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HomeNewsVancouver city hall plans to spend $13.4 million on World Cup tickets, suites and lounges

Vancouver city hall plans to spend $13.4 million on World Cup tickets, suites and lounges

Bob Mackin

Vancouver city hall has set aside $13.4 million to buy FIFA World Cup 26 tickets, suites and lounges from a New York company run by Donald Trump’s former manager and minority-owned by Trump’s Secretary of Education.

President Donald Trump with Chelsea at the FIFA Club World Cup Final on July 13, 2025. (The White House)

The communications lead for the city’s FIFA hosting secretariat told theBreaker.news that the host city commercial program team “plans to acquire select suites and lounge packages for resale to generate revenue to help offset event costs.”

A card distributed at a June Greater Vancouver Board of Trade event advertised regional sponsorship, suites and hospitality packages beginning at $195,000 under the Host City Supporters and Host City Champions programs.

The vendor is FIFA’s hospitality contractor is On Location Events LLC.

Risky proposition, says province

Natasha Qereshniku from city hall’s World Cup secretariat did not provide any figures on packages reserved or allotments of VIP tickets to city hall staff, contractors and elected officials. Nor did she provide cost recovery estimates.

“Details regarding the host city ticket and hospitality program are currently under development. As the program remains active, commercially sensitive information will not be disclosed.”

The B.C. government, however, mentioned the scheme in the risks and uncertainties section of the June summary that estimates gross World Cup costs as high as $624 million. “Less-than-planned net revenue from the host city commercial program due to lower market demand,” cautioned the report.

When Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, city hall spent $350,715 on 1,557 tickets.

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Bigger budget than Toronto

In March, Toronto city council approved a subcommittee recommendation to buy $10.7 million of FIFA World Cup 26 tickets, suites and lounges from On Location.

Toronto is hosting six matches next June and July, one fewer than Vancouver.

The 2022-elected Vancouver city council, under Mayor Ken Sim, has not held a FIFA World Cup 26 budget meeting in public. Its summer hiatus begins after the July 23 meeting.

In February, city council responded to Trump’s tariff threats by unanimously resolving to ask staff to find ways to buy local or buy Canadian.

Who is On Location

On Location is the same company that opened sales for high-end tickets and hospitality packages on July 14, the day after the FIFA Club World Cup, beginning at $2,500 for a ticket to a single, opening round match at B.C. Place Stadium.

A general public ticket lottery for lower-priced seats scheduled for the fall.

On Location is under the same corporate umbrella as UFC and WWE, two companies near and dear to Trump.

In February, TKO Group Holdings Inc. completed the acquisition of On Location. Before that, in December, Trump’s Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, reportedowning more than $50 million in TKO shares and receiving between $1 million and $5 million in dividends.

TKO CEO Ari Emanuel represented Trump when he hosted The Apprentice on NBC.

At the Endeavor Group in 2015, Emanuel bought the Miss Universe Organization from Trump. In 2021 and 2022, Elon Musk was on Endeavor’s board of directors.

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