Doug Ford suggests willingness to work with Toronto on FIFA World Cup expenses

Signage for the official brand and new #WeAre26 awareness campaign, as a host city for FIFA World Cup 2026, photographed at BMO Field in Toronto, on Thursday, May 18, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

Premier Doug Ford is promising to sit down with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and ‘”come up with a solution” amid concerns that the city could be facing a sizeable shortfall with less than one year to go until the start of the tournament.

The municipality was counting on $97 million in funding from Queen’s Park to help cover the costs of hosting six FIFA World Cup games in 2026.

But a staff report last month revealed that more than $39 million of that funding will go toward additional provincial service costs, including $14 million to the Ontario Provincial Police for security and another $15 million to help cover additional hospital and paramedic surge capacity.

“When I made this agreement I said we weren’t going to do a penny more than $96 or $97 million, somewhere around there, but when I talked to the mayor and we were looking over the costs, the security is crazy,” Ford said during an unrelated news conference on Tuesday, where he was asked whether there might be any wiggle room in the province’s deal with the city. “She (Chow) needs more cash which I understand. But we will review it, we will come up with a solution and it will turn out well.”

The total cost of hosting World Cup games in Toronto has been pegged at $380 million, with the federal government contributing $104 million and Ontario chipping in the $97 million, including services.

Chow, however, has said that the city was not expecting so much of the province’s contribution to be eaten up by service costs and can’t just find the cash on its own to cover the shortfall.

She has warned that if more of the provincial contribution can’t be delivered in cash, the city may have to look at slashing many of the planned expenses associated with the World Cup.

“I wish we signed all the cost-sharing before we did the bidding but we are now here,” Chow said alongside Ford at Tuesday’s press conference. “So, it is absolutely true. We are negotiating and we are looking at the costs. The security costs for example are like 30 plus percent (of the provincial contribution). Do we really need that high level of security?”

A motion approved by city council last month directed the city manager to limit FIFA World Cup expenses to $340 million “until such time as the City of Toronto has identified savings, secured intergovernmental funding or other sources of revenue to fund [the] full $380 million budget.”