The city council will decide this week whether to spend more than $90 million to host up to five matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The expanded 48-team tournament has already been jointly awarded to Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and FIFA is expected to officially announce 16 host cities next month.

The working group report presented to the council this week sets the total cost of hosting the games in Toronto at $290 million.

It is a significant increase over the estimate provided by staff of $30 to $45 million in 2018 when the city first expressed interest in hosting the games.

However, the working group argues that the economic return from hosting the world’s largest sporting event will still outweigh the cost.

They estimate the tournament will generate $307 million in GDP, including the creation of 3,300 jobs.

Staff say it will also bring 174,000 overnight visitors to the city and create 3,300 job opportunities.

Mayor John Tory said Wednesday morning, "This sporting event will put Toronto on the map."

"This is the biggest sporting event in the world and I think it’s nice to be part of it, I think the vast majority of Toronto residents will be excited about it and will also see the economic benefit."

The proposed cost for Toronto to host the World Cup will be about $74 million, plus another $20 million from resources.

The plan includes some costly projects, with $63.7 million from the financial plan going to prepare BMO Field to host the games, and $41.2 million to build training facilities for visiting teams.

As a host city, Toronto will also be responsible for organizing a fan festival at an estimated cost of over $17 million.

In speaking to reporters, Tory acknowledged the scale of the investment but argued that "every penny of this money will be paid back," mostly in the form of increased tax revenues to the federal government and provincial governments.

He said, "You have to plan these things very far out and I can’t imagine the biggest city in our country, the most diverse city in the world not taking part in the global sporting event coming to Canada." He added, "I think it will be exciting, it will be positive and all the money we invest will come back to other governments and more."

If Toronto is chosen as a host city, staff say major work at BMO Field will likely begin sometime in 2024.

They say the temporary stadium expansion to host more fans will begin sometime in 2025.

BMO Field currently has a capacity of 30,000 spectators, but FIFA currently requires all World Cup venues to be large enough to accommodate at least 45,000 fans.

Editing: Dima Abu Khair