Toronto wants to spend $10.7M on World Cup ticket packages and resell them for a profit

Toronto's 2026 FIFA World Cup committee wants to spend nearly $11 million on ticket packages for the upcoming games and resell them at marked up prices, with some councillors saying the move would amount to "scalping" with taxpayers' money.

FIFA controls tickets to the games, and as a host city, Toronto has been given the opportunity to buy up some of the packages, which include tickets to the games, access to hospitality suites and other amenities at the stadium, before they're made available to private ticket sellers.

The $10.7-million plan heads to council next week for final approval.

"We're now acting like a Stub Hub," Coun. Jon Burnside said after Tuesday's committee meeting.

"There are certain things governments shouldn't be involved in, and scalping tickets — which is really what this is — is one of those questionable activities."

Coun. Josh Matlow, long a critic of the deal the city agreed to with the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in 2022, has also criticized the outlay, saying it's a sign the city is desperate to find ways of covering its World Cup costs.

"It's clear that the city signed such a bad deal (with FIFA) that it's been left to have to recoup costs by becoming a scalper," he said.

Climbing costs

In June 2022, FIFA awarded Toronto the right to host five first round games plus one playoff round match during the 2026 World Cup. The remaining games will be hosted by Vancouver, Mexico and the United States.

At that time, the cost to Toronto was estimated at about $300 million. It has since climbed to $380 million, about $200 million of which is being provided by the federal and provincial governments. 

City staff have said preparing suitable venues, inflation, security, and safety costs are the reason for most of the expenses.

Sharon Bollenbach, executive director of Toronto's FIFA World Cup 26 Secretariat, said it makes sense for the city to take advantage of its opportunity to buy up hospitality suites for re-sale later.

"There's no point leaving money sitting on the table," she told CBC Toronto. "We as host city have the option to be selling hospitality packages."

Bollenbach said the secretariat is in the midst of negotiations with organizations that could be interested in buying those game packages. She said about 10 of the packages will be sold by the city, each of them curated to the buyer's needs.

She wouldn't say how much the city is asking for the packages, or who the potential buyers are. 

"They could be individuals, but typically the price point that they're at, this is typically corporations...buying as hospitality for their employees, for their clients, to be part of the World Cup experience here in Toronto."

Move could be a 'big money-maker': councillor

At yesterday's meeting, Coun. Anthony Peruzza asked why the secretariat was only interested in buying $10.7 million worth of games packages.

"This sounds like a big money-maker to me," he told the meeting.

Later, Bollenbach told CBC Toronto the city retains the right to buy more tickets as the World Cup dates draw closer.

Bollenbach said it's not yet clear what the potential revenue from the Toronto games could be.

That could depend on the popularity of the teams assigned to play in Toronto, Burnside said, and that schedule won't be released until later this year.

Without knowing which teams will be playing in the city, it's impossible to say what the fan interest will be, Burnside said.

"We're putting up the money without actually knowing what the demand will be."