Just two weeks before the World Cup kicks off, the Ontario government has threatened to give FIFA a yellow card over non-compliance with the province’s new anti-scalping law.
World soccer’s governing body has been warned to comply with amendments to the Ticket Sales Act, or it faces fines of up to $250,000, said a spokesperson for Stephen Crawford, Ontario’s minister of public business and service delivery.
“As a primary seller, FIFA is permitted to set ticket prices at its discretion. However, if tickets are resold on their platform above face value, those sales are subject to our governments ticket resale rules and enforcement framework,” Crawford spokesperson Giulia Paikin said in an email. “We expect all sellers, including FIFA, to comply with our provincial legislation and have no time for ticket gouging.”
The amendments passed last month make it illegal to resell tickets to any event in Ontario, including six Toronto games which are part of soccer’s global showcase, for more than their face value.
In addition to its main ticketing website, FIFA also operates a “resale” site.
FIFA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an open letter to Premier Doug Ford, NDP leader Marit Stiles said resale companies are openly flouting the new legislation.
“Resellers like StubHub continue to sell tickets for more than their original price. Even FIFA appears to be doing so on its own ticket resale platform. This is unacceptable and appears to directly contravene the new law,” Stiles wrote.
FIFA, said Stiles, is also using “loopholes” in the legislation to hike up the original face value of World Cup tickets. Some tickets were allegedly taken down off FIFA’s main ticketing site but then relisted at higher face value.
“Your government did not act in time to keep Toronto Blue Jays fans from paying obscene prices for the World Series. We can avoid a repeat of this with the World Cup by stepping in now,” Stiles wrote.
