Images: BC Place
This summer will mark 10 years since BC Place staged the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and later this week all eyes will once again be on the Vancouver stadium as it hosts the opening match of Canada’s new club competition, the Northern Super League (NSL).
The NSL will bring together six clubs: Vancouver Rise, Calgary Wild, Halifax Tides, Montréal Roses, AFC Toronto and Ottawa Rapid.
Vancouver will take on Calgary in tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) opening match at the 54,500-capacity BC Place. The match will be a one-off, with Rise’s subsequent fixtures to take place at the smaller Swangard Stadium in nearby Burnaby.
The NSL’s regular season will run until October, with the league set to benefit from national broadcast exposure on TSN and CBC. For BC Place, hosting the opening match represents a big opportunity to showcase the women’s game to new audiences.
“As a venue we’re here to support and uplift women’s sports, so to be selected to host the Northern Super League’s first match is a huge honour,” Anita Sodhi-Cavezza, director of business development and event sales at BC Place, tells TheStadiumBusiness.com.
“We are witnessing history in the making with what the league is doing, and we’re so excited to have a small part in it. I encourage anyone who has the means to be in Vancouver on April 16 to come out and show your support and be part of history.”
Ticket sales for the match are growing each day, and the fixture was promoted during the women’s national team’s friendly against Argentina at BC Place on April 4. That match, which Canada won 3-0, attracted over 10,000 fans.
“Vancouver has a rich history of supporting women’s sports, and we’ve seen strong proof that there’s an audience for women’s soccer in the city,” says Sodhi-Cavezza. “The interest is there, and with the new Vancouver Rise franchise, we expect that passion to continue growing. This is an exciting time for women’s club soccer in the city.”
BC Place has built up a strong portfolio of women’s sporting events since the 2015 Women’s World Cup, when it hosted nine matches including the final between USA and Japan. The final attracted nearly 26 million television viewers in the US – a record for a soccer match in the country.
The Women’s World Cup drew tourists from across the globe to Vancouver, with Sodhi-Cavezza describing the tournament as a “turning point” for women’s sport in the city.
“It showed young girls, the media, and the industry at large that women’s sports are worth their weight in gold, and that they can draw the same numbers as what an international men’s competition can.”
The Women’s World Cup evokes strong personal memories for Sodhi-Cavezza, who attended the event with her daughter. “Seeing 54,000 fans in the stadium all cheering for women’s sports, it was a moment I’ll never forget. The impact that kind of moment has truly can’t be measured.”
Since the Women’s World Cup, BC Place has been a regular host of HSBC SVNS, World Rugby’s sevens series, which features men’s and women’s competitions. BC Place also staged a WXV 1 rugby union event last year.
Aside from the Women’s World Cup, arguably the biggest women’s sporting event to take place at BC Place was Christine Sinclair’s final match for the national team in December 2023 (main picture).
Sinclair, a legend of women’s football and a British Columbia native, scored 190 goals for the national team – a record across the men’s and women’s game. Her final match for Canada attracted over 50,000 fans to BC Place, which was temporarily rebranded for the occasion.
“Like any major event at BC Place, attendance depends on a few factors – timing, matchups, when it’s announced, the overall consumer environment,” says Sodhi-Cavezza. “What I will say is that the Canada women’s soccer team is absolutely capable of drawing equal, in some cases more attendees than the men’s sporting events at BC Place.
“That was made very clear during Christine Sinclair’s final match, which set a national attendance record for Canada women’s soccer. Christine Sinclair is recognised as one of the most accomplished Canadian athletes of all time, male or female, and the significance of this match resulted in our decision to rename the building as Christine Sinclair Place, a first in our 40-plus-year history.”
Women’s-dedicated sports facilities are becoming more commonplace in North America. Last year, National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) franchise Kansas City Current opened the first purpose-built stadium in women’s soccer, and Denver’s new NWSL franchise recently announced plans for its own dedicated stadium.
Older venues such as BC Place, which opened in 1983, are required to adapt to the event they are staging. The stadium has proven itself capable of hosting both men’s and women’s sporting events – sometimes on the same day, as was the case for the HSBC SVNS.
“It’s our belief that we should be treating men’s and women’s sports with equity, and that includes providing the same platform and experience for women that we do for the men’s sports hosted at BC Place,” explains Sodhi-Cavezza.
“We have found this to be the approach that the majority of sports organisations are taking as well. A great example of this is the HSBC SVNS series, where both the men’s and women’s matches are scheduled throughout the day with identical pitch setups.”
Positive shift
Sodhi-Cavezza notes that women’s sporting events at BC Place attract more families, which she cites as a reflection of the values such events promote. “It’s an opportunity for parents to bring their kids and show them that anything is possible,” she says.
“We also see a lot of youth teams, especially girls’ teams, engaging with the events. On the sponsorship side, we’ve noticed more brands are eager to support both men’s and women’s sports. There’s been a positive shift in this direction, which we love to see.”
BC Place will also be a host venue during next year’s men’s FIFA World Cup, which will take place across the US, Canada and Mexico. The stadium will stage seven matches, including Canada’s second and third group-stage fixtures and two knockout games.
Earlier this month, FIFA revealed that the US has expressed an interest in hosting the 2031 Women’s World Cup alongside other Concacaf nations. Sodhi-Cavezza said that BC Place would love to host the tournament again, describing it as an “incredible opportunity” for Canada to once again play in a home World Cup.
“We’d absolutely explore the possibility of being involved with the 2031 Women’s World Cup if the opportunity arises.”
BC Place will also be a host venue during this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup, the men’s national team tournament contested by countries from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Looking ahead, BC Place is looking to expand its event portfolio to other sports, with Sodhi-Cavezza keen to tap into the growth of women’s basketball in Canada.
In May last year, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) announced that a new franchise will launch in Toronto in 2026, becoming the league’s first team outside of the US.
In August, Vancouver’s Rogers Arena will host a WNBA game between the Atlanta Dream and Seattle Storm. It will mark the WNBA’s first regular-season game outside of the US and only its third ever in Canada, after pre-season games in Edmonton and Toronto.
With the WNBA in the midst of a huge surge in interest, a stadium-sized event could be on the cards in the coming years.
“We are always on the lookout for new types of events for both women’s and men’s sports,” says Sodhi-Cavezza. “It’s difficult to narrow it down, but with the WNBA expanding to Canada next year, we would love to bring a women’s basketball game to BC Place.
“And with the size of our stadium, we have the potential to host the largest women’s basketball game outside of the US. We’ve also seen a lot of growth with women’s rugby in this market so it would be an honour to host the Women’s Rugby World Cup here at BC Place.”
While high-profile international tournaments are key to BC Place’s strategy, Sodhi-Cavezza is keen to point out the important role that stadiums can play with the local community.
“I think stadiums often get associated with just the big events, but we want to challenge that perception,” she says. “Hosting an event at a stadium doesn’t have to be an unreachable goal. For us at BC Place, we want to give a platform to events that uplift our community.
“We are more than open to being part of grassroots initiatives and the building of new events. We really believe it’s our duty to help build up the industry and invest in our collective future across all market sectors, but particularly in sport and entertainment.”
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