As Toronto’s major sports teams appeal to season ticket holders to renew for next season, fans are expressing frustration that the Ford government’s hastily passed ticket resale legislation has unfairly punished them.
Earlier this year, in an attempt to crack down on predatory ticket resellers before the FIFA World Cup, the Ford government promised new financial enforcement measures on both businesses and individuals who resell tickets for more than their retail purchase price.
The law currently appears to be enforced on an honour system, with resellers needing to acknowledge that they are not selling their ticket for more than retail on most large resale sites before posting a listing.
The government’s enforcement approach has created confusion for season ticket holders in Ontario, who pay one bulk rate at the beginning of the season.
Currently, some season tickets do not have a per-game face value attached to them for individual games, effectively making it difficult to offload tickets they don’t want, or to re-sell higher-value games to subsidize the cost of the packages.
When that issue was put to the provincial government, they said in a statement to Global News that they expect all resellers to comply with the new rules, and “will not hesitate to hold bad actors accountable.”
Season ticket holder confusion
Years before scoring season tickets to the Toronto Blue Jays, Sam Dumcum remembers being a classic “Jays kid” who cheered on his team from Manitoba.
“Jays bedspread, Jays posters, Blue Jays everything,” he said of his childhood bedroom.
After religiously watching home openers in the 500-level of the Rogers Centre, Dumcum and his wife began buying season tickets. To make the finances work, however, the pair attends between 50 to 60 of the 81 home games and sells the rest.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
In the era of the Ford government’s ticket resale law, however, fans say they are caught between provincial legislation and the teams which haven’t been clear about how to proceed.
“There’s really a lot of confusion among season ticket holders on what actually even is face value, because we pay below face value for tickets,” Dumcum told Global News.
“The Blue Jays haven’t said anything straightforward, Ticketmaster, the government, it’s all been a little muddled on what exactly the rules are.”
Tan Husnani, a 12-year Toronto Raptors season ticket holder who also runs Tickets4Fans, said fans can’t afford to attend every single game they’ve purchased and will now face unfair restrictions.
“Every season ticket holder has to pay a year in advance before the season starts, and you’re locking yourself in at this better rate, but then you don’t even have the opportunity to recoup your money back,” Husnani said.
Adding to the frustration, fans say, is the dynamic pricing teams can still apply to games based on demand.
Husnani said teams are increasing or lowering prices for the most popular games, something fans are no longer allowed to do with their own season tickets.
“It’s not fair that I have to sell it at a discounted rate,” Husnani said. “If we were to follow the laws, we would be out of money.”
In order to ride the resale wave, Dumcum keeps a vigilant watch on how teams are pricing tickets.
“What I do is go to Bluejays.com and look at what face value is, and ensure that I’m posting it for less than that price, but that could also be more than I paid for it,” Dumcum added.
Resale sites not being fined
Confusion about the new rules appears to extend beyond individual season ticket holders.
Multiple ticket-brokering sites including Stubhub and Seatgeek have admitted to not being in compliance with the new law, in part, they say, because they are still making sense of it. No fines have been issued from the province.
Dumcum said, despite the new legislation, he’s noticed some tickets have been listed five times above face value on re-sale sites. Meanwhile, he said, teams don’t appear to have answers either.
“I’ve asked my season ticket holder rep at least four times, ‘Before I get my tickets for next year, what’s the legislation going to be?’ They don’t have a straight answer,” he added.
“Rogers is saying, ‘Hey, give us your money for next year,’ and we’re like, ‘You’re not even telling us what next year is going to look like, so it’s a double risk right now.”
Global News asked the Toronto Blue Jays whether it has received clarity from the provincial government on how to navigate the season ticket issue and did not receive a response from the team.
Husnani said he has had a similar experience with MLSE and his Raptors season passes.
“I know people who have gone to MLSE and said, ‘Hey, this legislation came about, and I was not prepared,’ and I’ve heard refunds and credits are being given,” Husnani said.
Renewals, Husnani said, depends on whether the legislation is clarified by the Ford government.
Global News reached out to Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment. The organization declined to comment for this story.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
