Good morning. Toronto and Vancouver are expected to spend a total of $1-billion in public money to host their World Cup matches this summer – more on that below, along with Gaza’s reopened Rafah crossing and Ottawa’s fast-tracked GST rebate. But first:

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The Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina may suck up all the sports oxygen this month – but even across Italy, fans are reserving their excitement for the World Cup in June. Everything about FIFA’s soccer juggernaut has been supersized for 2026. There are a record 48 nations playing a record 104 games across a record 16 cities. Three countries will share hosting duties for the very first time.

So it’s perhaps unsurprising that the biggest World Cup ever comes with an astronomical price tag for Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, soaring past the estimates made just a few years ago. American host cities responded by tapping more private donors and corporate sponsorships. But Toronto and Vancouver get their funding from the public coffers. They can’t do much at this stage beyond increasing the budgets.

The two cities are now on the hook for a combined $1-billion to hold 13 games between them this summer. Let’s take a look at how the ballooning costs shake out.

$624-million: expected cost for Vancouver to hold seven World Cup games – way up from the $240-million estimated in 2022. Blame inflation, rising security costs, the expanded tournament format and the very strict, very lengthy demands that FIFA makes of host stadiums.

$196-million: money needed to get Vancouver’s BC Place up to FIFA’s codes. Since the stadium belongs to the provincial government, it will foot the bill for those upgrades.

$380-million: price tag for Toronto to hold six World Cup games – roughly 10 times what city councillors approved six years ago. In 2023, Ontario committed $97-million to the budget, but has repeatedly said it won’t provide a penny more.

$146-million: cost of the necessary upgrades to Toronto’s BMO Field. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which manages the stadium, will contribute $23-million. The city, which owns BMO Field, has to cough up the other $123-million.

Zero: mentions of BMO Field allowed by FIFA, as part of its rigorous rules against non-sponsor advertising. All corporate branding in stadiums must be scrubbed from the seats, scoreboards and signs.

2 kilometres: total width of the so-called “clean zone” around BC Place and BMO Field – oops, sorry, that should be “Toronto Stadium.” Businesses in the zone are forbidden from implying a formal connection to the tournament, which basically means they better not use words like “FIFA” or “World Cup.” City staff will have to moonlight as brand police, looking for trademark infringement or unauthorized advertising.

US$1-million: amount FIFA is kicking in to each of the 11 U.S. host cities, according to the federation’s president, Gianni Infantino. Will Canada and Mexico get that money, too? Infantino hasn’t mentioned it.

7 million: total tickets FIFA expects to sell during the World Cup, with dynamic pricing driving even the cheapest tickets at early-stage matches well into the hundreds of dollars. The final game – which costs as much as US$8,680 a seat – is shaping up to be the most lucrative soccer match in history. It’s already far more expensive than the 2022 World Cup final, the 2024 Copa América final or any gold-medal event, in any sport, at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

US$13-billion: revenue FIFA expects to bring in over this four-year World Cup cycle, courtesy of the wildly expensive TV broadcast rights, branding and licensing agreements, and those pricey tickets – not to mention a 30-per-cent cut of the resale market.

$3.8-billion: boost to Canada’s economy from hosting the World Cup, if you’re to believe FIFA’s own figures.

Two: World Cups since 1966 that have actually been profitable for their host countries – the other 12 resulted in a financial loss. According to the D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the past three World Cups had an average negative return on investment of 31 per cent. It could mean a potential combined loss of $312-million to Toronto and Vancouver, but maybe we just all agree not to think about that right now.

A small number of sick and wounded Palestinians left Gaza for medical treatment in Egypt yesterday, nearly two years after Israeli troops closed the Rafah border crossing. Read more here about the reopening and the latest on the ceasefire.