True Patriot Love - October 17, 2025


Canada's World Cup Moment： Are We Ready？


Episode Stats

Length

37 minutes

Words per Minute

188.18776

Word Count

7,080

Sentence Count

9

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 between 1986 and 2022 the canadian men's national soccer team suffered a world cup drought that a
00:00:21.660 lot of people thought would never end it ended in 2022 in cutter with alfonso davies and team
00:00:26.600 canada and will be taken to the next level in 2026 when the world cup comes to toronto and
00:00:32.900 vancouver thrilled to be joined by my man mike witson mike how are you good jimmy how's it going
00:00:37.080 good i because canada went so long without a world cup appearance there is a lot of uh what i call
00:00:44.580 niche diehard soccer fans there are pockets of soccer fans across the country who are passionate
00:00:51.560 it maybe doesn't have the global appeal the national appeal of say our national hockey team
00:00:58.760 on the world stage but it's about to happen because whether canada is ready or not prepare for
00:01:05.440 millions of people to come to this country in june and july of next year in southern ontario in the
00:01:10.820 lower mainland of bc for the world cup uh you know it's so funny you said just it's a very niche
00:01:15.840 historically in canada it's kind of a niche fan thing and i kind of i remember my friends from
00:01:20.580 high school who were british or irish or or even italian i grew up in a predominantly italian
00:01:25.820 neighborhood soccer's everything yeah they were following games i didn't even know where these
00:01:29.880 places were right uh you know manchester and puglia and all of these towns and stuff so to me it was
00:01:36.920 actually kind of a uh an exotic game in the sense that it was played in all of these parts of the
00:01:42.960 world but it was kind of strange to me growing up here in canada hockey was the thing softball uh curling
00:01:49.600 i can't believe i added that curling is huge out west okay but it's a huge sport i haven't done it
00:01:54.540 rodeo's huge too i don't think i'll ever do it but all of that kind of uh usurped really uh my
00:02:01.540 knowledge of soccer until recent years yes why is that why has world cup become so prominent now in
00:02:07.780 canada there's a a couple of reasons i'll start with the demographics of the country has changed
00:02:12.640 dramatically since the last time really canada was a world cup team in 86 now there's been a recent
00:02:20.260 revolution in the last decade with canada's international soccer power and it's a byproduct
00:02:26.200 of more population more diverse population right the growth of youth soccer has exploded across the
00:02:33.100 country quite frankly it's cheaper and safer than a lot of other sports a lot of families so all of a
00:02:38.520 sudden the talent base to choose from for canadian soccer has gone from this to this right and you
00:02:44.480 are looking at young canadian men and women playing on international teams around the world because of
00:02:49.760 their skill level and now when team canada and jesse march the coach picks his players he's picking
00:02:55.680 elite players playing in elite teams around the world like alfonso davies which is an elite level
00:03:00.700 player and canadian from edmonton that's wild because and it's true i mean i i had a recent
00:03:06.460 opportunity to to hang out with the guys from uh ontario soccer wow it's 500 000 kids across the
00:03:14.960 province playing soccer and that's just ontario that's just ontario and and the development
00:03:19.640 system they've built in to get these kids into university with scholarships and from scholarships
00:03:23.580 to international play it's part of our athletic programming here in canada now i remember being in
00:03:29.780 humber college and canada was in the world cup in 86 and that was the famous world cup with
00:03:35.140 diego maradona and i thought this is great but then year after year they would fail in qualifying
00:03:40.200 and i would get my hopes up and i remember craig forest and team can in the early 2000s they had
00:03:46.240 they had a glimpse they had a good running at the gold cup and it was just soccer fans of canada
00:03:51.680 all of a sudden in world cup time would cheer for maybe they had relatives who immigrated and it was
00:03:58.620 all sudden you were cheering for italy or argentina or scotland or whatever country maybe had roots from
00:04:04.260 that was their team but then in 2022 things changed canada qualified they played they played
00:04:09.960 respectively and now as a host team they're back there in 2026 and they'll be playing on a home soil
00:04:16.580 it wasn't that long ago mike that was unheard of to think that team canada would have the men's soccer
00:04:22.320 team in the fifa world cup playing in vancouver and toronto no it actually does feel uh like we're in
00:04:28.300 the matrix a little bit yeah and in fact one of the things you you pointed out that's really cool
00:04:34.080 to me is that we hit the international stage way more impressively than i i assumed we would once
