Canada’s inaugural FIFA World Cup game on home soil is in the books, and the home team came away with its first-ever recorded point in the tournament.
Roughly 43,000 fans packed Toronto Stadium on Friday, which underwent a $146-million transformation to host the event, with some paying thousands of dollars to catch the historic match.
Ticket prices for the remaining five World Cup matches in Toronto have surged since then, with admission to tonight’s Ghana-Panama match starting at approximately $900 on most resale sites. The game appears to be completely sold out through FIFA’s official ticketing platform and only a handful of tickets are left on FIFA’s resale platform.
With ticket prices extremely high and showing no signs of dropping anytime soon, CTV News asked fans who attended Friday’s World Cup opener for their reactions, and if the cost-to-value ratio was on goal or offside.
Here’s what they said:
‘The stadium was rocking’
Michael Szyszko is from Mississauga and said he took his nephew to the game at a cost of roughly $1,230 per ticket.
He described the atmosphere in the stadium as “electric,” adding that his seats in the 100 Section were marked down from their face value of $2,200 though Ticketmaster’s resale platform.
“The stadium was rocking when we scored the goal,” he said, recalling Cyle Larin’s 78-minute equalizer. “And you could definitely feel a lot more positive energy and excitement for the closeout of that game hoping to get that winning goal.”
While he noted that FIFA’s “greed” was apparent in the ticket price, pointing to the fact the game was not sold out by a small margin, he said attending the match was a “great opportunity” in terms of cost.
“I did a calculation: if this World Cup was in a different country, I’d have to buy a plane ticket there, I’d have to buy a hotel. Here, I just have to take a GO train down. So I kind of figured, like, I get a huge discount for being local.”
‘Worth every penny’
Tony from Scarborough said he bought two tickets for $3,300 through FIFA’s resale platform. He and his father, a lifelong soccer fan, sat in the 200 Section for what he called a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience.
“When they scored, the entire stadium erupted,” he said. “No one sat down for the rest of the game after that…the fans were singing…it’s really hard to describe that energy in words.”
Tony said while the price he paid was “worth every penny,” he admitted that -- unless it was to catch another Canada game -- he probably wouldn’t shell out as much money again to attend another World Cup match.
“I do think the prices of (other) World Cup games, similar to what I paid, are a little bit ridiculous in some aspects,” he said, referring to this year’s expanded tournament, which features 104 matches versus the usual 64, all of which will cost at least a few hundred dollars to attend.
“Under those circumstances, I wouldn’t do it again, but if it was to watch Canada, supporting the home team, that’s something that I would definitely do again, and without hesitation at that price.”
‘I wouldn’t go back’
Angelo from Etobicoke said his brother-in-law took him to the game and although he described the match as “exciting,” the cost of concessions left a bad taste in his mouth.
“We got two sausages, pop, and a bag of chips. We figured, about 25 bucks, whatever, 30 bucks. The guy said, ‘55 bucks.’ I go, ‘Are you crazy?’ He just looked at me and laughed,” he said.
CTV News staff captured a photo of the food and drink offerings at the stadium on match day. The cheapest beer cost $16.75 and a bottle of water or chips cost $7.
Angelo thinks he spent about $225 for “a couple” of beers and food.
“I wouldn’t go back again. I don’t care if Brazil’s playing Argentina or whatever, I’ll never go back again,” he said, adding that he refused his brother-in-law’s invitation to the Ghana-Panama matchup at Toronto Stadium on Wednesday.
“My brother-in-law has more tickets, he asked me to go and I said, ‘No, I’m not going there again to pay that kind of money.’”
‘I would definitely do it again, but…’
Frank from Maple, Ont., said he missed out on FIFA’s ticket draws, but was able to snag two seats just in time for the game for himself and his son.
“I am a big soccer fan, so I did value the experience of wanting to do it, but you know, I was not going to do it for $1,000 a ticket,” he said.
Frank explained he had been scoping out tickets on FIFA’s official resale platform in the weeks leading up to June 12, but saw that most of the tickets on offer were going for $2,000 to $3,000.
“In hindsight, I was lucky. The day before the game I had been online in the FIFA marketplace resale site, and was able to grab two tickets for $485 each, sitting in section 208 row 23.”
Frank said the game itself was “incredible,” noting that the playing of the Canadian national anthem was particularly special.
“I’m a TFC season ticket holder, and I’ve never experienced an anthem, probably at any sporting event that I’ve been to, similar to what I felt that day,” he said.
Asked if he had any regrets, Frank said: “I would definitely do it again, but at that price range.”
