By David Owen
November 9 – Justin Trudeau, the new Canadian Prime Minister, may not be a soccer fan, but he has reason to be thankful for the economic boost that the sport has given the country in recent times.
Canada Soccer has disclosed that the 2015 Women’s World Cup, along with the under-20 Women’s World Cup the previous year, supported almost half a billion Canadian dollars in economic activity for the country, well ahead of preliminary projections of C$337 million.
Total initial expenditure for both competitions was put at C$216 million, which generated C$249 million in net economic activity, with C$97.6 million in tax revenues said to have been supported across the country. Of this C$97.6 million, C$46 million accrued to the federal government, C$36.7 million to provincial governments and C$14.9 million to the six official host cities.
This year’s tournament, won by the United States, was staged in June and July, with matches played in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montréal and Moncton.
Canada Soccer has published the figures following a study using an assessment tool provided by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA).
Victor Montagliani, Canada Soccer’s President, thanked funding partners for their support in staging “the largest single sporting event ever hosted in Canada”. He said: “Without their early commitment to the hosting of these competitions and their outstanding support throughout, along with that of the Canadian soccer community, we could not have had such a profound impact on not only our economy, but also on our country and women’s sport in Canada and around the world.”
The 2015 competition drew crowds totalling some 1.35 million.
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