Sport Calgary launches campaign advocating for increased funding for recreational facilities

Sport Calgary is launching an information and advocacy campaign for increased investment into sport and recreation infrastructure ahead of the 2027-2030 budget cycle.

Increased funding would target aging facilities and capacity issues linked to the city’s rapid growth, particularly those prioritized through the city’s GamePLAN strategy for recreational investment, said Sport Calgary president Candice Goudie.

The Keep Calgary Playing campaign aims to educate Calgarians about the existing pressures on the city’s recreational facilities, and encourages them to share their experiences and add their name to the campaign’s pledge page.

According to the city’s GamePLAN report, more than 70 per cent of public recreation facilities are more than 35 years old, and with the city’s rapid growth, existing amenities are struggling to meet demand, Goudie said.

Recent surveys conducted by Sport Calgary found that 90 per cent of sport groups said facility deficits are their number one barrier to growth.

Eighty per cent of sport groups are operating at or near capacity, and more than 57,000 people are on waitlists to participate.

“This really is the tip of the iceberg, because we are unable to count how many people or children are turned away when registrations close,” Goudie said. “We really are seeing increased demand, increased population, and not enough space for people to play.”

There are many barriers to participation that Goudie said the sport sector is working to address, including cost, location and registration.

“But if we don’t have enough places to play, fundamentally that is the biggest,” she said.

But the limits of aging amenities go beyond just capacity, she said, and renewed facilities can mean better accessibility and sustainability features, more spectator space, and multi-use facilities that can accommodate a variety of sports.

“We’re making it work to the very best of our ability,” she said. “We are seeing people drive across the city to play. We’re seeing them play before school. We’re seeing them play at 10 p.m.

“(But) the cost of not investing is no longer going to be inconvenience — it will be inaccessibility,” she said. “We’re going from a place in Calgary where it’s inconvenient many times . . . to where you just won’t be able to get in — and that’s due to the rapid growth of our city.”

In February of 2025, the previous council approved a plan that would require a $200- to $250-million investment into recreational facilities, but those numbers won’t be finalized until the next four-year budget cycle is approved later this year.

While that seems like a big number, Goudie said, it only amounts to around 2.5 to 3 per cent of the city’s total 2026 budget.

“Everything that council and Calgarians are prioritizing matters,” she said. “We all care about water and roads and safety — of course we do. But sport and rec infrastructure matters too, and we need to advocate for that to be a part of the essentials.”

In response to the campaign, Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he views investment in recreation as “an absolute must-have.”

“The need has far outpaced our ability to deliver when it comes to expectations around recreational amenities, various sporting facilities, and so on,” he said. “It also has an economic development component. It also has a public safety component.”

Farkas said he “strongly supports” the advocacy from sports organizations toward increased funding.

“We hear you, and we want to make sure that we’re delivering in partnership with our federal and provincial partners on these major infrastructure needs for the City of Calgary going forward,” he said.

Calgary’s aging and at-capacity recreational facilities are part of an infrastructure deficit of $52 billion, Farkas said, which also includes water pipes, roads, public transit and other buildings.

“The challenge is that in recent years, especially, we’ve seen significant reductions in provincial transfers,” he said. “On a 10-year basis, it is about a billion dollars less that Calgary has received as compared to our historical average from our provincial partners.

“The good news is that our federal government has taken very seriously the infrastructure needs of municipalities,” he said.

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