The full cost to the City of Victoria of hosting Touchdown Pacific, which culminated in a game between the B.C. Lions and Ottawa Redblacks at Royal Athletic Park, will be tallied in a report expected in November.
Council agreed this week to ask staff to provide a report on all the city’s costs, including resources used for prep work and set-up.
“We received a lot of very positive and negative emails about this particular event. And that’s why I really want to put this motion forward,” said Coun. Marg Gardiner.
While there are benefits to hosting that kind of high-profile event, she said, there are also financial costs and costs to the neighbourhoods where they are held.
Deputy city manager Thomas Soulliere said after events like Touchdown Pacific, staff always do a full analysis that includes total cost to the city and revenue generated as result.
The event wrapped with the Lions’ 38-12 victory over the Redblacks in front of an over-capacity crowd of more than 14,000 at Royal Athletic Park on Aug 31.
The city’s contribution to the event included $350,000 in financial support, the venue and hosting events at Ship Point for two days before the game, as well as a watch party at Central Park on game day.
Victoria police and reserve constables provided traffic control on game day, there was a free bike valet at Central Park and a free park and ride shuttle, and Crystal Pool and Fitness Centre closed early on Aug. 31.
Gardiner said it’s important to have a full accounting of costs before the city considers hosting future events — especially with Vancouver as a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
While the rest of council supported the motion, some wondered what the point was, as staff were already in the midst of doing the work.
“I’m not crazy about spending council time on things that staff are already doing,” said Coun. Dave Thompson. “What many of us around this table do is we ask staff if they’re going to do something through an email or a phone call or something like that, rather than moving a motion.”
Coun. Chris Coleman said asking for the costs is legitimate, but suggested it should be part of a larger report.
“We also need to take into account all the other things, the benefits that we accrue, some of which accrue to the city revenue stream, many of which accrue to the city more broadly,” he said.
“So I’m quite willing to support this, but I also hope that at some point, we’ll get into the benefits discussion as well.”
