Rocco Mastrangelo says he’s learned his lesson: Don’t mess with FIFA.
The owner of Cafe Diplomatico says he’s being careful this summer, and has signed on with an official FIFA sponsor for his Little Italy soccer hot-spot as Toronto hosts six World Cup matches beginning June 12 with Canada’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“After that letter I got from FIFA in 2006, I’m not taking any chances. The morning of the semifinal that year, I got a cease and desist letter,” said Mastrangelo, who had to quickly tear down or cover up signs.
This time around, Mastrangelo has reached a deal with Labatt, whose parent company AB-InBev is promoting Michelob Ultra as the World Cup’s official beer in North America.
“We’ve already got some swag. I’m legit now,” said Mastrangelo, who figures world soccer’s governing body will be even more stringent about monitoring signs, advertising and social media posts by bars and restaurants than usual because Toronto’s hosting six World Cup games.
“They’re going to be paying a lot more attention here than if it were somewhere else.”
The City of Toronto has issued a series of guidelines for bars and restaurants trying to steer clear of FIFA’s wrath, including admonitions not to use any terms like “FIFA” or “World Cup,” or implying that there’s an official connection with the tournament. And that’s even if a business has applied for a public viewing license.
While bars or restaurants showing games “as part of regular business operations” don’t need to get a license from FIFA, they do if they’re also bringing in sponsors for the event, charging admission, or having marketing “activations” such as product giveaways.
The array of requirements are the last thing restaurants and bars still struggling to recover from the economic toll of the global COVID-19 pandemic need, said Kelly Higginson, CEO of Restaurants Canada.
“A lot of owners are just trying to get through the month, the week, pay their employees. They don’t have hours to sit around and ask ‘how can I word things? What can I post? Can I charge a cover?,” said Higginson, adding that a third of Canadian restaurants and bars are currently losing money or barely breaking even. “Some of the ones in Liberty Village have had bylaw officers come in and ask ‘do you have an evacuation plan? Really? It’s a 12-seat cafe.”
According to Toronto city councillor Josh Matlow, who’s been a vocal critic of the impact the World Cup will have on Toronto, said he’s been assured by city staff that bylaw officers will mostly be cracking down on illegal vending, especially close to BMO Field (renamed ‘Toronto Stadium’ during the tournament) and the Fan Fest at Fort York.
“They made very clear that city bylaw enforcement wouldn’t be going after bars and restaurants that say ‘World Cup’ or FIFA,’” said Matlow.
Still, Matlow said, it was made equally clear that FIFA would have its own squad of staff and volunteers patrolling the city looking for bars and restaurants skirting the rules. And that, he says, just isn’t fair.
“I call them ‘the FIFA police.’ Torontonians have spent $180 million for these games,” Matlow said. “If we’re investing all this money and part of the argument is that hosting is good for economic development, I don’t want to see our small businesses penalized.”
In a statement, FIFA said it’s merely protecting its brands to keep sponsorship dollars flowing.
“Investing time and resources to protect its brands is of paramount importance to FIFA in order to secure the revenue streams, which enable us to support the development and growth of football globally,” FIFA said in a written statement. “This is common practice for major international sporting events.”
Still, said Cafe Diplomatico’s Mastrangelo, FIFA should appreciate that local bars and restaurants are actually helping generate excitement around the tournament.
“I understand them getting upset if someone’s doing a World Cup promotion with Carlsberg or someone else who’s competing with one of their sponsors. But just to say ‘come in here and watch the World Cup?’” said Mastrangelo. “You’re promoting their game. They’ve got to take the foot off the gas and use discretion.”
