March 8, 2018: (Halifax, Nova Scotia) Today marks the launch of the inaugural Global Sports Impact (GSI) Canada Index.

Montreal is ranked as the top city in Canada for hosting sports events followed by Edmonton, Quebec City, Ottawa and Vancouver. The announcement was made at the Sport Events Congress 2018 (SEC18) this week at the Halifax Convention Centre in Nova Scotia. 

GSI Canada: Sports City 2018 

•    1st: Montreal
•    2nd: Edmonton
•    3rd: Quebec
•    4th: Ottawa
•    5th: Vancouver

Please click here for the full list 

CSTA, in partnership with Sportcal – the publisher of the annual Global Sport Impact (GSI) Report – has developed the Global Sport Impact Canada Index or GSI Canada Index. This new tool’s aim is to rank all cities hosting national sports championships and international sports events in Canada through a data driven assessment of performance, enabling host cities to better understand the impact they are delivering through their sport event strategy.

Developed in partnership with Sportcal, the GSI Canada Index of sport hosting performance is based on national championships and international competitions both hosted in 2017 as well as those national championships/international events  currently awarded for 2018 and beyond. Members of CSTA completed a worksheet/online form which was analysed independently by Sportcal.

“This is one more tool we have developed for our members,” said Rick Traer, CEO, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance. “It continues our commitment to provide our member organisations with access to development tools that align with our mission, ‘To increase Canadian capacity to attract and host sport tourism events.’ We appreciate being able to draw on the expertise of the team at Sportcal to create this data-driven GSI Canada Index.”

“We are delighted to be working with CSTA on the first National Sports Index for Canada” stated Mike Laflin, CEO of Sportcal. “The GSI project has shown that sport delivers a whole range of ‘holistic’ impacts for a host city and nation most of which go undetected. GSI is showing that sport delivers significant social and sustainable benefits in addition to economic, tourism and media impacts. The GSI Canada Index will help Canadian sports and cities understand more about the impacts generated by their sports events and help them deliver better outcomes and better results for their cities, governments and ultimately their citizens.”

Sportcal is the world-leading provider of sports market intelligence. It produces the annual Global Sports Cities and Nations Index, analysing major multi-sport games and world championships, and ranking cities and nations in order of hosting.

Based on the input provided, each host city received a score and ranking within its respective membership category on an annual basis. The annual rankings will now be announced yearly at Sport Events Congress.

During Sport Events Congress 2018, these Canadian rankings were publicly announced:

– GSI Canada Cities full Index
– GSI Canada Cities full Index by population (overall)
– GSI Canada: International Sports Host 2018 
•    1st: Montreal
•    2nd: Edmonton
•    3rd: Toronto
•    4th: Vancouver
•    5th: Quebec city
– GSI Canada: National Sports Host 2018 
•    1st: Ottawa
•    2nd: Montreal
•    3rd: Winnipeg
•    4th: Edmonton
•    5th: Quebec city
– GSI Canada: National Sports Event 2018
•    2017 Grey Cup
•    2017 NHL 100 classic
•    2017 Tim Horton Brier
•    2017 Canada Summer Games
•    2017 Master Card Memorial Cup

The GSI Canada Index report and full rankings, as well as further studies, will be available for purchase from Sportcal in April 2018. To pre-order the report contact gsi@sportcal.com

For further information about the Global Sports Impact (GSI) Canada Index, the GSI project, or how to join the GSI Event Studies Programme, contact clientservices@sportcal.com or call +44 (0) 20 8944 8786