The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are bidding to host the Canadian Football League Grey Cup championship in both 2024 or 2025, and the Manitoba authorities is providing up to $5.5 million to help the bid.
Winnipeg is a pure selection, given the membership’s back-to-back wins within the final two championships, Premier Heather Stefanson mentioned.
She expects the financial advantages to outweigh the price, and mentioned metropolis corridor is anticipated to supply up to $1.5 million.
“You can see that it is a important profit, not simply to our metropolis however to our province,” Stefanson mentioned in an interview Tuesday.
Winnipeg final hosted the Grey Cup in 2015 and noticed an estimated 22,000 guests participate in weeklong celebrations that culminated in a 26-20 win by Edmonton over Ottawa.
Manitoba estimates internet hosting the occasion this yr would add $90 million to the financial system and supply $8.2 million in provincial tax income.
The province’s monetary help this time round is greater than in 2015. It’s additionally greater than latest successful bids in different provinces.
The Ontario authorities put up $3 million mixed for 2 Grey Cups in Hamilton — one in 2021 and one slated for subsequent yr. The Saskatchewan authorities’s tourism Crown company provided $3 million within the bid that landed this yr’s last in Regina.
Stefanson mentioned Manitoba is providing more cash partly as a result of the variety of groups wanting to host the championship is getting crowded.
The bid is for both the 2024 or 2025 Grey Cup so as to enhance the probabilities of touchdown certainly one of them.
“Obviously (it is) simply extra aggressive as we transfer ahead, inflationary pressures and so forth,” Stefanson mentioned.
There is not any phrase on when league officers will decide on the bid. The league has not introduced a host metropolis past Hamilton in 2023.
On the sector, the Bombers have continued to dominate this season. The membership clinched first place within the CFL West Division final weekend with a 48-11 victory over the Edmonton Elks.
Manitoba’s monetary support comes at a time when the provincial authorities continues to wrestle with deficits.
The province has been recording pink ink yearly since 2009, excluding the 2019-20 fiscal yr. For the fiscal yr that ends subsequent March, the deficit is forecast to be $202 million.