Less than half of FIFA Fan Festival premium tickets sold in Toronto: city report

TORONTO — Less than half of the premium tickets for Toronto’s FIFA Fan Festival sold during the World Cup, generating an estimated $5 million in revenue for the city, municipal staff said in a report presented to city council Thursday.

The report on the early outcomes of Toronto’s tournament hosting duties said preliminary data shows 44 per cent of premium tickets for the flagship festival at Fort York were sold.

While the majority of fan festival tickets were free, premium tickets were listed for between $100 and $300 and included faster entry and dedicated spaces on festival grounds.

The city said approximately 350,000 people attended the fan festival over the course of the international soccer tournament.

The festival hosted 86 performers, including 80 Canadian performers and 19 cultural acts.

It was scheduled to be open for 23 days but two more were added: one on June 28 as Canada advanced to the round of 16, and one on July 10 for another quarterfinal match day “due to strong public interest,” the report said.

The report said staff remain confident that the cost of hosting six World Cup matches will be within the city’s approved budget of $380 million.

A full financial report is expected early next year once staff finish verifying revenues and budget offsets.

City council passed a motion on Thursday asking the auditor general to conduct a value for money review on hosting the World Cup in Toronto.

Mayor Olivia Chow called the weeks-long event a great success, thanks to the hard work of those involved. “The tournament might be over, but I believe that we can continue on the lessons and keep the city moving ahead,” she said.

Chow said the city levied hotels rather than raising property taxes to help cover the costs of hosting the tournament, adding Vancouver — another host city — was left with a bill of more than $700 million.

“That’s almost double the amount. So if you’re talking about value for money, let me tell you, we’ve done a very good job in there also,” the mayor said.

The federal government committed up to $45 million toward World Cup policing and security costs in April, which the report says may help offset some of the city’s costs.

Local transit routes carried about 85,000 riders to the stadium and fan festival, and a total ridership of nearly 160,000 was reported at Exhibition GO station near the stadium on match days, the document said.

BMO Field, which was rebranded as Toronto Stadium during the World Cup, welcomed about 250,000 fans over the course of the six match days, the report said.

“The overwhelming majority of visitors to the stadium provided positive feedback about their experiences,” it said. As well, preliminary results from surveys conducted by Destination Toronto and Destination Ontario showed nine out of 10 visitors who participated said they were likely to return to Toronto for leisure in the next two years, it said.

The report said the World Cup represented the longest deployment in Toronto police history, with officers working for six weeks of continuous operations.

“(Police officers) successfully monitored and staffed 17 fan and supporter marches with the largest fan march for Portugal drawing more than 18,000 supporters,” it said.

Toronto paramedics, meanwhile, responded to about 550 requests for medical care at Toronto stadium and the fan festival, it said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2026.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press