00:04:40.620 again not a huge soccer fan and i look at it from sort of a cultural perspective where everybody for
00:04:46.860 all these years was wearing all these soccer jerseys and things like the flags in your car and
00:04:51.840 everything oh my oh my god yeah if you lived in vaughn yeah it didn't matter you know the the world
00:04:57.800 cup kind of gone three or four different ways and you were still going to get flags honking there was
00:05:02.800 a real festive spirit to it but it was never with canada's uh team in mind well no because they were
00:05:09.300 never part of they were not part of it for 36 years do you think it's hard for some people to let go
00:05:13.620 of their heritage team to now and always canada as a matter of fact mike it'll be fascinating so the
00:05:19.060 world cup draw will take place friday december 5th and when i say the draw there's 40 countries
00:05:25.280 involved in the world cup okay and they pull the names out of the hat and they go group a it's canada
00:05:30.840 it's argentina it's you know and they name the countries so they pick all the countries for all
00:05:38.180 the groups to determine how the playdowns are going to go and what you'll find is depending on who
00:05:44.000 canada plays the first canadian game is june 12th at bemo field in toronto and
00:05:49.060 and say canada is playing italy well i tell you what there'll be a lot of italian canadians
00:05:55.080 will be really torn who to cheer for or they're playing germany or they're playing you name the
00:05:59.060 country yeah because we're such a diverse country now there will be some you know we'll be torn
00:06:05.260 jeez i i want canada to win but yeah but you know but this could actually this could be good for
00:06:10.200 canada then because this could be that moment where sorry sorry uh italy or sorry argentina i have to
00:06:17.700 leave you behind i love you but now my guys are in in the play yeah and you know of the last four
00:06:26.180 or five years the ascension of canada as an international soccer team and the games they've
00:06:32.020 won the qualifying games the tournaments they played in the level of play and the reaction to
00:06:37.580 the fans there are now diehard knowledgeable loyal team canada fans who are traveling around the
00:06:45.420 world to support them with their drums and their flags and their scarves and all of a sudden it's
00:06:51.260 become like seeing canadian hockey jerseys when team canada is playing in the world juniors in helsinki
00:06:56.560 now you're seeing that with soccer we've got representation out there representation money behind
00:07:02.880 them um years of passion for soccer and now their country the beloved maple leaf is going to be
00:07:09.800 something they can cheer for and this is something very special here we are in the fall of 2025 and
00:07:16.520 we're still thinking a few months ahead but as we get closer in the calendar especially with the world
00:07:21.080 cup draw especially when you'll see canada what group they're in what countries we're playing then
00:07:27.000 things are going to be taken to another level you know one of the things that i think has popped up on
00:07:32.120 my uh radar in the news has been what we have to do from an infrastructure standpoint i think one of the major
00:07:38.520 major stories in the world cup in canada were kind of new and now we're already hosting yeah and we're
00:07:46.760 hosting in cities that are very far apart um and building facilities that need to house an enormous
00:07:56.680 amount of people it it is going to be a big pressure on you know hotels and it's it'll be a great boon of
00:08:05.000 course of course i mean i think i read someplace 1.2 billion gdp boost for canada easy is what we're
00:08:10.920 expecting and 35 uh 3500 almost you know 3600 new jobs just from this world cup now i'm assuming those
00:08:19.560 are temporary jobs a lot of course but think about the the layers of infrastructure going into just
00:08:26.120 toronto at bmo field hosting world cup games part of that is a rehabilitation of the gardner expressway
00:08:32.440 for people never been to toronto it's the major east west expressway along the southern part of
00:08:37.800 downtown it's unaffectionately known by all as the gardner depressway it's it's horrible the raised
00:08:43.080 highway however at one time they didn't think the rehabilitation and infrastructure construction
00:08:49.560 yeah would be done in time for the world cup and i'll give doug ford to the interior government credit
00:08:55.720 they threw in hundreds of millions of dollars to allow the city of toronto to work around the clock
00:09:01.640 so now they'll be done months ahead of time because you can't have lanes closed on highways
00:09:07.240 around bmo field for the world cup because what's going to happen the capacity will be 45 000 there'll
00:09:14.200 be another 20 30 40 000 fans of that respective country around exhibition place around downtown
00:09:21.720 toronto and vancouver cheering on their their country their team wait pause the world cup for a
00:09:27.320 second if doug ford gives the city money they can work around the clock and get the roads done is what
