said in a December memo to council<\/a>\u00a0that to deal with the increase the city will modify traffic signals, deploy traffic agents and restrict parking on key routes and sites close to the stadium. It will also temporarily close highway on- and off-ramps \u2014 such as the Jameson Avenue entrance to the Gardiner Expressway \u2014 and suspend construction projects that block key roads.<\/p>\nThe city is also exploring limiting areas close to the stadium to local traffic during the tournament, and closing or restricting sections of streets such as Lake Shore Boulevard and Dufferin Street on match days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without any subway lines to the stadium, the TTC will rely on its streetcar and bus network to ferry riders to and from matches.<\/p>\n
With newly installed priority bus lanes on Bathurst and Dufferin, the 511 Bathurst streetcar and the 29 and 929 Dufferin buses are expected to run more frequently on match days. Other streetcar lines that feed into the area around Exhibition Place, such as the 504 King and 509 Harbourfront, will also have increased service, according to TTC staff.<\/p>\n
Metrolinx has yet to release its plans for service for the Lakeshore West line that stops at Exhibition GO Station, but spokesperson Lyndsay Miller said the agency is \u201cworking on enhancing our service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Work on the Ontario Line, which begins at Exhibition Station, will continue, but truck traffic at construction sites near the stadium will pause for approximately 12 hours during match days.<\/p>\n
Public health kicks around an AI tool\u00a0<\/p>\n
Toronto Public Health confirmed to the Star it built a machine-learning algorithm to scour the internet for evidence of public health risks at mass gatherings, which it might debut at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
The project is only in a \u201cpreliminary phase,\u201d said spokesperson Chris Wai in a statement, and needs to be evaluated for \u201creliability and value\u201d before it gets deployed.<\/p>\n
A report in August\u00a0to the board of health claimed the AI tool can \u201cdetect infectious disease threats, injuries, heat-related illness, and drug and alcohol related harms.\u201d<\/p>\n
TPH refused to speak to the Star about its other duties during the World Cup. The agency came under fire for budgeting $200,000 to distribute condoms and lube during the tournament, which it said is\u00a0standard public health practice\u00a0to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections.<\/p>\n
How Toronto\u2019s \u2018controlled area\u2019 will work<\/p>\n
As required under its hosting contract, the city is designating everything within a two-kilometre radius of the stadium a \u201ccontrolled area,\u201d where municipal officials and FIFA plan to crack down on unauthorized use of World Cup branding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sponsors have paid millions of dollars to be associated with the games, and FIFA is intent that only those companies are able to use official promotional material. According to a guide released by the city, intellectual property that\u2019s off limits to non-sponsors include the official tournament logo, host city poster, images of the World Cup trophy, and the phrases \u201cFIFA\u201d and \u201cWorld Cup.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city says its approach will \u201cprioritize education,\u201d but when rules against activity such as illegal vending are breached, bylaw officers could issue fines or lay charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to have someone looking at every chalkboard outside every bar in the city,\u201d said\u00a0Sharon Bollenbach, executive director of Toronto\u2019s FIFA secretariat, but \u201cthere will be people monitoring this,\u201d particularly in the controlled zone. The city hopes businesses and residents will \u201crespect the guidelines and be following them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The zone stretches roughly from Ontario Place in the south to Dundas Street West in the north, and from Roncesvalles Avenue in the west to about Spadina Avenue in the east.<\/p>\n
The price of policing during FIFA\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Toronto Police Service is budgeting $56 million for \u201ccomprehensive safety and security planning and operations\u201d for the tournament. The force will be the lead agency responsible for co-ordinating with other police services, such as York, Durham, Peel and the OPP.<\/p>\n
Staffing for World Cup duties will \u201cprimarily\u201d involve overtime, according to a TPS spokesperson, and as a result the force\u2019s regular operations \u201cwill not be impacted.\u201d Funding for policing the games will be paid for out of the city\u2019s FIFA budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cartel violence has eyes on Mexico<\/p>\n
Despite cartel-related\u00a0violence afflicting Mexico in recent weeks, including host city Guadalajara, FIFA has said it is not planning on relocating any games.<\/p>\n
Colle said he is monitoring for any potential changes on this front.<\/p>\n
![\"FIFA](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
Aerial view of Akron Stadium, a 2026 FIFA World Cup venue in Guadalajara, which will temporarily change its name to \u201cEstadio Guadalajara\u201d for the tournament.<\/p>\n
ULISES RUIZ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
If FIFA does move games from any of the three Mexican venues, Colle predicted they would likely go to one of the 11 U.S. host cities, not Toronto or Vancouver.<\/p>\n
The situation is \u201cworrisome, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to affect us here,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Money makes the world (cup) go round<\/p>\n
The Ontario government recently signed a deal to put $97 million toward Toronto\u2019s $380-million hosting budget, but there is still uncertainty over the provincial contribution. The province has said some of its share would be in the form of increased provincial services required for the games, such as transit, health care and the OPP.<\/p>\n
Bollenbach said last week the exact breakdown of the provincial funding is \u201cstill being determined.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Toronto is set to receive a fraction of the tax revenue the tournament will generate compared to the other levels of government, the municipality is paying nearly half of hosting costs, at about $179 million. The federal government has committed roughly $104 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sprucing up Toronto Stadium<\/p>\n
Toronto still has to complete the $133-million renovation at city-owned BMO Field (renamed Toronto Stadium during the tournament). The first phase of the work, completed last fall, included installing four new billboards, each with five million LED pixels. Broadcast infrastructure, concession areas and hospitality suites were all upgraded.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Part of the preparation for the World Cup is extra seating at BMO Field, which has been renamed Toronto Field for the tournament.<\/p>\n
Steve Russell Toronto Star<\/p>\n
The next phase requires expanding capacity by 17,000 seats, upgrading the pitch and player spaces, and new lighting. The work is on track to be done by the end of March, according to the city.<\/p>\n
The cost of stadium upgrades has gone up more than $9 million from\u00a0a city estimate in September, but it says the tournament\u2019s overall $380-million budget remains intact, and the additional funding was available in a contingency fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MLSE, which owns Toronto FC and the Toronto Argonauts, both of which play out of the stadium, is funding $25 million in upgrades that weren\u2019t mandated by FIFA.<\/p>\n
Fan Fest going ahead\u00a0<\/p>\n
The official FIFA fan festival in New Jersey was cancelled this month in favour of smaller watch parties. The one in Miami\u2019s future is uncertain because of a lack of\u00a0funding.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not an issue in Toronto, according to Coun. Ausma Malik (Spadina\u2014Fort York), who, alongside her constituents, is getting ready for a sea of people to flow in when they open up fan fest in her ward. Exact dates have yet to be announced, but it will be staged on 22 days of the 38-day tournament, according to Bollenbach.<\/p>\n
Malik said the city wants\u00a0to make sure there\u2019s a place for people to feel the \u201cenergy of the games\u201d whether they have a ticket\u00a0or not.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Poon, a member of the Fort York Neighbourhood Association, said she is excited. Malik and the city have been terrific assuaging the worries of local residents, she said, consulting regularly with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling pretty confident about the logistics of this and how the city is preparing for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With files from Andy Takagi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young Malcolm McGuigan\u2019s world orbits a soccer ball. This summer, the highest expression of the game, the FIFA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-505733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}