Final preparations underway at BC Place ahead of FIFA World Cup

VANCOUVER – Elevators have been installed, grass has been planted and massive gates have been erected. 

Now last-minute work is underway to ensure BC Place is ready to host the FIFA World Cup.

“It’s like we’re moving into a brand-new house,” said Don Hardman, executive director of stadium and venue management for FIFA26 Canada. “We’ve still got some finishing touches to do, we’ve got some long days ahead of us this week to get ready for kick off this Saturday.”

Vancouver is one of 16 cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico hosting games during the expanded 48-team event.

Toronto is also holding matches, including Canada’s first game of the tournament, a tilt with Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday. 

BC Place will stage seven matches, starting Saturday with a matchup between Australia and Turkey. 

Tickets to the Vancouver games have been a popular buy, Hardman said. 

“We’re very close to being sold out across all seven match days here in Vancouver,” he said. “The interest continues to grow, and we’re very positive about where we’re going to land.”

The B.C. government has pegged the cost of hosting at between $685 million and $729 million, including a $196-million upgrade of BC Place.

During a tour on Monday, media were able to glimpse a number of changes to the 43-year-old stadium, from FIFA’s branding plastered on windows and walls inside and outside the venue, to new retail and VIP spaces and World Cup-specific menu items, including a maple bacon smoky and short rib poutine. 

“Our intent from day one was really to maximize what’s existing with all of our stadiums throughout North America and, in the event we did have some improvements, it would be positive legacy outcomes for each of the stadiums,” Hardman said.

At BC Place, a temporary grass playing surface was installed over the stadium’s turf for the tournament. Now a team is spending several hours each day maintaining the grass ahead of the games, Hardman said. 

UV lights, an irrigation system and a vacuum ventilation system are all being used to help it grow. 

“One of our goals across this tournament, 16 cities, 16 climates, was to have as similar a playing surface as possible in all of the venues and we believe we’ve achieved that,” Hardman said.

Organizers are encouraging soccer fans to show up early on game days and note that gates will open three hours before kickoff. 

Hardman estimates about 80 per cent of attendees will arrive at the stadium via the so-called “last mile” — an extended pedestrian stretch that will be filled with games, music and retail spaces before fans reach the ticket control point in a parking lot across the street from Rogers Arena.

“I think one of the great things about Vancouver is that this is a downtown stadium,” Hardman said. 

“Fans in the local market are very used to taking public transit, walking from the downtown core. It’s very pedestrian friendly, a large majority of our hotels are in the downtown area. So it will be, I think, a very easy pedestrian environment.” 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2026.