FIFA tickets purchased by Toronto being resold to ‘avoid spending property tax dollars’ on tournament: mayor’s office

FIFA World Cup 2026 branding is displayed on City Hall during a FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour event at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Monday, May 25, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey

Mayor Olivia Chow’s office is defending the city’s decision to resell tickets it purchased for the FIFA World Cup to corporate sponsors at a profit, saying that the move was done to reduce the number of tax dollars directed to staging the tournament.

FIFA permitted all host cities to purchase 1.5 per cent of local tickets for “the purpose of raising local funds via sponsorship, corporate packages” and other initiatives, the mayor’s office said.

“In 2025, City Council passed a plan to purchase tickets as a host city to create corporate hospitality and donor packages, and have a vendor sell them on the city’s behalf. All host cities were provided this opportunity by FIFA in order to offset costs,” the statement read.

“Our understanding is that many, if not all, of them did.”

Vancouver also confirmed that the majority of the 9,000 tickets it purchased will be sold via the FIFA World Cup 2026 Sponsorship Program in order to provide revenue opportunities to the city.

In response to inflated resale ticket prices for events across Ontario, the Ford government recently banned the resale of event tickets for above face-value.

The cost to the City of Toronto for hosting the tournament is about $380 million, including grants from the provincial and federal governments that total roughly $200 million.

“Mayor Chow refuses to spend Torontonians’ property tax dollars on the City’s $180 million share of the FIFA budget,” the statement from her office continued.

“The total FIFA budget for the Toronto games is a combination of: multiple years of saving revenue from the hotel tax, commercial sponsorships and packages, private fundraising, and funds from other levels of government.”

Toronto and other host cities have come under fire in recent months for not making the tournament more affordable for its citizens.

Other host cities have been under pressure to follow the lead of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who secured 1,000 tickets to offer to New York City residents at $50 a piece as part of a lottery system.

The City of Toronto also faced backlash after announcing that tickets to what was supposed to be its free Fan Festival would be sold at $10 a piece, a decision that was ultimately reversed following public outcry.