Moncton may join 2015 Women's World Cup bid

Moncton city councillors will decide Monday night whether it will attempt to become one of six host cities in Canada's bid toland FIFA's Women's World Cup in 2015.

Canada is making a pitch to host the international soccer event in 2015 and the bid committee is looking for six cities to host some of the games.

Shane Porter, the city's director of festivals and special events, is part of the team that tries to bring events to the southeastern New Brunswick city.

'This would be huge for us, huge for the country, for the province, for the city.' Shane Porter, Moncton official

Porter said city council must decide whether it wants to be part of the competition to become a potential host city.

"There's significant dollars involved however the reach of a FIFA event and hosting a FIFA event when it comes to advertising, when it comes to putting our city on the map," Porter said.

"As far as global sporting is concerned it's a huge opportunity, but it is a lot of dollars."

It would cost Moncton $25,000 just to make a bid to host the games. And if the games were held in Moncton, it would cost another $250,000 and possibly another $2 million from the provincial government.

Porter saidthe city's politicianswill have to decide if the high investment cost in trying to bring the event to Moncton is worth the possible long-term payoffs.

"This would be huge for us, huge for the country, for the province, for the city," Porter said.

Accepting bids

FIFA, soccer's international governing body, is accepting bid books from interested nations until mid-February for the 2015 Women's World Cup.

The country with the winning bid also earns the right to host the Under-20 Women's World Cup in 2014.

When Canada has held previous international sporting events, Atlantic Canada has been left on the sidelines.

When Canada hosted the U-19 Women's World Cup in 2002, matches were held in Burnaby, B.C., Victoria and Edmonton.

And when the men's U-20 World Cup in 2007, the host cities were Victoria, Burnaby, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.

When the Canadian Soccer Association announced it would make a bid for the 2015 Women's World Cup, it did not reveal which cities would be considered for the bid. Toronto and southern Ontario will host the Pan American Games in 2015.

Moncton events

Moncton has done its best to recruit major sporting and other cultural events in recent years.

The southeastern New Brunswick city has invested in an outdoor concert venue so it could attract bands, such as the Rolling Stones and AC/DC.

The construction of a new stadium at the University of Moncton has also opened the door to landing high-profile sportingevents.

Moncton hosted the 2010 IAAF world junior track championships, which brought thousands of young athletes and fans to the city.

And in September, the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos played a regular season CFL game in the city.

Moncton and the CFL are still in negotiations to bring back more regular season CFL matches.

Porter said Moncton could easily attract 20,000 fans and there could be up to nine games played in the city.

"With the new stadium on the [University of Moncton] campus that certainly helps our position in trying to go after some of these types of events," he said.