00:09:35.320 i just heard yeah they just did nick did i just hear that it is possible yes oh okay forget the world
00:09:41.640 cup we need to focus on this alone around the clock we can get this done finally once and for all well
00:09:47.160 and a lot of people are saying the same thing mike like why is it that this highway and that roadway
00:09:51.800 and this subway track and this streetcar track has taken so long but to the ontario government the
00:09:58.040 federal government's credit they realize the world is coming to canada the world is going to be
00:10:03.480 watching two our two biggest cities so that i know the internal government did the right thing and threw
00:10:08.920 hundreds of millions of dollars there to make sure that the lakeshore the gardener that they're all done
00:10:14.600 that they're they're going to make sure planning right now with metrolink and the ttc there are no
00:10:20.440 weekend subway closures during world cup games they can't have it some of the weird uh uh paranoias
00:10:27.720 we're having already about hosting this include one thing that i know i went to take a look at this
00:10:33.720 gym and i have to be honest with you i've never been to bmo field for any event yeah i've driven by it
00:10:39.320 on it's a great stadium it looks beautiful it is it's a beautiful it looks beautiful i mean it looks like
00:10:43.720 you know you could die of heat stroke in the middle of summer and it's completely useless in winter but
00:10:49.240 that's that's a different point they have to double the size of this uh facility essentially it currently
00:10:56.440 seats how many um they're basically going from uh 30 and change they're adding 17 000 temporary seats
00:11:04.280 to bring it up to 45 000 so they essentially have to double the size of this building yeah have you
00:11:10.040 seen the construction process or the progress on this so far it's fascinating so right now they've
00:11:15.000 added four video screens which are nine meters by 15 meters and what's 28 feet by 47 feet massive video
00:11:25.320 screens on the four corners of the stadium so no matter where you are in the stadium you can see
00:11:31.640 everything replays commercials and whatnot they're adding 10 000 seats to one end of the stadium and
00:11:39.320 7 000 to the other and sort of temporary seats so like you see at the rogers stadium concert facility
00:11:46.280 downsview park or you see at any kind of big festival concert festival they they've got it down to science
00:11:52.120 it's almost like a meccano set if that makes sense of temporary seats that go up and it'll envelop the
00:11:58.600 stadium to the permanent structure that's there right now to meet the minimum requirement by fifa
00:12:03.320 45 000 seats so i take a look at reddit last night which is my number one source
00:12:09.640 uh and there's a little section in there the guys that are people that are working on this facility
00:12:14.280 and like they're all just saying not it's never going to happen in time it's never going to happen
00:12:18.440 in time and i went by the facility jim i'm not a construction guy they've got a lot to do in a really
00:12:24.280 short time and i'm glad you brought that up according to fifa rules when fifa stages the world
00:12:31.400 cup no matter what country the stadiums that are hosting the games no matter what country in the
00:12:36.760 world one month before the game you hand over control of that stadium from the team in the city
00:12:43.240 to fifa so by may 12th of 2026 fifa takes over control abemo field to the end of the world cup
00:12:51.080 and that means fifa staff fifa signage because we're talking multiple languages so whatever
00:12:57.320 language country is playing i hope you can bring some construction uh skills and uh yeah it just
00:13:05.880 so between now and may it's between now and may now the one thing i mean this looks like we are going
00:13:11.400 to i mean a couple of things sorry no no i'm sorry no no mike please i show respect this is my
00:13:18.120 i think that uh one of the things that got me when i went by was it really looks unstarted like
00:13:26.920 it looks like between now and may it will take a miracle i know it i will say this the the construction
00:13:34.120 engineering technology of building that many temporary seats is light years better than it
00:13:39.400 was even five years ago look how fast they put up 50 000 temporary seats for the concert facility at
00:13:45.960 downswood park in toronto i'm gonna be amazed that's my point i'm gonna be when it's done i
00:13:50.440 know look i'm gonna be amazed you're not the only one mike you're you're not speaking you know out of
00:13:56.200 your hat and i will be so proud if we pull this off i will be so proud that toronto could work day
00:14:01.560 night to fix a road we needed fixed for 30 years and to get a stadium done that we'll never use again
00:14:07.400 we have to understand bmo field is done bmo field is a great permanent stadium they're just adding
00:14:13.160 temporary seats to each each end of it so the current structure that structure then will go
