OTTAWA, ON: Canada has been recognized as one of the leading sport hosting nations in the world for the 7th year in a row. In the just-released GSI Nations and Cities Index, Canada maintained its sixth place in the world-ranking, with China taking over the #1 ranking from the USA, who dropped to second. Rounding out the top six nations in the ranking were Japan third, the United Kingdom fourth, and Russia fifth.
The Index is compiled by Sportcal, the UK-based world-leading provider of sports market intelligence. It is based on an in-depth analysis of more than 700 major multisport games and world championships over a rolling 14-year period, covering seven years in the past and seven years in the future.
Continuing to be recognized as one of the leading sport hosting nations in the world, Canada placed second from 2013 – 2015, was ranked third in 2016, fifth in 2017 and sixth in 2018.
The 2019 Index analysed more events from more sports than ever before, incorporating a record number of host cities. It includes summer and winter Olympic sports and Olympic ‘recognised’ sports. This year it reviewed 730 events from 83 sports, in 150+ categories, across 641 cities in 90 nations.
Canada ranked third in number of events held, with 42, just one behind China at 43 while the USA led with 49 events hosted.
“It’s a tribute to the collaboration of our destinations and National Sport Organizations to bid for and host events right across the country that Canada has maintained such a consistent ranking internationally,” said Rick Traer, CEO, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA). “Once again our ability to host both winter and summer sporting events in a safe, welcoming environment is demonstrated in the 42 different events that were considered in this year’s ranking. As well, the alignment of our federal, provincial and municipal hosting programs is a significant factor in our success on the world stage. We continue to be seen as a premiere international host nation, and it is thanks to the work being done by all of our members and partners that we have maintained this ranking once again.”
In the Global Sports Impact (GSI) Cities Index, 32 different Canadian cities were ranked out of 641 analyzed. Montreal, recently named as the GSI Canada – Sport City 2019, led all Canadian cities ranking 31st in the world while Edmonton was the 2nd ranked Canadian city at 33rd overall.
CSTA will once again highlight Canada’s hosting attributes at the upcoming SportAccord Convention in Gold Coast, Australia, where more than 1500 delegates from around the world, including more than 100 International Sport Federations, will gather May 5-10, 2019. The Team Canada delegation is led by CSTA, in partnership with Destination Canada and CBC Sports. Destination partners include Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, London, Montréal and Québec City.
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About the Global Sports Impact (GSI) Nations and Cities Index
The GSI Nations and Cities Index is based on an in-depth analysis of almost 700 major multi-sport games and world championships over a rolling 14-year period, covering seven years in the past and seven years in the future. This period allows events from a minimum of three Olympic cycles to be taken in to consideration. The index incorporates more than 80 sports, including summer and winter Olympic sports and Olympic ‘recognised’ sports. The aim is to identify which cities and nations are bidding for and winning the right to host global sports events. In order for it to be truly global the index needs to focus on events that any country can bid for, with a few exceptions for multi-sport games.