page_title: 2015 Pan American Games
section_title: Reception of the Games in Toronto
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Pan American Games / Concerns and controversies / Reception of the Games in Toronto
caption_attribution_description: English: 3D TORONTO sign in Nathan Phillips Square
context_page_description: The 2015 Pan American Games, officially the XVII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, as governed by Pan American Sports Organization. The games were held from July 10 to 26, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; preliminary rounds in certain events began on July 7, 2015. These were the third Pan American games hosted by Canada, and the first in the province of Ontario. The Games were held at venues in Toronto and seventeen other Golden Horseshoe communities. The Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games were organized by the Toronto Organizing Committee for the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games.
  The Games hosted 6,132 athletes representing 41 National Olympic Committees in the Americas, marking the largest multi-sport event hosted in Canada, in terms of athletes competing. A record of 45% of competitors were women, the most ever for any multi-sport event. 364 events were contested in 36 sports, which included the 28 sports contested at the 2016 Summer Olympics; certain sports also served as qualification paths for these Olympics.
context_section_description: Toronto's Globe and Mail described a lack of excitement for the games by Toronto residents and "lacklustre" ticket sales, while The New York Times described Toronto residents as "indifferent" and "apathetic" to the games due to excessive costs and "apocalyptic news coverage" of traffic disruptions, adding "Canada is a country where winter sports predominate, and the Pan Am Games have never been of immense interest".  One Toronto journalist wrote "in Toronto's fierce desire to be a world class city, the Pan Am Games are viewed as a consolation prize to previous unsuccessful Olympic bids".
  Signs of a more positive reception to the Games began to emerge following its opening; on the first official day of competition, 20,000 tickets were sold (in comparison to a single-day projection of eight to nine thousand), and by the next day, at least 850,000 of the 1.2 million total tickets had been sold. By the end of the games, approximately 1.05 million out of 1.2 million available tickets were sold, marking the largest total sold for a single edition of the games.
  A large, illuminated "Toronto" sculpture sign installed in Nathan Phillips Square for the Games proved to be popular with locals and tourists as a spot for photos, and came to become a symbol of the renewed enthusiasm surrounding the Pan Am Games. Considering it a symbol of their legacy, Mayor of Toronto John Tory solicited suggestions for a permanent location for the sign following the Games. It was later announced that the sign would remain in the Square in its current form through at least the end of 2016 and later extended to the end of 2017 with the temporary addition of a maple leaf for the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation and 2018 with a medicine wheel.
caption: The 3D Toronto sign placed in Nathan Phillips Square for the Games became a symbol of their positive response, and of the city as a whole.
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