00:14:18.680 away the extra seats yeah so the extra seats will be taken away it's no different than a massive what
00:14:25.160 are we going to do with those extra seats they could use uh the honda indy markham right okay so they're
00:14:30.920 going to repurpose oh yeah all of they'll go to a big festival in the prairies or a big concert that's
00:14:36.280 being so that's the beauty thing is basically they go on tractor trailer flatbeds and they can set
00:14:41.240 them up and take them to different parts of the country you you heard it here first it's a beauty
00:14:46.360 thing nothing could be more canadian than my good friend jim lang saying it's a beauty thing because
00:14:52.040 if it is a beauty thing that's such a great canadian phrase yeah man we're in good shape because this
00:14:57.880 could open up the world of uh of sports in canada and other ways well look it just seems like so much
00:15:05.560 jim mike this has been a dream for a lot of people in this country not just soccer fans but
00:15:12.120 the city fathers and sisters of toronto and vancouver for a lot of levels of politicians a lot
00:15:17.240 of volunteers to bring a world cup soccer match to canada so to think that toronto and vancouver are
00:15:23.720 hosting world cup soccer matches with team canada was a dream that was not even possible not that long
00:15:30.760 ago this is a huge thing look what vancouver did with the 2010 olympics look how amazing that was
00:15:36.680 people pissed all over the pan am games in 2015 they turned out great in those facilities like the
00:15:43.000 mark and pan am center like one of them in saint catharines is remarkable incredible yeah the velodrome
00:15:48.280 the swimming pools all of those facilities will train athletes for decades okay but there dude there
00:15:54.600 is this other side of that right we have these white elephant stadiums that it's called the big
00:16:01.080 o in montreal i've been there many times well i mean even right here bmo fields like i say it's usable
00:16:06.120 for a very short period of time i mean let's say okay bmo field is used for the argos it's used for tfc
00:16:13.160 it's used for international women's and men's soccer it's snowing it's done no they play they basically
00:16:18.440 play right until december so they play from april until december who does soccer who the the national
00:16:26.840 teams and tfc until when they basically go from april to december early to december yeah so one team
00:16:35.160 no no you have multiple teams you have tfc okay once one sport and football the argos and the argos are
00:16:41.480 done when november november and then and then it basically so what i'm saying is it is an underutilized
00:16:47.960 facility there's no two ways about compared to a roof facility correct so we live in a country where
00:16:54.040 we kind of need to think in those terms don't we now you bring up a good point that is why bc place
00:17:01.800 will host more games than bmo field in toronto right for a couple of reasons it's got 15 000 more seats
00:17:09.160 it's got more capacity it has a roof it is hosted big events before and it's proven that before so
00:17:17.800 what will happen for canadian soccer fans and soccer fans in general in canada bmo field in
00:17:23.240 toronto gets one team canada game that's june 12th then it's other countries playing each other then
00:17:28.920 it's around a 32 game taking place on july 2nd bc place gets two games for team canada and around a 32
00:17:38.200 and around a 16 game and then they go to even bigger stadiums in the usa and mexico when they get to the
00:17:43.800 the semifinals and finals okay let's talk about the impact on these cities well so well it seems
00:17:51.480 positive right 1.2 billion in gdp i think how much is it going to cost us to do this in total oh i don't
00:17:58.520 have the number off the top of my head but i do know that the previous mayor in toronto john tory
00:18:05.080 the locked toronto into a deal that will cost the city a lot of money hey nick can you do me a favor and
00:18:10.840 see if you can yes please nick i just forget the exact number how much it's going to cost
00:18:14.840 toronto to host the world cup it is significant and basically there's no way the city could get out
00:18:22.120 of it the way the contract was written so toronto's committed to it i mean i know that it started early
00:18:28.600 days at what sounded like 80 million dollars it's way past that and i and i have a feeling now that the
00:18:33.720 city's getting close to 600 million dollars in uh commitment now okay that's all good and and i don't
00:18:40.040 and i don't have any problem seeing us spend money to host something globally but this kind of feels
00:18:46.360 oh you got a number there nicky yes uh the total cost of planning and hosting the uh world cup in
00:18:52.440 toronto includes 236.4 million in operating costs and 143.6 million in capital costs totaling 380 million
00:19:01.720 380 million and then what was can we find out what it's going to cost combined with vancouver
00:19:07.080 because this is this is a thing i think that it's good that it leaves uh some legacy stuff here but
