Taylor Swift is coming to Canada. Whether you can actually get tickets is another matter
Ticket frenzy (Taylor's version) expected as pop star has 6 shows in Toronto next year
Until now, Canadian fans have had to watch Taylor Switch's ever-expanding Eras tour through clips of sold-out shows elsewhere. A fortunate few even left the country just to attend a concert.
But the pop megastar is coming to Canada after all, with six dates over a 10-day period at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in November 2024.
As news dropped on Thursday that Canada was being added to the international tour that began last March, fans wasted no time in trying to secure tickets.
"We already registered for tickets this morning to buy them next week," said one woman near the Rogers Centre, standing with a pre-teen girl who added, "I'm really excited to go. I love Taylor Swift."
Tickets go on sale Wednesday. "Swifties" had a Saturday deadline to register for a limited number of tickets through Ticketmaster's verified fan program and were expected to receive an email on Tuesday either giving them an access code or telling them they're on a wait list.
The program helps filter out buyers looking to resell tickets, but Ticketmaster cautions that "registration does not guarantee tickets."
"We expect there will be more demand than there are tickets available," Ticketmaster said.
Swift has already been selling out stadiums in the U.S. and Europe on her current tour. It's been a difficult ticket to get. Before the Toronto dates were announced, some Canadians bought tickets to see Swift overseas.
Blake Gill from Guelph, Ont., bought tickets to a show in France next spring, after getting tired of waiting to see if there would be stops in Canada. He also reasoned that it was a "perfect excuse to go to Europe."
In Vancouver, CBC News asked fans whether they would try to travel to Toronto for one of the shows.
"It's so hard to go there. It's so far," said one woman who still wants to try to attend because she's been a big fan since she was 10.
In Toronto, fans were asked whether Swift should take the tour to other cities in Canada.
"Yeah, absolutely, she should be going to other places in Canada. It's a very big country," one woman said.
Why only Toronto?
"It comes down to money," as to why the U.S. singer-songwriter is limiting her Canadian dates to the Rogers Centre, said University of Toronto business professor Daniel Tsai.
"The big issue here is you need scale. You need to have enough people in the seats to justify a trip.
"This is across the border as well, so she's got a huge entourage. She's got a lot of logistics and freight. They have to assemble equipment to do a custom show everywhere they go."
Economic impact 'tremendous'
Andrew Weir, executive vice-president of Destination Toronto, says the trickle-down effect these shows will have on other businesses in the city will be significant.
"It's more than just a concert ticket," he said.
"They consume not only the event they're here for, the concert, but also hotels, restaurants, probably go do some other things while they're in town, do some shopping.
"So the economic impact is tremendous, and we know this is the kind of event that will draw visitors."
In June, online research company QuestionPro released the results of a study of fan spending, which estimated the Eras tour will generate $5 billion US in economic activity in the United States. It said the average concertgoer was spending $1,300 per show.
Corrections
- A previous version of this story incorrectly said tickets for Taylor Swift's Toronto concerts go on sale Tuesday. This story has been corrected to say they go on sale Wednesday.Aug 08, 2023 3:49 PM ET
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With files from CBC's Greg Ross