An international soccer federation is fighting to stop the release of their contracts with the city of Toronto for the 2026 men's World Cup, as the province considers helping to fund any of the estimated $300 million cost of the event.
In October, Toronto's freedom-of-information office agreed to release the city's contracts with the Fédération internationale de football association, or FIFA, in their entirety in response to a request from The Trillium.
That marked a significant shift: as recently as late August, the city was still saying that the contracts would be kept secret. At that time, newly elected mayor Olivia Chow said that, even as mayor, she had been having trouble getting the details of what the city had agreed to. A few weeks earlier, however, she said that the agreement had punitive back-out clauses that meant that the city had no real option but to host the games at this point.
FIFA has a right to object to the release of the contracts under Ontario FOI law, and is doing so, the province's information and privacy commissioner said in late December.
FIFA did not directly respond to a question about why they are taking this approach.
"Hosting agreements contain operational and commercially sensitive information and data which are kept confidential for legal, safety and security reasons," the organization said in a written statement.
"However, FIFA recognizes that open records request laws exist in host countries. Requests for documents should be directed to the established procedures for open records requests within their specific jurisdiction."
The games will be shared between 16 host cities in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
In April of last year, the city estimated that hosting the games would cost about $300 million.
" ... the Governments of Canada and Ontario are expected to cover up to two-thirds of this amount — an approximate total of $184.0 million," city manager Chris Murray wrote in a 2022 report to council.
With time running out, however, neither government has so far actually committed to do this, though the feds have said they will cover security costs. Asked whether Ontario would contribute money, mayoral spokesperson Arianne Robinson said it was "a question for the province."
The premier's office and provincial sports minister Neil Lumsden's office did not respond to requests for comment.
Gord Perks, the only Toronto councillor to vote against signing the contract, declined an interview request.
In May, documents obtained by Global News under FOI laws showed that the Ford government was hesitating to commit because it feared that costs for the event would get out of hand. The 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto went $342 million over budget, the province's auditor general found.
Picking up the whole tab for the event — even assuming that it could be held to $300 million — would be a significant burden for the cash-strapped city. It's about three-quarters of what Toronto spends on solid waste management, for example, or six times what it spends on supplying water and treating wastewater and storm water, and the province's new deal with Toronto doesn't cover funding for the World Cup.
Documents released under FOI laws about Vancouver's bid were heavily censored. In January, B.C. announced that Vancouver would be on the hook for nearly all the costs of hosting their FIFA games, but that the city would be allowed to charge a hotel surtax which, it was hoped, would bring in the necessary revenue.
"I'm a big soccer fan. I love soccer, but let's take a look at it. We'll look at the finances, and hopefully, we'll be able to come up with an answer sooner than later," Premier Doug Ford said in November of 2022.
"I understand the clock is ticking."
