Today marked the final day of hosting a FIFA game at BC Place here in Vancouver. For the most part, there was a lot of excitement among people getting to experience something this big for what might be the last time. The last event of this scale in the city was during the 2010 Olympics. So, was it a success? From what I’ve read, many say it significantly lifted the city’s mood and generated a surge in business for a lot of companies, especially those in the Granville area, which saw a huge spike in sales. That was expected. At the same time, however, some smaller businesses, even ones right around BC Place, reported having to close during the events and losing significant revenue.
It makes you wonder: in situations like these, are we willing to sacrifice smaller businesses in order to promote the city’s image on a bigger stage? Many companies face a similar choice on whether to sideline their less visible talents or offerings in order to chase bigger profits. For a lot of people, if it’s purely business, they’re more than willing to make that trade-off. Whether this will truly benefit us in the long term, I’m still not sure.
There’s already a lot of discussion around security budgets and whether we overspent. Only time will tell. But it’s interesting to see this parallel reality: one side benefited immensely, while the other experienced something closer to doom and gloom. For me, one thing is certain where it really lifted the mood of the city, especially the nightlife. Vancouver has a reputation for having no nightlife at all, but that changed in an instant. Whether places like Granville stay busy once all the big events are gone remains to be seen. I doubt it’ll stay as lively, and businesses probably won’t see the same numbers without a major draw. Still, raising the overall mood of the city is no small thing.
It’s a bit like investing in the workplace. You might spend money on activities or comforts for your team, but if it genuinely makes people happier and more productive, it’s often worth it. The same goes for food at companies where employees work extremely long hours and smart employers don’t skimp on catering because bad food leads to grouchy, unproductive workers. So was the FIFA event a big failure or a big success? At this point, it feels like it was a success overall. But we’ll have to wait and see what the final books say.