VANCOUVER, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is sounding the alarm as costs to host a handful of FIFA World Cup Soccer Games in Vancouver have ballooned to $729 million — a 217 per cent increase from initial cost estimates. 

“Hosting seven soccer games is going to cost taxpayers nearly $1.2 million per minute of playtime,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “When the government is hiking taxes on families and borrowing billions, we can’t afford to spend hundreds of millions on cost overruns.” 

When politicians first pitched Vancouver as a host city, the government projected costs at $230 million for five games, about $46 million per game. The new cost estimates of $729 million brings the per game cost to $104 million. 

“Politicians are wasting taxpayer money accommodating outrageous requests from FIFA,” Binda said. “From road closures, to luxury stadium suites and motorcades with police escorts, the B.C. government has handed FIFA a blank cheque.” 

Vancouver is hosting just seven of the tournament’s 104 matches. None of the games being played in Vancouver are finals, semi finals or quarter finals. 

Hotel bookings are down 20 per cent in Vancouver this summer compared to last, according to Destination Vancouver. 

“The B.C. government is hiking taxes and rolling back services so it can waste money on seven soccer games,” Binda said. “We can’t afford to spend millions more than the politicians promised on a few soccer games.”