Business View Magazine | June 2022

203 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 COMMONWEALTH STADIUM the teams, artists, and promoters. Being a city- run facility with a community run football team, we have a big part to play.” Over the next five years, Commonwealth Stadium may play an even bigger part – possibly one on the world stage. That’s because Edmonton is currently a candidate for host city of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as part of the North American bid. It’s been a big side project. According to Fesyk, “A lot of construction projects and upgrades are on the books. Many will run parallel with our Master Plan, but FIFA has its own requirements. So, we’re tweaking some of our past plans with their needs. For instance, FIFA World Cup soccer is played on either a pitch that is all-natural grass or a hybrid of both natural and synthetic grasses. We use artificial turf, so that change is part of the plan. We’d also have to upgrade our audio-visual elements in and around the stadium.”