Major Sport Event Hosting

Large international and national events such as the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship and Davis Cup tennis are funded through a hosting program. The program focuses on the hosting of single-sport events (e.g. world championships, world cups) and special-focus events such as the North American Outgames or Maccabi Games.

Funding (typically ranging from $25,000 to $125,000) is provided on a case-by-case basis to events that cannot be accommodated through the Hosting BC program. These events are generally governed by a sport's or games’ international federation (or regional counterpart), have a qualification process and entry restrictions and are identified as part of the national sport organization's high-performance and long-term development plans for national team athletes.

Criteria

Funding consideration will be given to events which best demonstrate:

Economic Impact and Job Creation

• Positive impact on the number of jobs and tax revenue created and the economic activity generated by direct visitor spending on accommodation, food, transportation, etc.

Tourism Opportunities

• Extended length of visitor stays, length of tourism season and alignment with priority tourism, trade or investment markets.

Sport Development

• Enhanced hosting capacity (e.g. volunteer and/or official development) that is aligned with long term sport development plans endorsed by National and/or Provincial Sport Organizations.

Targeted Demographic

• Emerging trends which represent growth areas for B.C. (events for people with disabilities, women, LGBTQ2+, Indigenous, BICOP, etc.).

Regional Engagement and Community Development

• Capacity building across the Province that creates opportunities for community development and helps B.C. grow its reputation as the destination of choice for sport, art and culture events.

Sponsor/Spectator and Media Appeal

• A high level of sponsor interest and significant appeal to out of province spectators and international media.

Submission Process

Proponents should provide a brief description of the event, key contact(s) and the amount requested for provincial funding support by an email to: eventsupport@gov.bc.ca

Please include your event name, date and host community in the subject line of your email.

• Funding requests up to $100,000 must be submitted a minimum of six months prior to the event;
• Funding requests over $100,000 must be submitted a minimum of 12 months prior to the event.

Ministry staff will contact proponents for an initial discussion and review of the application form. In addition to the completion of the application form, proponents will also need to include the following documents in order for their request to be considered:

• Rationale for hosting;
• Business plan and budget;
• Legacy plan.

Funding requests will be considered from the following not for profit organizations:  

• a National Sport Organization or a Provincial Sport Organization/Disability Sport Organization registered in B.C.;
• a B.C. municipality, regional district, First Nations or other local government body;
• a federally or provincially registered society; or
• a recognized university or college.

Review the Notification for Collection