Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

[canmark]

^ ^ ^
I wonder if this is true? There were 50,000 people at Olympic Stadium in Montréal to see the US-Germany semifinal game (on a Tuesday night) at the Women’s World Cup. American fans seem quite willing to travel to Canada to see women’s soccer – would they not travel here in numbers to see the Pan Am Games?

 

[christiesplits]

^ ^ ^
I wonder if this is true? There were 50,000 people at Olympic Stadium in Montréal to see the US-Germany semifinal game (on a Tuesday night) at the Women’s World Cup. American fans seem quite willing to travel to Canada to see women’s soccer – would they not travel here in numbers to see the Pan Am Games?

I've heard that soccer is actually one of the better selling events. For instance, a Men's preliminary Canada vs. Brazil game I'm going to is almost sold out, in a venue with 24,000 seats. There are still many games, especially the womens soccer games, that have 50%+ seats remaining. I know that in the case of Team Canada, they tend to send development players to the Pan Ams, not the stars that were playing at last month's World Cup.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Toronto-area hotels concerned about Pan Ams
http://news.nationalpost.com/toront...g-tourist-draw-toronto-hotel-association-says

http://business.financialpost.com/n...y-hotel-rooms-unsold-tickets-and-angry-locals

Basically the same story, but goes on to talk about it might have no impact after the games, and venues like the Milton Velodrome might shutter after the games.

 

[PinkLucy]

And on the flip side, here's an upbeat article about fun things to do over the next few weeks (besides going to watch the PanAm events) http://www.blogto.com/music/2015/07/16_things_to_see_and_do_at_panamania_in_toronto/

 

[CodeMonkey]

So hotel booking is down from the same time last year, majority of Toronto (and GTA) is apathetic to the Pan Am Games, and the only positive coverage is coming from the CBC and Toronto Star who are sponsoring the games. So question is, who is really the 650,000 people who bought tickets?

 

[howl]

So hotel booking is down from the same time last year, majority of Toronto (and GTA) is apathetic to the Pan Am Games, and the only positive coverage is coming from the CBC and Toronto Star who are sponsoring the games. So question is, who is really the 650,000 people who bought tickets?

I'm starting to notice a lot of American license plates on cars around the city, and not just the usual from NY and Michigan. I saw California, Texas and Colorado today.

 

[animatronic]

So hotel booking is down from the same time last year, majority of Toronto (and GTA) is apathetic to the Pan Am Games, and the only positive coverage is coming from the CBC and Toronto Star who are sponsoring the games. So question is, who is really the 650,000 people who bought tickets?

Of course not. A large portion of those tickets were sold to sponsors as part of their deal. Many will go unused because they are for crap events. Other events are being made to look like sellouts or near-sellouts by only releasing part of the venue.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I'm starting to notice a lot of American license plates on cars around the city, and not just the usual from NY and Michigan. I saw California, Texas and Colorado today.

It could just be athletes with their friends and family who came up by car or shoppers taking advantage of our low dollar (again). But hotel booking is lower compared to the same time last year isn't a good sign.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Of course hotel bookings are down, every third ad on the radio is telling us how bad it is going to be to get around, with reminders to car pool or work from home or flex hours, in other words it would be smarter to stay away. So, imagine you live outside of the GTA, would you book a weekend away in Toronto during this period?

That said, it might just be the continued rise of AirBnB cutting down on hotel demand.

 

[James]

Does anyone actually know anybody who has tickets for any Pan Am Games event? To date, I know zero and I hate to say it but I personally don't have much interest in watching any event live.

 

[rbt]

Does anyone actually know anybody who has tickets for any Pan Am Games event? To date, I know zero and I hate to say it but I personally don't have much interest in watching any event live.

I got 3 pairs a long long time ago.

 

[Frankie1984]

It could just be athletes with their friends and family who came up by car or shoppers taking advantage of our low dollar (again). But hotel booking is lower compared to the same time last year isn't a good sign.

I had customers at my work yesterday that were from the Bahamas, Aruba and Venezuela that were in town for the Games. You may not "feel" the excitement in the air but it does seem like an influx of visitors are starting to show up.

 

[MetroMan]

Does anyone actually know anybody who has tickets for any Pan Am Games event? To date, I know zero and I hate to say it but I personally don't have much interest in watching any event live.

I immediately snapped up tix to the Opening Ceremony and the gold medal beach volleyball game. I kept the other events open and will get tix as the Games progress.

Many people I know are talking about it and will get tickets as they plan their weeks/days. I think the events in Toronto and Hamilton will do very well with locals grabbing tickets last minute "Hey, do you want to go to the PanAm **sport-x** tomorrow/later?".

On the other hand, getting to the far away venues is going to be a headache and locals won't be enough to fill the venues so I expect that those events will be visibly empty.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I had customers at my work yesterday that were from the Bahamas, Aruba and Venezuela that were in town for the Games. You may not "feel" the excitement in the air but it does seem like an influx of visitors are starting to show up.

I've been told that the Pan Am Games are popular in Central & South American, so there has to still be a market for games like this to exist. I just don't think people in North America care; the last U.S. city to host the Pan Am Games was in 1987 in Indianapolis and Winnipeg hosted the games twice.

 

[The Golem]

I've been told that the Pan Am Games are popular in Central & South American, so there has to still be a market for games like this to exist. I just don't think people in North America care; the last U.S. city to host the Pan Am Games was in 1987 in Indianapolis and Winnipeg hosted the games twice.

Maybe like Donald Trump, America doesn't want to let in all the rapists and drug dealers from south of their border. LOL.

People who say 'only the Olympics matter' are tv fans, not sports fans and would not buy tickets for volleyball or slalom canoe or handball or fencing or water polo anyway. They'd stay home, watch the opening ceremonies and 100 meter sprint final; maybe swimming if there was a superstar medal contender, and pretend to be experts.

And in addition to complaining about the cost and the bribes and the money wasted on infrastructure and the crowds and traffic congestion, Torontonians would also complain about the politics of having corrupt/communist/terrorist-sponsoring governments sending their representatives to our glorious and free country.