$300K requested from Brampton in support of 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championship

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Published February 22, 2023 at 11:22 am

The players of Canada pose with their gold medals and trophy after after The IIHF World Championship Woman's ice hockey gold medal match between USA and Canada in Herning, Denmark, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022. Canada's women's hockey team will start it's quest for a third straight world title with a showdown against Switzerland when the 2023 championship begins this spring in Brampton, Ont. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP

Hundreds of thousands in funding is being requested from the City of Brampton to help support the upcoming 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship.

The tournament, happening in April, will see the world’s top female ice hockey players battle it out for the championship title at Brampton’s CAA Centre.

At Brampton’s city council meeting on Feb. 22, Hockey Canada and the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA) requested $300,000 in funding from the City to offset 10% of the tournament’s operational budget.

The cost to organize the tournament in Brampton is expected to be nearly $3 million, with predicted revenue of approximately $3,275,000 for a net profit of $295,700.

Hockey Canada and OWHA believe the event would benefit Brampton via brand exposure and funding recognition, and have highlighted five goals they’re trying to achieve:

1. Draw over 100,000 fans to 31 international hockey games in Brampton
2. Generate an economic impact more than $10 million for the Peel Region
3. Deliver concurrent hockey educational programs to develop coaches, officials, and players
4. Continue Hockey Canada’s status as the pre-eminent hockey hosting nation
5. Broadcast all games on TSN to a worldwide audience more than 10 million viewers

City council is expected to continue discussing funding for the tournament, which is less than two months away from taking place.

The schedule for the 10-country tournament happening April 5-16 was released in January, with the host country taking on some different opponents early because of a shakeup in the standings at last year’s world championship.

All games will be played in Brampton for the 22nd installment of the tournament, and this year marks the first time since 2000 that the Women’s Worlds will come to the GTA.

Canada will attempt a three-peat for the first time since 2004 when the women capped a run of eight titles dating back to the inaugural championship in 1990.

The Canadians headline Group A of the top five seeds from the 2022 world championship including silver medallist United States, bronze medalist Czechia, Switzerland and Japan, while Finland, France, Germany, Hungary and Sweden comprise Group B.

Canada faces the Swiss, France meets Finland and the United States plays Japan on opening day April 5. The defending champions take on archrival U.S. on April 10. The April 13 quarterfinals will be followed by the semifinals on April 15 and the medal games on April 16.

With files from The Canadian Press

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