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After suffering through the high traffic and transit issues brought on by the Taylor Swift Eras Tour and the 2025 World Series, many Torontonians are worried about what is in store for commuters and residents alike during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Since the December announcement of the World Cup games that will be held in the city, multiple opinion pieces and Reddit threads have popped up about Torontonians’ concerns about World Cup traffic and city capacity. In the r/Toronto Reddit thread, a poster asks, “Is Toronto’s Infrastructure ready for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?” The Reddit thread titled “Honestly, how bad is the city going to be during the World Cup?” has more than 140 comments from users arguing about how bad travel will be, some waving off worries by comparing it to the CNE and others agreeing that it will be worse than previous events that gridlocked the city.
User alvinofdiaspar put it simply, “It wasn’t even ready for today.”
“It’s gonna be crazy,” said commuter Baraka Ali. “I think Toronto is so overpopulated, it’s just not prepared for the World Cup.”
City Council approved the 2026 budget in February, including a $60 Million TTC budget commitment to fund safety measures, preserve service levels, and support services during the World Cup.
“One of the things that we do before having an event like this or facilitating an event like this in terms of transit is we speak to the city and the organizers of the event,” said a TTC source who only spoke to us on the condition of anonymity. “We have a whole department that does this to find out what service levels may be. We find out how many people we think will actually need to ride transit. In terms of people, and in terms of what times events start or end. So we plan to have an uptick in certain hours, and then taper down at a certain hour.”
The employee also said that certain areas of the city may be in more need of service than others, depending on the demographic. The TTC starts looking for more transit workers earlier, scheduling additional service to cater to a higher influx of people.
“If Italy or Portugal are playing, you know there is little Italy or Little Portugal, there will be a lot more attendees for those areas and for those matches. We need to plan for that, so we get more workforce, we put up more overtime, so people can come and assist with that.”
In an interview with Stuart Green, the public relations and media coordinator at TTC, he echoed these statements, “We know this event is going to be unlike others that we’ve had in many ways, but also a lot like others that you’ve mentioned. We did a lot of preparation with theTaylor Swift shows, which involved coordinating with the city and with Metrolinx, with police and fire and ambulance and … we’ll be doing something similar in terms of how we approach this,” Green said.
Transit isn’t the only thing Torontonians are discussing on Reddit and all over the city – the financial strain the World Cup could cause is another popular conversation point.
The entire cost of holding the matches in Toronto is projected to be $380 million. According to the City of Toronto, this includes $132.9 million from the City of Toronto and $25.1 million from Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) for stadium upgrades.
A temporary bump in the Municipal Accommodation Tax from 6 percent to 8.5 percent (effective June 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026), federal and provincial contributions, and other city reserves are among the funding sources.
Coun. Amber Morley spoke with OTR about what the city can expect this summer,
“There will be a significant cost, for example, to the Toronto Police Service, and we’ve budgeted accordingly. And that’s all being worked out. But …all orders of government are at the table, there’s a three-way agreement. Everyone’s pitching in.”
Morley explained that the city does not have the revenue tools that are tied to economic growth. When people come into the city and buy things, “HST, GST; all of those dollars go directly to the provincial and federal governments.”
“We have a few revenue tools, like a hotel tax, for example, which we have adjusted slightly just for the time of FIFA. So the city will be able to get a bit of money to recoup our costs. But these are the conversations that we’re having when we say we have a structural deficit. We’re happy and proud to host these things, but at the end of the day, we don’t have nearly the level of resources as our federal and provincial partners. So we’re continuing to advance these discussions and this advocacy, including from our city manager, who understands we need a better long-term financial plan, and we need to address the structural deficit, because the City of Toronto cannot continue to thrive under the current conditions,” Morley explained.
Despite her financial concerns, the councillor remains optimistic about the World Cup’s benefit, not just for the city, but for Torontonians as a whole.
“It’s gonna be expensive, yeah, I know. But it’s worth it. I’m so excited for you and all the rest of us to really be able to have this. It’ll be one for the books.”
Anish Dhupar is a fourth-year journalism student and a storyteller for On The Record, winter 2026.
