The FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 proved to be a huge success with numerous records broken for both live attendance figures and worldwide television audiences. Highlights include Team Canada’s play that culminated in two elimination games at BC Place Stadium, and the United States capturing the World Cup trophy in front of a sold out crowd in Vancouver.

This tournament was the largest women’s sporting event in the world. Preliminary estimates suggested that the World Cup would generate $52 million in economic impact for the province of B.C.; those calculations should exceed expectations when final numbers are announced in the coming weeks.

BC Place Stadium hosted nine matches over the month-long tournament, including the championship final, one of four games played in Vancouver before more than 50,000 fans. The final game also broke a record as the most viewed soccer match in the history of American television with an average of 26.7 million viewers and peak viewership of 30.9 million.

These games also allowed tens of thousands of spectators and visitors to take home lasting memories of British Columbia as a world-class sporting event and tourism destination. Along with live broadcasts from CTV, TSN, RDS, FOX Sports 1, Telemundo, Fuji TV, and other international broadcasters, there were nearly 50 million people who saw Vancouver – and the province of B.C. – showcased to the world.

Here at home, Canadians consumed more than 69 million hours of soccer action throughout the tournament and more than half of all Canadian girls aged 2-17 watched at least some of the World Cup, up from 29% in 2011.

Social media sites like Twitter say the popular hashtag #FIFAWWC was viewed nine billion times. The Province of B.C. capitalized on this success by posting content related to the World Cup 28 times and attracting 1,872 new followers. Posts on the Government of British Columbia’s Facebook page also reached 9,642 people and a World Cup article written by VanCity Buzz was shared over 3,000 times.

B.C.’s Crown destination marketing organization, Destination BC, partnered with a number of official broadcasters including Fox Sports to help them highlight B.C. tourism experiences during their in-game broadcasts. Destination BC also organized a series of halftime broadcasts from some of the Lower Mainland’s top attractions using Periscope, a live-streaming app owned by Twitter, and put the #exploreBC hashtag into the game in several different ways, including having Fox Sports promote it during the World Cup final.

Inside the local venue, there were more than 620,000 food and beverage orders during the course of nine events and seven match days – the equivalent to one transaction occurring every 4.5 seconds. And each host province erected a Fan Zone site for the World Cup. Vancouver’s proved to be the most popular destination in the country, with over 100,000 fans attending over the course of the tournament.

Quotes:

Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and Minister Responsible for TransLink –

“Congratulations to everyone who contributed to the amazing success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015. This further strengthens our reputation as a premier destination for hosting events, and builds on past achievements like the 2015 Canada Winter Games and the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. We want to encourage more high-profile events like these in B.C., and are looking forward to showcasing B.C. to the world in the upcoming World U17 Hockey Challenge in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John this fall, and the World Rugby Seven Series in Vancouver in March 2016.”

Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour –

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 proved to be an outstanding opportunity to showcase British Columbia to the world. This was maximized by the tens of thousands of visitors who came to our province to enjoy the highest calibre soccer matches, our outstanding hospitality, and our many natural assets that make B.C. so unique. It is our hope that this event will lead to hosting even more international championships in the future.”

Quick Facts:

Sport:

• Since 2001, the Province of B.C. has invested more than $1 billion in sport – more than any other government in B.C. history.
• In 2014-15, we provided close to $50 million in sport funding.
• The Province contributed $2 million towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015.
• Vancouver hosted nine matches, including five group matches, two round of 16 matches, a quarter final and the final match on Sunday July 5, 2015.
• Soccer is British Columbia’s most popular sport with over 122,000 players registered with the BC Soccer Association.

Tourism:

• The Province invests $90 million each year in the tourism sector.
• Sport tourism in B.C. is valued at over $300 million annually, and is one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry.
• In 2014, there was a 5.3% increase in international visitors overall to B.C. – almost a quarter of a million (234,079) more visitors coming from outside the country than the year before.
• These increases in visitor numbers help support over 19,000 businesses and 132,000 jobs in the tourism sector in B.C.
• In 2013, the tourism industry generated $13.9 billion in revenue and a direct contribution to B.C.’s gross domestic product (GDP) of $7.3 billion, accounting for 4% of the Province’s total GDP.

Learn More:

Summary of key stats from the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015. It came to an end after 52 matches played over 30 days and with a total attendance of more than 1.35 million: http://ow.ly/Q0ku7

Check out the provincial government’s role in supporting communities, sport, arts and culture through the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development at: www.gov.bc.ca/cscd