00:19:13.480 we're only adding temporary stadiums so we're not leaving legacy facilities bc place is is a full stadium
00:19:19.960 that's been there for decades bmo field still going to be there they're only taking away the temporary
00:19:24.920 seats i understand but we're not getting anything legacy left behind that we can use as a facility well
00:19:31.240 the legacy is not like saying olympic games or pandem games the legacy is canada as a soccer
00:19:38.680 nation the legacy is toronto and vancouver and canada hosting international events not just sports
00:19:46.040 arts cultural political the ability that for years what have we heard toronto is a world-class city
00:19:52.520 vancouver is a world-class city we are showing the world what these two magnificent cities in canada
00:19:58.280 are all about right now vancouver is under the most pressure for crime homelessness drugs on the
00:20:05.480 street are we really going to be showing the best face to the world toronto currently the the traffic
00:20:11.560 situation we're going to add all of this congestion to a city that already can't handle it no matter what
00:20:17.240 we do with the gardener do we have enough uh hotel rooms i've heard that there's a deficit
00:20:23.160 in vancouver alone of over 50 000 room nights so that no that is okay nick's got an update nick's
00:20:29.880 got an update okay so none of the numbers combined but uh so a headline from british columbia this is
00:20:35.480 in june saying that uh hosting the 2026 fifa world cup games could cost up to 624 million uh says the bc
00:20:43.640 government now the uh the cost will be offset by 448 million to 478 million of estimated revenues and
00:20:50.200 recoveries right well assumed so that's the risk so here's let's paint the scenario the first game
00:20:56.840 for canada is friday june 12th at bmo field canada verse we'll find out december 5th the fans aren't
00:21:03.480 arriving that day they'll arrive in the week hotels flights uber taxis restaurants bars and pubs and it's
00:21:14.040 not just the fans in the stadium it's the fans coming and they'll be there all weekend and then there's
00:21:19.480 another game and then another game and another game think the round of 32 match at bmo field is
00:21:24.600 thursday july 2nd well canada day you've got canada day as a national holiday people will be there the
00:21:29.960 whole last weekend of june up until the match i feel very badly because it sounds like i'm
00:21:33.480 poo-pooing and i'm also very excited i think it'll be great but i have to temper it yeah i am worried a
00:21:38.840 little bit about it and and i have to be i want to temper it with excitement because i want you to know
00:21:42.840 that i'm excited a that we are hosting this that canada's represented yeah all of that to me is so
00:21:49.240 fantastic right i do worry that sometimes canada we jump in where we're not rich enough to do
00:21:55.080 something yeah we'll host the party come on guys you just you just join you just showed up at high
00:22:00.440 school and you're going to host the party i don't know dude there's a couple things at play there that
00:22:05.000 canada's always wanted to play the big boys yes but when all this was being decided when all this was
00:22:11.160 a joint with mexico the usa and canada the economy and the world was much different
00:22:16.280 right this wasn't just this just didn't happen when did this get planned this has been a years
00:22:21.560 in the making yeah and that that is part of it as well now like canada entered the fifa world and
00:22:29.560 and through our our name in the ring right away saying listen we want to be one of the one so we
00:22:34.840 wanted this is a unique thing where there's games in mexico the usa and canada this is what we have to
00:22:41.400 understand as canadians historically anytime we go to host something it's canadian nature to
00:22:47.400 to try to it's not going to work it's not going to work no okay i don't want to be that guy no but
00:22:51.400 but it's true canadians do that a lot and then it happens yeah and then we see a headline from a paper
00:22:57.000 in england or south america or in tokyo they're like oh my do you see what they're saying about us
00:23:02.440 yeah that's such a canadian thing and then they come away going wow i'd like to come back here i'd like to
00:23:08.040 come back and vacation here i'd like to come back and spend money here look how great it is look at
00:23:12.840 the city look at the toronto island look at the lake shore look at the downtown i can eat any kind
00:23:18.040 of food in the world at a gourmet restaurant right here in toronto i didn't know that somebody pointed
00:23:23.320 something out to me about the restaurants during world cup this is a bubble a financial bubble yes
00:23:30.040 so for five weeks around that bubble uh inside that bubble restaurants will thrive and they will grow
00:23:37.640 and everything however we're in a situation if you've driven around downtown where some of your
00:23:41.320 favorite restaurants no longer exist post-covid so what we're expecting is in the retail market for
