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FIFA’s marketplace for resale World Cup tickets no longer has seats listed for Toronto matches after a new price cap came into effect last week.
The Ontario legislation bans people and platforms from reselling seats to events in the province for more than face value.
FIFA says its resale platform is being reconfigured to comply with the legislation that became law Friday.
It says listings for Toronto’s World Cup games haven’t been deleted but are in limbo and are expected to be relisted once the system changes are complete.
FIFA’s marketplace still has listings for World Cup games in every other host city but Toronto.
Ticketmaster has started pulling listings to comply with a new provincial law that caps ticket resales at face value. CBC’s Greg Ross breaks down why some experts are saying prices could increase as a result.
Resale platform StubHub also continues to sell seats above face value to World Cup matches in Toronto.
On Tuesday afternoon, the company had many tickets to Canada’s first game — a faceoff against Bosnia-Herzegovina — listed for a few thousands dollars. A handful in the lower bowl were also priced at $72,705 apiece.
Last week, the company said it had yet to comply with the new Ontario legislation because of insufficient guidance.
StubHub spokesperson Jack Sterne told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that issues still linger even after the company had a “productive conversation” with Stephen Crawford, minister of public and business service delivery, recently.
“While there are still many outstanding questions, we appreciate their willingness to meet and are updating our systems to comply with Bill 97 going forward,” Sterne said in an email, referring to the price cap law.
He did not say what the outstanding issues were.
Price cap legislation put forward earlier this year
Giulia Paikin, a spokesperson for Crawford, confirmed Tuesday the province was working with StubHub to help the company become compliant.
Businesses that do not comply will face penalties starting at $3,000. The tab can reach up to $250,000 for continued non-compliance.
The Ford government put forward the legislation earlier this year after fans became outraged when resale tickets for the most recent World Series and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour were being priced by resellers at several times the face value.
The government said the resale cap would “protect fans and consumers from exploitative, professional resellers who artificially drive up ticket prices.”
Others worried it would entice eventgoers into making purchases in informal markets, which are more prone to scams, and drive up the original price of tickets.
