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Toronto’s FIFA fan festival will bring food, live performances and big game atmosphere to the heart of the city, officials are promising, as they unveil a plan to keep the events largely free to attend.
Between June 11 and July 19, the City of Toronto will hold 22 days of fan events at the Fort York National Historic Site and the Bentway with massive screens to watch the matches and extra entertainment on the side.
“Neighbours, newcomers, visitors, doesn’t matter who you are, they are in for a treat,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow promised on Monday.
The city has announced there will be DJs performing at the events, as well as other musical guests, art and street food stalls.
The fan festivals will be free to attend — but will require people to sign up for limited tickets online, beginning on May 6.
At one point, the city had toyed with the idea of charging admission 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 charge entry to the festivals, which had previously been advertised as a benefit of the men’s World Cup that Toronto is paying $380 million to host.
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The report suggested an admission price of $10 for the previously complimentary event, with VIP admission priced between $100 and $300.
The plan unveiled on Monday appears to strike a balance. More than 15,000 daily tickets will be available for free, while the city tries to recoup some of its costs through premium options.
Garden Pavilion tickets will cost $100, while the Pitchside Terrace will be $150. The most expensive tickets will retail for $300 for a tier called the Casamigos Clubhouse.
Overall, throughout the month, Toronto will have 343,000 free general admission places, 11,000 free tickets reserved for community groups and 86,000 premium tickets.
Even with those premium tickets, the city is expecting to be roughly $5 million short.
Ontario’s Minister of Sport, Neil Lumsden, didn’t say for sure if the province — which has committed to roughly $97 million— would pitch in to help with the overruns.
“If there’s an opportunity to in discussion to adjust, we haven’t had those discussions yet,” he told reporters. “We’re always open to making things better.”
Toronto’s opening World Cup match will be Canada versus Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12, with fans descending on Exhibition Place to watch the teams play at a renovated version of BMO Field, which will be known as Toronto Stadium for the soccer tournament.
Through the rest of June and the first week of July, Toronto will also host matches featuring countries such as Ghana, Germany, Croatia and Senegal.
The City of Toronto is expecting to see traffic get at least 10 per cent worse on downtown corridors during the competition, particularly around the final game, and is considering limiting parking options as well as imposing road closures or construction bans to ensure people can get around.
Parking restrictions will be in place as visitors are encouraged to use buses, streetcars and trains to get to the matches.
The city’s final match will be a Round of 32 game on July 2.
— with files from Global News’ Matthew Bingley
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