Almost a third of Toronto’s FIFA FanFest premium tickets sold, early data shows – Toronto

Toronto sold barely a third of its price FIFA Fan Fest tickets, early data show, potentially hurt a plan it launched to help manage escalating costs through 2026 World Cup.

Fan Fest events were held from June 11 to July 19 at the Fort York Historic Site and The Bentway, featuring football games and hosting performances by bands and DJs.

The festivals, described as a “key initiative” in the contract signed by Toronto with FIFA, were originally intended to be a free benefit of hosting.

But as the tournament approached, escalating costs saw Toronto add paid access to try and boost revenue.

Now, early data obtained by Global News reveals the city sold less than 40 percent of its premium tickets — raising questions about how high the final tab will be.

Almost every day, according to the figures, a large number of premium tickets remained unsold. In fact, only Canada’s first World Cup match – held on June 12 – was effectively sold out.

Despite the dismal sales figures, the city said the festival – which ran for 23 days, with two cancellations due to weather – was a success.

“Overall attendance at the FIFA Fan Festival Toronto was strong,” the city wrote in a statement sent to Global News.

“Attendance varied from day to day due to factors such as weather, game schedule and teams playing. The festival was primarily a free public event, with premium ticket sales representing a component of the tournament’s overall financial plan.”

At one point in the build-up to the World Cup, Toronto had toyed with the idea of ​​charging admission to Fan Fest to help cover cost overruns, before a wave of backlash forced politicians and city staff to think again.

Previously, staff had said the increased costs would require the city to pay admission to the festivals, which were once touted as a benefit to the $380 million Toronto was paid as host city for the men’s tournament.

of The plan the city eventually settled on was to sell some premium tickets and keep general admission free.

Garden Pavilion tickets cost $100, while the Pitchside Terrace goes for $150. The most expensive tickets cost $300 for a level called the Casamigos Clubhouse.

Even with those premium tickets, the city was expected to be roughly $5 million short of the funds it needed to host the festivals.

But early data accessed using freedom of information laws suggests the loss could be worse, with the vast majority of premium tickets unsold.

Information obtained by Global News shows ticket sales for each day of the FIFA Fan Fest, except for the final. He said 3,300 paid tickets were available each day for a total of 75,900 during the tournament. Only 28,456 tickets were sold in total, roughly 37 percent of premium tickets.

The data was compiled by city staff on July 14, five days before the end of the World Cup, meaning it captured most – but not all – premium sales.

While ticket sales were low most days, the second day of FanFest almost sold out without premium points.

Canada’s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto was the most popular day, with only 24 of the 3,300 premium tickets remaining unsold. On July 2, when Portugal played in Toronto, more than 90 percent of premium tickets were sold.

“We had a very successful few days with our premium sales, but the full reckoning of this will happen in the coming weeks and months,” said Sharon Bollenbach, executive director of the Toronto FIFA World Cup Secretariat.

“(We) had significant crowds in both our general admission and our premium for those days (the festival ran).

The total cost of Fan Fest and how much the city is expected to lose hosting it is still not entirely clear, but ticket sales offer a glimpse of what the final bill could be.

During the event, Toronto sold 5,334 of its most expensive FanFest tickets for a total of $1.6 million in gross revenue. Pitchside Terrace tickets brought in $455,000, and the Garden Pavilion category fetched over $2 million.

That means, over the course of the tournament, premium Fan Fest tickets totaled $4.1 million in sales before discounts and processing fees are taken into account.

How much of that will go to Toronto is unclear.

A staff report in April suggested the retailer would receive 10 percent of ticket revenue as well as 75 cents for each of the 343,000 free general admission tickets issued.

“Premium Ticket sales are expected to generate approximately $3.0 million in revenue to partially offset costs associated with the recommended Non-Competitive Procurement,” that pre-tournament report said, without specifying what percentage of premium tickets were expected to be snapped up.

Toronto City Manager Paul Johnson said ticket revenue would never have made up for the $5 million shortfall projected for FanFest, but that other financial benefits would help.

“In terms of would it have all come from VIP sales and sponsorships initially? The answer to that is no,” he said on Monday. There is no way to fill that gap with sponsorships and VIP sales alone.”

The city insisted that Fan Fest had been a success.

“Throughout the FIFA Fan Festival, the City of Toronto used a number of strategies to encourage participation, including the release of more free tickets, expanded programming and additional days of operation,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.

The city said FIFA’s full financial picture will be publicly reported in “early 2027”.