 and it sticks in our memory. uh forever.

[01:12:32]And the few people that did elect to join us um also remember this is one of the most outstanding weddings they've ever done.

[01:12:40]>> I'm sure the scenery was gorgeous.

[01:12:43]>> Sometimes simple is memorable.

[01:12:46]>> Oh, I love that, Dwight. Sometimes simple is memorable. That is wonderful.

[01:12:52]Thank you very much for the call.

[01:12:55]>> I think we we had a little bit of feedback there from Dwight. Uh, Suki is up next now in Vancouver. Hi, Suki. What are your thoughts on the cost of weddings?

[01:13:04]>> Yeah, I'm a bit worried that your wedding planners are scaremongering.

[01:13:07]What's really important is for people to have their wedding their way. Um, we haven't heard much about keeping costs down apart from from the coolers. So, I'd say you can go to a cafe or a restaurant. You can agree a set menu price. You can look into cork, which is where they pay per drink that they bring in. So, you could buy it wholesale.

[01:13:30]>> You could use a a marriage commissioner like a BC or Ontario marriage commissioner rather than using another one. They can personalize it. They can do it exactly the same, but they're doing it as volunteers. So, they it's like between, I don't know, 80 and $200 for the marriage commissioner. Um, you can, you know, the size of the wedding doesn't tell you how happy the marriage.

[01:13:51]So focus on the fun, the love, the community, and just do it your way. But I don't even think you need a wedding planner. You definitely don't need to to plan years ahead. I think mine was like six weeks ahead.

[01:14:06]>> And uh you can have like the very best day. It's a feeling that carries.

[01:14:11]>> Suki, thank you very much uh for your call. I'll let you both respond to that.

[01:14:15]I mean, yeah, that what what are your thoughts on on Suki's comments?

[01:14:18]>> You know what? I absolutely valid what Suki is saying but honestly weddings are especially right now I would say it with the economy itself like um I would say do the wedding that you want right but also if you want a large wedding you have a large wedding right it's what you want um I think right now I'm finding a lot of my clients are really um appreciating more like um what's the word um intentional weddings so when they're investing in wedding they're really putting thought into each decision so whether or not that's a handwritten card or the vendors that they're choosing. Um, that's kind of what I'm finding. But to kind of what Suki is saying, yes, you can have the most simplest wedding, but if that's what you want, absolutely you don't need a planner for that. But I think if you want to have a large wedding, there's nothing wrong with that either. Let me squeeze in Nathan in North Vancouver here. Hi, Nathan.

[01:15:07]>> Hi. Um, advice trick I use to save cost in the wedding is uh sponsors and sponsorships.

[01:15:13]>> Oh, wow.

[01:15:14]>> These are brands. Yeah. non-traditional like that's brands that are trying to break into the luxury market. Uh they wanted to get eyeballs on it or venues that are non-traditional wedding venues like the airport or aircraft hanger.

[01:15:26]>> Are are you getting married this year?

[01:15:28]>> No, I got married. That's why I did there's I already married but that's what I used to >> cover my cost like >> Right. And you're uh you're talking about social media, right? So you're on social media.

[01:15:38]>> Yeah. So we have to do some videos for them in exchange. They'll use our wedding to film their commercials to tell people, "Hey, use our venue, you know, because people never thought of using this place for a wedding."

[01:15:49]>> So, we'll do some promotion videos. I have friends that use car sponsorships that maybe it's not a traditional luxury brand, but the sponsor uh the car brand will use their brand and people get eyeballs on their cars like, "Hey, that's wow." You know, >> and Nathan, um did that affect at all um how you enjoyed your wedding? Like, were you conscious of like, "I got to do my wedding this way to uh to please you know the the sponsor the brand.

[01:16:14]>> No, not really. Surprisingly, it was pretty relaxed actually. I found I I I had that feeling in the back of my head.

[01:16:20]Okay, I got to mention these you know people, their names, their sponsors, the vendors like that are providing this free of cost, you know.

[01:16:28]>> Yeah, that is really interesting, Nathan. Thank you very much. Another another angle to this conversation.

[01:16:34]That's Nathan joining us from North Vancouver. Happy wedding season to you both.

[01:16:39]>> Thank you.

[01:16:39]>> Thank you. Thank you for joining us.

[01:16:41]Selene Wilderman is owner and creative partner of Above and Beyond Event Planning. Ashley Palawir is owner and lead wedding planner of Joyful Wedding and Events. That is it for us here.

[01:16:54]Thank you very much for all of your emails. I think we have another one on weddings here. Um Heather writes in Vancouver, "My son and his wife got married on her father's farm. We had a wonderful two-day event and we contributed a set amount and covered the rehearsal dinner. Oh, that is wonderful, Heather. Thank you very much.

[01:17:12][email protected] is where you can send us your thoughts.