00:23:47.560 stores to open that aren't open restaurants to be there that aren't there currently and then we're
00:23:52.200 asking our city to open new venues and new things and be prepared for this bubble so i ask you do you
00:24:01.400 think fifa is out there taking some risks over the last number of world cups they seem to be am i wrong
00:24:09.560 about this no i i i will finish your all i well it just seems to me that fifa is like okay they must be
00:24:16.200 at this point saying no no fifa makes their money i'm sure they make no no i i understand what you're
00:24:22.120 saying fifa like the mob they'll get bleepity bleep paid jim watch your mouth okay fifa will make bank
00:24:29.400 fifa will make their money the officials will get gourmet meals and five-star hotels yeah they make
00:24:35.640 their money there's that's a guaranteed thing with the the world cup the global ratings the revenue
00:24:43.720 with the people coming from around the world the international media that's another thing we're
00:24:48.520 going to have a spotlight on exactly so a spotlight on canada that to some parts of the world we look a
00:24:55.480 little there's no you asked what are we going to do like this and that do you know that in super
00:25:01.320 bowl cities what a common thing is what they will take all the homeless and all the addicts and round
00:25:06.760 them up and bus them to motels outside of the city during the event do you know that i wonder what the
00:25:12.040 city's paying for that because i do have a sizable lot i think uh that's that's disturbing to me but
00:25:19.480 you're right i mean it happened it happens and by the way that happened here in canada in an olympic
00:25:26.200 host city and it's been going on for years that when there's a problem on the streets they're cleared
00:25:31.640 out put on a bus and then everyone comes back afterwards so now we have this and we during the g7
00:25:37.480 summit yes we you know we cleaned up that 400 like oh i know that we'll put a spit polish on as many
00:25:43.560 things as we can but the truth is if it starts to crack and crumble canadians aren't going to
00:25:51.080 ignore that and say oh we're happy to do this you're right we'll be the first ones to go well
00:25:55.080 we told you we told you you and your fifa the world you and your damn fifa jim the one thing i
00:26:01.160 i'm going to give toronto and ontario and canada the benefit of the doubt they will have opp and rcmp
00:26:09.400 and army reserves and plainclothes officers and you'll have security from the respective countries
00:26:16.200 and military and paramilitary from the respective countries they'll be protecting that soccer team
00:26:21.880 like it's part of their national identity don't kid yourself the level of really oh yes oh yes they
00:26:28.040 they will there will be plainclothes detectives from all the countries hovering around where the
00:26:33.560 players may go to eat or or drink or go to a nightclub so will they actually cordon off areas
00:26:39.400 if of the city that are safe spaces for the players to be that might be something they do oh
00:26:45.480 that's really cool the level of security for some of these countries is pretty intense and i've seen
00:26:51.640 it at big sporting events where they have plainclothes detectives going around to different places
00:26:58.040 different nightclubs and different bars and restaurants it whether or not they have a bad
00:27:02.840 reputation or not looking to see if there's someone there to make sure they're not getting into trouble
00:27:07.080 i think you hit it on the head when you when you pointed out that okay look there's certain
00:27:11.720 trepidation uh i'm i'm representing the the people out there that are somewhat skeptical a little bit
00:27:17.960 worried you're not alone but i think that it's and you pointed out something interesting at the time
00:27:22.600 we did this deal the world was different right now that makes me think okay canada let's just be
00:27:29.560 careful because things change let's not be promising that we'll do this and do that with our money
00:27:34.840 at a time where you and i just discovered on a show recently we pay eight hundred dollars more
00:27:40.120 by uh per household just to groceries for basic food so we kind of need to think these things through
00:27:47.720 yes we do want to be part of the international fifa uh soccer stage yes of course and we want to
00:27:53.640 succeed we want our soccer players to rise i think we have to temper that a bit with we want to host the
00:27:59.400 party it's basically mike i understand what you're saying and there's a lot of people who feel the
00:28:04.760 same way and have valid arguments but it's the the horse is out of the barn right it's too late yeah
00:28:10.040 like this is happening the all the contracts are signed the renovations are underway the preparations
00:28:17.800 are underway already airbnb prices for next june and july in toronto and vancouver are through the roof
00:28:24.120 okay hotel prices second our way through the roof by the way there's a house available
00:28:30.040 there so they know that people will come from around the world they know they're going to be
