October lead // Issue 01 · October 2026 · Halloween Edition // checked Sun 4 Oct 2026
Who owns the stages, what you actually pay, and what a US jury just found about the company that sells most of the city's tickets. The headline is our opinion. Everything under it is sourced.
A jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized live events. Remedies, possibly a breakup, are still to come.
Source: Music Business WorldwideAfter resale for her tour hit several times face value, Ticketmaster capped resale at face value for the whole tour and refunded the markups.
Source: Rolling Stone AUOntario made reselling above the original all-in price illegal. Critics say it also pushed resale back inside Ticketmaster's own system while primary dynamic pricing stays unregulated.
Source: CP24 · TicketNewsA $280 million fund and a 15% fee cap, but Live Nation keeps Ticketmaster. Independent venues called it insufficient.
Source: Wikipedia · Rolling Stone CanadaTicketmaster paid a $4.5 million penalty over advertised prices that didn't include mandatory fees.
Source: PollstarMike Bradley asked Queen's Park to cap resale at twice face value after Springsteen and Adele tickets went for three to five times face.
Source: Global NewsHere's the reality behind the comic-book pitch. Ticket resale is provincial law, and it was Premier Ford's government that capped it. City Hall's most direct lever on a night out is closer to home: the TTC fare to get you to the show, which Chow has frozen.
Our question for both candidates, before the 26th: what would you do about what Torontonians pay to see a show here?
Read: Wikipedia · CP24Upper-bowl seasons went from $8,522 to $10,396. The Leafs already charged the NHL's highest season-ticket prices.
Source: blogTOLowest TickPick listing when we checked. In Ontario, reselling above the original all-in price is illegal.
Source: SongkickLowest TickPick listing when we checked.
Source: SongkickThe holiday rock show plays Scotiabank Arena twice, per Songkick. Check the all-in price before you hit buy.
Source: SongkickThe counter-example: the National Ballet says it is the only official seller of its tickets. No middleman.
Source: National Ballet of CanadaPaid timed entry at busy hours, free on weekdays early in the season.
Source: To Do CanadaIn Manhattan federal court, 33 states and DC won on every claim: Ticketmaster monopolized primary ticketing for major concert venues, and Live Nation monopolized large amphitheatres and tied promotion to amphitheatre use. The jury found fans were overcharged $1.72 per ticket at 257 venues. Remedies, possibly including a forced breakup, are still to come, and Live Nation plans to appeal.
Source: Music Business Worldwide · WikipediaThe DOJ's tentative deal: a $280 million fund, divesting 13 exclusive booking agreements, fees capped at 15% of face value, and opening the platform to competitors. Live Nation keeps Ticketmaster. Critics, including the National Independent Venue Association, called it insufficient.
Source: Wikipedia · Rolling Stone CanadaSince late April, resale in Ontario can't exceed the original all-in price. In June the province put StubHub and SeatGeek on its Consumer Beware list. As of mid-July no fines had apparently been issued, and rules on proof of original price were still being written.
Source: CP24 · TicketNewsLive Nation's waterfront amphitheatre runs as the RBC Amphitheatre for 2026–27, closes for a rebuild in 2028, and reopens in 2029 as a year-round venue: about 20,000 in summer and 9,000 in winter. Where those shows go during the gap hasn't been announced.
Source: A Journal of Musical ThingsThe Phoenix leaves 410 Sherbourne for Parkdale Hall at 1605 Queen St. W. after its building was sold for housing. It stays open through 2027 during the move.
Source: CP24| Year | Average (US$) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 96.17 |
| 2024 | 135.92 |
| 2025 | 132.62 |
| Show | Date | Venue | From | Listed on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christone "Kingfish" Ingram | Sat 10 Oct | Massey Hall | $42 | TickPick |
| Doja Cat | Wed 25 Nov | Scotiabank Arena | $115 | TickPick |
| Olivia Rodrigo | Mon 26 Oct | Scotiabank Arena | $499 | TickPick |
| Olivia Rodrigo | Tue 27 Oct | Scotiabank Arena | $538 | TickPick |
Lowest listing on TickPick, a US marketplace, read on Sun 4 Oct 2026. In Ontario, reselling above the original all-in price has been illegal since late April 2026.
