Calgary’s recreational community celebrates boost in funding

Calgary’s recreational community is celebrating a win after city council approved over $90 million in additional spending in budget 2026 to get the ball rolling on several projects.

For some youth on a Friday evening after school, that recreational activity is playing cricket.

“It’s fun, the environment is nice,” cricket player Rayaan Javaid told CityNews.

But as the sport continues to grow in Calgary, proper space to play it gets harder to find. 

“It’s been really hard trying to find a place to play in the summer as well,” said Bennett Sanderson. “The fields are not up to standard. I’ve got personally injured on some of the fields because of how bad the conditions are.”

However, there will soon be a place where Sanderson doesn’t need to worry about those injuries anymore, after Calgary council voted to allocate $65 million towards the Northeast Athletic Complex, a project set to be one of the city’s largest athletic parks.

“The cricket stadium is going to be the very first fully designated cricket stadium in Canada. It’s going to attract tournaments,” Ward 5 Councillor Raj Dhaliwal told reporters at City Hall.

“I was talking to CMA, the field house and four pitches, they are going to be able to bring nationals here, which means a lot.”

Hamza Tariq, the president of the Future Stars Cricket Foundation, says around 800 people are playing in all programs, including youth, women, and seniors.

“It’s grown quite a bit,” he said.

“In the next 3-4 years’ time, when the stadium comes live — and it’s built, we might be at 2,000, and we might need more fields.”

Council also approved nearly $32 million towards design work in the 2026 budget for other recreational facilities, which comes as the city tries to achieve goals set out in its long-term recreational strategy, GamePLAN.

Carlo Bruno, the executive director of the Calgary Minor Soccer Association, says investments like this continue to make a difference in creating capacity for Calgarians.

“Not only are we now at this moment behind the eight ball in terms of being able to deliver the game the way we want to, but with this type of investment with the Belmont Fieldhouse coming online, the recent soccer centre, it’s starting to make a difference in creating capacity,” he said.

As for when the Northeast Athletic Complex will be completed, Dhaliwal says doors could possibly open by 2028 or 2029.

Future Cricket Stars Academy office manager Ana Feijoo says she saw the excitement from parents and visitors to the academy.

“They were like, ‘Hey, I read the news! I heard about cricket.’ I think for the longest time, cricket wasn’t the top priority,” she said.

Sanderson, meanwhile, this will make a difference for players in the country.

“This is huge, it is bringing the next level of cricket to Canada,” he said.