FIFA’s Vancouver contract could shut out businesses near BC Place

While the FIFA 2026 World Cup is being touted as an economic boon for the City of Vancouver, it may not work out that way for some businesses close to the marquee venue.

While the FIFA 2026 World Cup is being touted as an economic boon for the City of Vancouver, it may not work out that way for some businesses close to the marquee venue.

That’s according to a clause in the Host City Agreement, recently obtained and published by independent journalist Bob Mackin of The Breaker News after a three-year battle.

The contract requires the city to establish a “controlled area” located “directly adjacent to the outer stadium perimeter and in which certain commercial and other activities are prohibited on match days and the days prior to match days.”

The contract requires signage in the controlled area to be removed or covered, and restricts the public sale of food and beverages along with souvenirs, in order to protect the rights of FIFA’s corporate partners.

That’s potentially bad news for business owners like Ismet Yetisen, who runs the Boston Pizza on Beaty Street, right next door to BC Place.

Yetisen told Global News he’d been banking on the World Cup as a big opportunity for his restaurant.

“We want to make sure that we are opening every single day until 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 3 a.m. Not only for our guests that go in, but the guests that come out,” he said.

“My business is right next to one of the biggest stadiums in Canada. And obviously it brings a lot of income to me, but at the same time it brings lots of friends, and it brings out the people that eventually want to come back.”