The FIFA 2026 World Cup Committee of Toronto wants to spend almost $ 11 million in ticket packages for the next games and resell them at marked prices, and some councilors say that the measure would be equivalent to “scallar” with taxpayers’ money.
FIFA controls tickets for games, and as a host city, Toronto has had the opportunity to buy some of the packages, which include tickets for games, access to hospitality suites and other comforts in the stadium, before being available for private ticket vendors.
The $ 10.7 million plan is directed to the Council next week for the final approval.
“Now we are acting as a Stub center,” Coun. Jon Burnside said after Tuesday’s committee meeting.
“There are certain things in which governments should not participate, and the skirt of tickets, which is really what it is, is one of those questionable activities.”
Lawyer Josh Mallow, a critic for a long time of the agreement that the city agreed with the International Football Federation (FIFA) in 2022, has also criticized the disbursement, saying that it is a sign that the city is desperate to find ways to cover its World Cup costs.
“It is clear that the city signed such a bad treatment (with FIFA) that it has been allowed to have to recover costs by becoming a climber,” he said.
Climbing costs
In June 2022, FIFA gave Toronto the right to organize five games of the first round plus a match of the Playoffs round during the 2026 World Cup. The remaining games will be organized by Vancouver, Mexico and the United States.
At that time, the cost for Toronto was estimated at approximately $ 300 million. Since then, it has risen to $ 380 million, of which federal and provincial governments provide around $ 200 million.
The city staff has said that preparing adequate places, inflation, security and security costs are the reason for most expenses.
Sharon Bollenbach, executive director of the Toronto FIFA 26 World Cup Secretariat 26, said it makes sense that the city takes the opportunity to buy hospitality suites for resale later.
“It makes no sense to leave money sitting on the table,” Toronto told CBC. “We, as a host city, have the option of selling hospitality packages.”
Bollenbach said the Secretariat is in the midst of negotiations with organizations that could be interested in buying those games packages. She said the city will sell around 10 of the packages, each selected to the needs of the buyer.
She would not say how much the city is asking for the packages, or who are the potential buyers.
“They could be individuals, but generally the price at which they are, this is typically corporations … buying as hospitality for their employees, for their customers, to be part of the World Cup experience here in Toronto.”
Moving could be a ‘great money creator’: councilor
At yesterday’s meeting, Coun. Anthony Peruzza asked why the secretariat was only interested in buying games packages worth $ 10.7 million.
“This sounds like a great money creator,” he told the meeting.
Later, Bollenbach told CBC Toronto that the city retains the right to buy more tickets as the dates of the World Cup approach.
Bollenbach said that it is still not clear what the potential income of Toronto Games could be.
That could depend on the popularity of the teams assigned to play in Toronto, said Burnside, and that calendar will not be published until the end of this year.
Without knowing which teams will play in the city, it is impossible to say what the interest of fans will be, said Burnside.
“We are putting the money without knowing what the demand will be.”