00:28:34.040 able to make some money for a lot of these bars and restaurants a lot of these nightclubs it's a
00:28:38.520 chance to get back to pre-pandemic times pre-pandemic revenue streams get back to maybe a pre-pandemic
00:28:45.320 way of life where a lot of people gather in downtown toronto downtown vancouver and have basically a
00:28:50.520 sort of a soccer international festival there's nothing wrong with that i have great hope in my
00:28:56.120 heart jim to be honest let's let's be positive we're going to be positive there's nothing to
00:29:01.960 worry about right now we'll find out the draw friday december 5th which is broadcast around the world
00:29:08.200 and unfortunately donald trump's going to be part of it and they're going to be drawing the countries
00:29:12.280 we'll find out who canada's going to play we'll find out what other countries are going to be playing
00:29:16.680 the stadium without a roof it gets very cold here i find it very cold i don't say it's cold
00:29:20.680 many people say it's cold i'm from new york i know it's cold and then we will see as we drive around
00:29:25.640 downtown toronto uh slowly but surely the it looks like a giant meccano set of the temporary seats
00:29:31.880 being built around the existing structure that is people you say meccano set no that's what it's going
00:29:37.320 to look like it really does look like it's going to be built that way yeah and in early may the
00:29:42.280 basically handover control of the bemo field and bc plays to fifa and before you know it it's going
00:29:47.880 to be here now all of us going on the world cup the blue jays are going to still be down the road at
00:29:53.960 rogers center there's still going to be concerts at budweiser stage and scotia bank arena there's still
00:30:00.120 going to be arts and life and everything happening in the city it'll be impossible to drive into toronto
00:30:08.360 or into vancouver from mid-june to mid-july next year it won't happen you'll have to take some sort
00:30:14.920 of transit or train or go train there's no other way to get into the city so here's how i think you
00:30:19.560 handle it if you live in toronto or vancouver you you put your airbnb up now and you start you know
00:30:25.320 what get your friends bidding against it as well you know get a little bidding war going and uh at that
00:30:30.440 point you you book your trip to any of the participating countries in the world cup that you wanted to see as
00:30:37.160 they're emptying themselves out to come to uh toronto or vancouver and you use your airbnb money
00:30:43.400 to go and see the world now the money man that he is paul micucci i know he's already thinking wait a
00:30:48.520 sec there are literally hundreds of empty condos in downtown toronto walking distance i can't believe
00:30:56.360 you just said this hundreds you could take the elevator from your airbnb condo and get down and
00:31:03.560 walk the bimo field nick don't lie to me did you also have the thought that our buddy paul is
00:31:07.960 thinking how do i do the you know he is you know he is you know he is and for all the angst and hand
00:31:14.520 wringing for real estate people in the city this could save them basically renting out their condo
00:31:20.520 for june and july of next year for people as a just a hub to stay to live and party there'll be
00:31:27.480 journalists staying there organizers security you mind signing over the rights to me to your garage
00:31:35.080 wait a second my garage is full of racks of stuff for my kids i could barely walk in there okay you
00:31:40.520 know what we're gonna have to do some cleaning but i do think we have an airbnb plan yeah but this is
00:31:45.240 this is where a lot of people have to understand that it's renting out empty condos that can't sell
00:31:51.400 making some revenue there okay but let's do this it's re it's rehabilitating and reviving bars and
00:31:57.320 restaurants and nightclubs okay but let's not what let's have let's have some transparency as we go
00:32:03.480 okay let's get some projections on what real projections and what we can do here let's have
00:32:07.400 some accountability once it's done let's do this properly toronto and vancouver let's take a look at
00:32:14.200 what happened let's really be honest about the numbers let's be honest about the the potential
00:32:19.800 problems and let's solve them together i and i couldn't agree more we july 19th is the the
00:32:25.800 championship game for the world cup of 2026 it will take let's be serious a couple months of accounting
00:32:31.800 to break down the numbers to understand what what side of the ledger that toronto and vancouver on
00:32:38.440 where they in the black did they make some money after all of this but it's more than just the money
00:32:43.080 made in 2026 did we make enough of his impression as a city as a province as a country
00:32:49.560 for bc for ontario for vancouver and toronto that all these people that came from around
00:32:54.120 the world will say i want to come back visit vacation spend my money there again that's
