Ontario law frustrates season ticket holders

TORONTO – Ryan Van Horne has had season tickets for the Toronto Raptors for 12 years, but for the first time, he’s thinking about ending his streak.

That’s because Ontario legislation that came into effect last month capped the price of resale tickets at face value, plus the cost of some taxes and service charges.

The move makes it harder for seat-holders like Van Horne and a friend he shares his season ticket with to recoup their costs by selling tickets to games they can’t attend.

“I told my friend I don’t know if I’m going to go through with it,” said Van Horne, who pays his share of nearly $5,000 a year for two row seats in the eighth row of the 300 level of Scotiabank Arena.

“Not that it was a profitable thing, but it makes absolutely no sense to me right now.”

Van Horne’s dilemma offers a window into the intricacies facing fans and some of Canada’s most profitable sports franchises as new legislation reshapes the playing field for ticket resale.

Until recently, season seat holders have been able to offload tickets for whatever price the market will pay. While some turned that flexibility into full-fledged businesses, capitalizing on their ability to snag seats at the hottest games and then flip them for more money, many say they signed up simply for their love of the game. They say they only resell tickets because of how demanding a team’s game schedule can be and how expensive seats have become.

“Whether it’s time or money, or both, they can’t afford to go to all these games,” said Paul Beirne, a sports business consultant who has held senior positions at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and was once president of the Canadian Premier League.

Baseball seasons, for example, now stretch beyond 160 games, so it’s understandable that the average person often doesn’t make it to the 80 or more expected at home.

Others bought their season tickets years ago, but the price has risen so much that the only way they can afford to continue is to sell some of the tickets.

Some tickets are sold below face value, but anything above the original price helps waive resale service fees and covers a portion of the subscription.

The new cap will force season seat holders to let their tickets go for no more than face value or consider riskier and more vulnerable sales on social media platforms or outside the venue.

Asked about the predicament, a spokesman for Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Services Delivery, Stephen Crawford, said in an email that the province is making it “easier and more affordable for families to attend concerts, cultural events and sporting events.”

Giulia Paikin also said that the new legislation applies “equally” to all resale platforms. The province is holding a public consultation on the policy until May 10.

Sho Kalache, a season ticket holder with the Toronto Tempo women’s basketball team, felt the brunt of the legislation almost immediately.

When a friend offered Kalace access to her box for a game and work commitments conflicted with others, she lined up her seats for a few games. They were removed days before the team’s inaugural match, when the platform listed them in the temporarily removed places to bring their systems into line with the new legislation.

“I wasn’t trying to make money. I just wanted to screw them up that I couldn’t go,” Kalache said.

She’s using the tickets through her wife’s real estate business, but isn’t happy with that option because it’s time-consuming and she can’t guarantee they’ll go to a fan.

“It’s a little disappointing because the ease of downloading tickets is gone,” Kalache said.

Many leagues and platforms are still working out how to allow season seat holders to post tickets while complying with the legislation.

Raptors, Leafs and Toronto FC owner MLSE and the Toronto Blue Jays said last week that they are working with the government and will have an update soon.

Beirne called the legislation “an open-ended force” that will “punish normal behaviour”.

“They choose to charge more for some games and pay less for other games because that’s the nature of it. Some games are more attractive than others,” he said.

“But if you close them all the same, you risk making season tickets less flexible, less attractive and that ultimately hurts the teams and the fans.”

Van Horne, who not only renewed his Raptors seats but also bought season tickets to the Tempo before the legislation was mentioned by the government, realized his Raptors seats were costing him about $100 per game.

Typically, he and his friend would each claim the games they wanted and then offer the remainder to friends and family to “cover my expenses and a little more.”

Participating in all of them is unimaginable. He now lives outside the city and has family obligations.

“If people don’t have a really good network, a group of half a dozen friends, and they’re all sharing this … they might wonder, is all this extra burden worth it now?” he said.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 5, 2026.

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