Coastal Jazz executive director Nina Horvath at their facility in Vancouver, April 22. The Vancouver International Jazz Festival worked closely with the city for two years to get permission to hold this year's event, with organizers having to move dates to align more 'favourably' with the World Cup, Ms. Horvath says.Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail
FIFA’s control over what events can happen in Toronto and Vancouver for the duration of the World Cup has led to some popular events being moved or cancelled.
The soccer association’s contracts with host cities, including those with Vancouver and Toronto, bar them from hosting other “substantial cultural events” the day before, day of or day after a World Cup game in the city. Any such event, including festivals and concerts, held inside the World Cup exclusion zone requires approval from FIFA.
As a result, Vancouver mainstay events such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival have had to change their plans, with some downsides.
In Toronto, organizers for Pride Toronto, Toronto Jazz Festival, Toronto Fringe Festival and North by Northeast have had to work with FIFA organizers for months or even years to work out details and avoid conflicts.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Mexico City on June 11 with games in 16 cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico. The final match will be played in New Jersey on July 19.
Under the provisions of the host-city agreements, major events cannot be held in Toronto from June 11 to July 3, save for five non-consecutive days that don’t conflict with any local World Cup matches. In Vancouver, the blackout period is between June 12 and July 8, save for seven non-consecutive days.
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The Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival has been a mainstay of Vancouver’s summer season for 40 years, usually held in June beside BC Place, which is serving as Vancouver’s World Cup stadium. This year, organizers are holding a smaller event in August.
The only dock suitable to host the festival is located directly adjacent to BC Place, within a zone that FIFA is contractually entitled to oversee for the duration of the tournament. While festival organizers worked with the City of Vancouver for four years to figure out how to hold the festival during the World Cup, FIFA’s needs make it impossible, Dragon Boat BC spokesperson Dominic Lai told The Globe and Mail.
Dragon Boat BC relies on the festival for a significant portion of its revenue, Mr. Lai said, and its cancellation affects the non-profit’s ability to hold the rest of its races and community events.
“If you live in a big city, you’re going to have big events come through, but it’s also important that when you have those big events come through, that they don’t overly and disproportionately impact what’s there already,” Mr. Lai said.
”That balance is something that has been brought to light … with the FIFA World Cup."
The City of Vancouver worked with Dragon Boat BC to organize the smaller August event.
“We have to try and make the best of it, however we can,” Mr. Lai said.
The Vancouver International Jazz Festival worked closely with the city for two years to get permission to hold the event in 2026, said Coastal Jazz executive director Nina Horvath.
She said organizers moved festival dates to align more “favourably” with the World Cup schedule after the city said Coastal Jazz was unlikely to receive approval otherwise.
The scheduling changes meant some artists the festival wanted to book were unavailable.
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“We’ve found that a lot of larger acts have chosen to bypass Vancouver this year to avoid potential challenges and conflicts with FIFA,” Ms. Horvath said.
“Destination events like FIFA can bring a tremendous benefit to a city, but it is frustrating when that benefit comes at the expense or added challenge to local events.”
Lisa Parker, Vancouver’s director of public space and street use, said the timing, location and scale of some events were adjusted, and events scheduled during the tournament were subject to “feasibility reviews, with FIFA approval required in limited circumstances and obtained where necessary.”
Major events in Toronto are going ahead as planned despite the contracted moratorium, but only after they’re reviewed by FIFA, city spokesperson Kalinka Madej told The Globe.
Organizers for Pride Toronto, Toronto Jazz Festival, the Toronto Fringe Festival and North by Northeast said they’ve worked with the city to ensure their events are not affected.
Sharon Bollenbach, Toronto’s executive director of the FIFA World Cup, said the city had “extensive communication” with FIFA about other concurrent events, and worked with the organization to develop and vet a list of “all the festivals we value.”
Many organizers hope the influx of tourists expected to flood the city for the tournament draws more attention to their festivals.
“We see this as a unique opportunity to showcase Toronto’s music and cultural scene to an expanded international audience,” said Josh Grossman, artistic director of Toronto Downtown Jazz, which has produced the city’s jazz festival for almost 40 years. The festival will continue as planned between June 19 and 28.
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Ms. Bollenbach said she is unaware of Toronto events being cancelled because of the World Cup, but said the locations and dates of some were tweaked during discussions between FIFA, the city and event organizers.
The cities also gave up their right to host other “major” sporting events from June 4 to July 26, which covers the duration of the World Cup plus a week-long buffer zone on each side.
Despite that clause, the Toronto Blue Jays’ schedule is unaffected, including a June 12 game held three kilometres from where Canada kicks off earlier in the day against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first match held in Toronto.
Still, Toronto Ward 12 Councillor Josh Matlow said FIFA shouldn’t have such extensive oversight of city dealings, and its expectations of Toronto are “unreasonable.”
“Toronto handed over so much control to FIFA,” said Mr. Matlow, a persistent critic of the city’s decision to host the games.
“As exciting as hosting the World Cup might be, if the city is so anxious to get their foot on the ball, they may end up scoring an own goal because FIFA is able to do whatever it wants because of the terms of the agreement.”
The contract stipulation granting FIFA the right to approve other events in World Cup host cities is partly what led Montreal to pull its hosting bid in 2021, according to a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation. The condition could have affected major Montreal events such as Formula One’s Canadian Grand Prix and the International Jazz Festival.
With a report from Greg Mercer