00:32:59.560 a big part of it ohala from your mouth to god's ears buddy let's hope that it goes that way i i'm
00:33:06.360 i can't wait i'm still trying to find a way to get tickets to one of the games
00:33:10.360 um i have friends and family give me do you have uh if you have some cash on your ticket down payment
00:33:16.120 right now yeah what's that mean what i need is i just need like a quick down payment when the
00:33:20.840 tickets are printed i'll deliver them you pay the balance but this is going to be good for canada
00:33:26.680 good for the cities involved good for everyone and i i know right now there's a lot of canadians
00:33:33.080 refusing to travel to america i get it because of the 51st state and the stuff with trump
00:33:38.200 what if canada goes to a quarterfinal and it's held in chicago or it's held in
00:33:45.560 metlife stadium in new jersey there's going to be a huge contingent canadian fans who'll say
00:33:50.920 i'm going to break my rule i'm going down to cheer on team canada yeah we don't know that they won't
00:33:55.240 go to a quarterfinal game we don't know that they're not going to be playing one of those big stadiums
00:33:59.240 how do fifa fans by the way i want to ask this and i forgot sorry i know you you probably got things to
00:34:03.560 do with your day no i i got all the time in the world for you mike jimmy i want to say thank you for
00:34:07.560 talking me through my paranoia about this because i'm so not knowledgeable on it but uh one of the
00:34:12.520 things that i did want to know is uh how are fifa fans feeling about this being a north america wide
00:34:17.560 spread of games it seems like well that's two of the things that i thought about was
00:34:23.320 oh wow we had a lot of smoke in the air in all of these areas courtesy of our on unstoppable fire
00:34:29.720 in canada right and also travel for these games seems like it almost this almost seems like a
00:34:36.920 coordination nightmare logistically it is a challenge and minutes after the world cup draw december 5th
00:34:45.160 plans will be starting to be made because the fans and the organizers and the teams and the
00:34:50.520 officials and everyone the traveling circus that goes with all these countries to these different
00:34:55.320 world cup cities will start making their plans right now i'm going to be in toronto this day i'm
00:35:00.280 going to be in philadelphia this day then i go to san francisco then i go to mexico city it'll be stuff
00:35:05.320 like that yeah and that's just the reality of it the one thing also that a lot of the cities especially
00:35:13.240 toronto and vancouver have to prepare themselves game day first game canada versus name the country
00:35:19.000 friday june 12th those fans of that city will get up at 6 6 30 and start pounding drinks
00:35:24.920 right then for a game that'll start usually in the afternoon because fifa likes their games to be
00:35:30.120 broadcast in europe about 8 p.m okay so say the match is 2 p.m local time so it's broadcast prime
00:35:38.200 time in europe on a friday night and that's one thing bars and restaurants will be open for breakfast
00:35:43.640 with full taps of beer and shots and you name it oh it's it's this i'm starting to like the sound of
00:35:50.040 this more and more jim keep going it is it is a global festival and people will have female bacon
00:35:55.400 start serving at 3 a.m okay i'm starting to like you know like the minor uh the hikers in the dark
00:36:00.520 with a little helmet where they're flipping the backpack i like it i think honestly i think it'll be a
00:36:06.280 great deal of fun i'm as a as a proud canadian i think it's going to be great for the country
00:36:11.720 it's great for everyone and i know we have concerns you're silly not to have concerns you have to
00:36:16.680 be realistic well we let things happen jim let's be honest a lot of a lot of things go awry financially
00:36:22.440 anything north of a of 100 million dollars we tend to just let things happen with that money but mike
00:36:28.040 sometimes you need to spend some money to make some money hey this is what i say to people and
00:36:33.080 by spending a little money by rebuilding the infrastructure by cleaning things up by preparing
00:36:40.360 things you're not just benefiting toronto vancouver and canada in 2026 it could be a benefit for
00:36:46.040 years to come there could be future big events a future influx of tourists because the the walls
00:36:52.440 the invisible wall between can the u.s eventually is going to drop and there's going to be legions
00:36:56.760 of americans coming here to spend their money because they're making what 30 cents of the dollar
00:37:01.240 right they're making they want to come to toronto why wouldn't they why this is a great excuse to
00:37:06.840 cross-border shop uh live the life absolutely yeah and their dollars going so much further and even some
00:37:13.560 of these countries with the euro they're going to come here oh my goodness they're going to have a
00:37:17.800 field day so this field day see what i did there the world cup he's mike i'm jim go canada go it's
00:37:27.000 going to be a great time thanks jimmy thank you thank you