Transit performed under intense pressure, there weren’t any security incidents, and thousands of tourists had a favourable view of the city, enough for Toronto officials to call its FIFA World Cup hosting duties a success, even with several data points remaining unavailable.
More than a dozen civic and provincial employees from Toronto Fire to Metrolinx were on hand for a press conference officially marking the end of the city’s FIFA fever. A once-in-a-lifetime event, and after six games hosted on the waterfront and many more were viewed at Fort York, officials gushed over Toronto’s performance — especially after the way thousands of visitors viewed the city itself.
“Ninety per cent of the visitors outside Toronto said they’re likely to come back within the next two years,” said Mayor Olivia Chow.
But now that’s it’s over and done with, everyone involved in the planning and execution of the event have a lot of information to pore over. The results of those many of those findings will remain unavailable for weeks and months to come — including whether or not the city went over its budget.
“I can tell you the additional expenditures through the tournament were not so dramatic it would throw us well off,” said City Manager Paul Johnson, who highlighted a funding boost from the federal government to assist with policing costs and another cash infusion from FIFA helped get the city to that point.
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Chow, who frequently complained about being “saddled” with FIFA costs as they continued to balloon ahead of the event, said she was confident that she kept her promise to Torontonians on that front.
“From day one I said $380 million, not from any property taxpayers, I kept my word,” said Chow, pointing to hotel levy funds and upper government money to keeping the figure on track.
Chow noted a moment later that a text from former councillor David Soknaki, who’s been helping with financial oversight of the event, said he has “some confidence that (the money) would not be from the taxpayer’s dollar.”
Budgets aside, the other enduring question going forward will be whether hosting the event was worth it. Asked twice, Chow wouldn’t directly answer, instead focusing on connections Torontonians made with strangers and local businesses.
The long-term physical legacy of the tournament’s local leg will ultimately be seen in the form of mini-pitches and permanent seating expansion to BMO Field. But the biggest winner according to the city manager is Etobicoke’s Centennial Park, which got rave reviews for its training facility augmented for visiting teams.
“The biggest community legacy is at Centennial Park, without question,” Johnson said. “It accelerated our park master plan for that area; it will be a soccer hub not only for Toronto, but inviting in all these other organizations when they host tournaments here.”
The lasting legacy of improvements to TTC operations will also need to be considered. CEO Mandeep Lali said the transit commission may have learned valuable lessons which can be applied to future special events, but everyday improvements for local passengers still carries a need for financial commitments.
Total waste of taxpayer dollars !
What good we would have done with 380 million dollars, or is it even more?