Worldwide figures from Live Nation's 2025 annual report. Source: Live Nation 10-K (SEC)
| Venue | Capacity | Live Nation's role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rogers Stadium | 50,000 | Owned and operated by Live Nation | Downsview. Opened 29 Jun 2025; temporary, roughly five years. Source: Wikipedia |
| RBC Amphitheatre (ex-Budweiser Stage) | ~18,000 → 20,000 | Live Nation | Ontario Place. Rebuild closure in 2028; reopens year-round in 2029. Source: A Journal of Musical Things |
| Theatre at Great Canadian Casino Resort | 5,000 | Live Nation is the exclusive booking agent | Etobicoke. Source: The Globe and Mail |
| History | 2,553 | Live Nation with Drake | 1663 Queen St. E. Opened in 2021. Source: NOW Toronto |
| Danforth Music Hall | 1,425 | Live Nation (majority stake in operator Embrace, 2019) | Source: Billboard Canada |
| Opera House | ~900 | Bought by Live Nation, July 2023 | Queen St. E. Source: blogTO · The Globe and Mail |
| Velvet Underground | 400 | Live Nation (via Embrace) | Queen St. W. Source: Billboard Canada |
| Echo Beach | — | Live Nation | Ontario Place. Source: Billboard Canada |
Start with the ladder. A band coming up in Toronto can play the 400-capacity Velvet Underground, then the Opera House at around 900, the Danforth at 1,425, History at 2,553, the casino theatre at 5,000, the waterfront amphitheatre at about 18,000, and finally Rogers Stadium at 50,000. Every one of those rungs is owned, operated or exclusively booked by Live Nation. The company that promotes the show often owns the room, and its Ticketmaster arm often sells the ticket.
It was built piece by piece. Live Nation already ran Budweiser Stage and Echo Beach at Ontario Place when it took a majority stake in Toronto promoter Embrace in 2019, bringing in the Danforth and the Velvet. History opened with Drake in 2021. The Opera House was bought in July 2023. Rogers Stadium opened at Downsview in June 2025, and it's temporary, planned to run for about five years. The amphitheatre is now the RBC Amphitheatre, and it closes in 2028 for a year-round rebuild.
How many shows does Live Nation put on in Toronto each year? The company doesn't publish city-level counts. What it does publish is scale: 55,000 events and 159 million fans worldwide in 2025, with 646 million tickets running through Ticketmaster's systems. The Globe and Mail reports it also books hundreds of concerts a year into independent Canadian venues.
On price, the clearest data is industry-wide. Pollstar's average for the top 100 tours went from US$96.17 in 2019 to US$135.92 in 2024, then eased to US$132.62 in 2025. Maclean's puts the 2019–2025 rise at 37.2%, well ahead of Canadian inflation. Toronto's sharpest example is Taylor Swift: face values of $160 to $600 in 2024, resale listings near US$1,000 and up days before, and roughly $120 million expected from six nights, per Toronto Life. We couldn't find a reliable public record of what the same artist cost in Toronto across different tours, so Circul8r is starting one. Every issue, the Ticket watch logs the lowest listing for the same shows, and that history will build here.
Regulators have taken notice. Canada's Competition Bureau got Ticketmaster to pay a $4.5 million penalty in 2019 over drip pricing, meaning advertised prices that didn't include mandatory fees. Ontario capped resale at face value in 2026. In April a US jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster had illegally monopolized live events. Those were US claims about US venues, and remedies are still pending.
The other side: Live Nation says it will appeal. Its CEO, Michael Rapino, has argued that concert tickets are still underpriced compared with sports. And the US Justice Department chose to settle rather than seek a breakup.
Sources: Read: Live Nation 10-K (SEC) · The Globe and Mail · Billboard Canada · blogTO · NOW Toronto · Wikipedia · A Journal of Musical Things · A Journal of Musical Things (Pollstar) · Maclean's · Narcity · Yahoo/AOL · Toronto Life · Pollstar · Music Business Worldwide · Wikipedia