Canada’s World Cup hosting duties conclude tomorrow, and the early data shows that — like any good party host — Toronto and Vancouver are probably not coming out ahead financially.
What happened: Debit and credit card spending at restaurants and bars rose by just 3% in Toronto during the first two weeks of the World Cup compared to the same period last year, according to data from payment processing company Moneris. To put that in perspective, bar and restaurant spending rose by 12% in Toronto during Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour performances.
Spending by international visitors was up 34% from last year, suggesting that whatever tourism boost the city saw was offset by locals and domestic tourists opting against braving what many expected to be throngs of footie fans.
Why it matters: Canada likely spent just over $1 billion to co-host the World Cup (around $82 million per game), according to an estimate by the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Tournament boosters justified that cost, in part, by pointing to forecasts (some sponsored by FIFA) of supercharged economic activity that now seem overly-optimistic.
Zoom out: Large international sporting events like the World Cup and the Olympics are almost always pitched as paying for themselves, but that almost never turns out to be the case.
One recent paper that looked at every Olympic Games since 2000 found that they have nearly always been money-losers, with costs running well over budget and promised economic gains never materializing.
Our take: You don’t host the World Cup to make money—you do it for the vibes, and maybe to give your city’s brand a bit more juice. Whether that’s a worthwhile way to spend $1 billion is a question, dear reader, we leave up to you.—TS
