Go Leafs Go! Sports and the Housing Market: Do Big Wins Help or Hurt?

The Toronto Maple Leafs are having their best season in a generation. While it is premature to claim the Stanley Cup Championship, it is still fun to consider what this could mean for the city and the people who live there.

With many big sporting events come triumphs and failures; and I am not just talking about your team’s success. While major events like the World Cup, the Olympics, and even big wins for local heroes, such as the Toronto Raptors winning the 2019 NBA Championship, the Blue Jays winning the 1992 and 1993 World Series, the Maple Leafs winning the 1967 Stanley Cup and the Argonauts winning the 2022 Grey Cup, do bring their benefits, they can also stress communities and their infrastructure. This is probably most pronounced in “one off” events where the teams are not permanently resident and identified with the city. When the Olympics or the World Cup rolls around, host countries, especially the host cities, reap major economic and social benefits in tourism, infrastructure, the creation of jobs, and investment. However, is there a lasting “goodwill” effect??

The most recent example of this would be the 2022 World Cup hosted in Qatar. It is estimated that Qatar spent at least $220 billion to host the event, and it is expected that this is a modest estimate. So, for all this money spent by taxpayers, can they reap any benefits? Major events like these do promote foreign investing. Intuitively this makes sense, but the impact is often exaggerated, if measured at all.

According to Lauren Holtmeier at Investment Monitor, the demand for hotels and short-term accommodations has far exceeded the supply. Landlords have been converting units previously intended for long-term use to spaces for tourists to stay in short-term. This is a bit of an inconvenience, considering there was a pre-existing shortage for long-term units. These issues will also spill over into neighbouring communities. Since Qatar struggled to accommodate the millions of tourists the World Cup attracted, Dubai has been contributing units and hotels.

With soccer not being a major sport in Qatar, their need for tourists during the World Cup was certainly required to make the event worth it, despite any real estate consequences. In 2026, North America is next. With Toronto and Vancouver being two host cities, Canada may be in for a real treat. On the plus side, Canada won’t have to build new stadiums, and the burden is split among several other North American cities.?

The effects of Canada hosting a World Cup are based purely on speculation. We can, however, look back at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to see how things went over there. Most Canadians will probably express positive attitudes and memories about the 2010 Olympics, recalling Crosby’s Golden Goal. But what about our real estate market? The Athlete’s Village, False Creek Waterfront, is now, according to Espe Currie from CTV News Vancouver, a site for luxury condos. Currie says that initially, the space the Athlete Village was built on was supposed to be turned into social housing, but the waterfront was thought to be too good to pass up. Tasked with tackling the city’s homeless crisis, the city was supposed to build 3,200 spaces for affordable housing but only ended up building around 1,000. With the cost of living and homelessness already being at the point of crisis, hosting the Olympics did not provide the solution. One upside of hosting the Olympics is that the courses are still being used and even bring in tourists in. However, the gentrification of various neighbourhoods has only exacerbated the homeless problem, as “there are more tents on the street,” many of which sit at the base of luxury condos, their city no longer what it used to be. This said, the issue is far greater than sport and paying it on the Olympic effort is unproductive and unfair.

The 2015 PanAm games were held in Toronto. The Athlete's accommodations cost $735 million and had the capacity to hold up to 7,200 athletes and officials.?After the games the village was converted to 746 market priced condos, 41 market-priced town homes, 250 affordable-rent apartments, 257 student dormitory units for George Brown College, office and retail units, and a YMCA recreation centre.?

Like the Olympic Villages provided for in BC and Calgary, the Athletes' Village provided in Toronto was a new construction build. However, developers decided to maximize the utility of the units, they would not be fully completed before athletes moved in. As the athletes were going to eat in central cafeterias, the room that would eventually become the units' kitchens would serve as an additional bedroom. Hardwood, tile and carpet flooring were installed after the games were over. Painted concrete floors were seen as more appropriate for housing athletes.?

The village was built on the site of former railway and industrial lands, which had been taken over by the government in the 1980s with a plan to build public housing. As we adopt aggressive new immigration levels, it is important to note that it took 35 years for the government to complete the final units. Like Vancouver, the units are dominated by market priced condos and townhouses, with a relatively small allocation to affordable housing. A reasonable compromise, but inconsistent with the original plan.

While it is more difficult to measure the impact of a major sports league win, the signs are there. ?

Are the prospects for a positive housing market in the GTA riding on the Maple Leafs winning their first Stanley Cup in 56 years? Maybe not. But it couldn’t hurt and could be a lot of fun.