The World Cup will cost Canadian taxpayers $82M per game: PBO

The 2026 World Cup will feature over a dozen matches played in Canada this summer, and a new analysis estimates each game will cost $82 million of government funding.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) released its analysis Wednesday of federal commitments and costs associated with co-hosting the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, and how much taxpayers will be on the hook for.

It estimates a total cost of $1.1 billion, of which $473 million will come from the federal government, and the remaining $593 million will come from other levels of government.

The PBO report says this means each of the 13 total games played on Canadian soil will cost about $82 million. It adds that this figure is consistent with past public spending to host World Cup events in Canada.

– More to come