The City of Regina is teaming up with the City of Saskatoon to bid on hosting the 2025 edition of the ‘World Juniors.’
At Wednesday’s Executive Committee meeting, city administration recommends that city council approve a contribution of $400,000 to host the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship. The City of Saskatoon has already approved a contribution of $500,000 towards the bid.
Regina’s bid would include $135,000 in uncommitted funding from the 2023 Events, Conventions and Tradeshows (ECT) attraction budget and $265,000 in uncommitted funds in the ECT Reserve.
According to the report, Hockey Canada states that the benefits of hosting the World Juniors are:
- $50 million in economic impact
- 300,000 plus fans attending 31 games
- Over 15,000 Room nights
- Over 20,000 out-of-town visitors
- All 31 games broadcast on TSN/RDS, resulting in over 120 million viewers worldwide
While the benefits lists include the World Juniors, city administration has previously advised that a 60/40 split between Saskatoon and Regina represented a reasonable estimate.
If the bid is approved, Saskatoon will host 21 games, including all of the Team Canada games and the playoff rounds, with Regina hosting all Pool B games and Team Canada’s pre-tournament games.
The tournament will be hosted from December 26, 2024, to January 5, 2025.
Regina and Saskatoon last made a bid in 2023 to host the championships but lost to Halifax and Moncton. The last time Saskatchewan hosted the tournament was back in 2010.
If approved by Executive Committee, the bid will then go to City Council to be approved.
