Sporting events are set to play an even larger part of the cultural fabric of Alberta, as the province moves towards growing the provincial tourism economy to $25 billion by 2035.

Speaking to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce on May 30, during a fireside chat on tourism, former Minister of Tourism and Sport and current Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration Joseph Schow said that getting large scale sporting events to Alberta was an important goal.

He said the lack of a 2018 Olympics bid to host the 2026 Winter Games in Calgary was a missed opportunity for Alberta.

“Huge missed opportunity, just massive, and to this day that we didn’t secure that bid.”

He said that even if sentiment had changed from the 2018 vote that saw 56 per cent of ballots cast against the bid, there was no way to go back on that issue now.

“It looks like it’s spoken for well into 2040… but the harsh reality is, we missed something and to get it back, it’s not easy,” Schow said.

“So, I think it’s a real message that when opportunities to host national and international games come to take a very hard look at the bid, make sure that it’s a great fit for our province.”

He said that one of the realities for Calgary, was that investment requests for facility upgrades and new sporting facilities would need the investments of all three orders of government.

“We know how important international events can be for Alberta, it helps us partner with the federal and municipal governments to build infrastructure. Have that legacy infrastructure. It gives us a chance to showcase what I think are some great assets of Alberta, which is our facilities, our cities, our landscape, and, of course, our best asset, our people,” Schow said.

Examples of major events that the Government of Alberta did pass on though, included the opportunity to host FIFA.

Getting the right sporting events for Calgary

Minister Schow said that was done because of the need to implement new taxes and address consistent cost overruns that come with hosting those events.

“If you look at British Columbia and Ontario, they’ve had to implement new taxes on their citizens because the cost overruns are insane, like they are nuts,” he said.

“It’s one of these things that we take it very seriously, because we could showcase everything we have, but it has to be a good fit.”

Andrew Boitchenko, Minister of Tourism and Sport, said that he would be working more closely with the federal government to try and secure not only new sporting facilities, but ongoing funding to support continued operations.

The Government of Alberta has funded upcoming major sporting events in the city for Judo and Football—both soccer and Canadian with the U18 Women’s Football National Championship and the 2026 Grey Cup.