EUPHEMISM OF THE week goes to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who deftly explained on Tuesday why football fans are being ripped off ahead of this summer’s World Cup in the US.
“We have to apply market rates,” he said, adding that the United States was “the most developed” entertainment market in the world.
‘Developed’ is how Infantino describes a situation where the most expensive face-value ticket for the final in New Jersey was nearly $11,000 (€9,000).
The cheapest ticket for the final is $4,185 (€4,000), roughly seven times more expensive than the cheapest ticket four years ago in Qatar.
Even tickets for your standard group game have ballooned compared with previous tournaments.
In Brazil in 2014, group phase tickets ranged from $90 (€76) to a maximum of $275 (€230) whereas this time out, the cheap seats cost between $120-$200 (€100-€170) and the most expensive categories are between $700-$1,200 (€590-€1,000).
The bewildering nature of the ticket prices is only matched by the confusion attached to the sale process itself, which has seen various different “phases” of tickets being released and allegations that tickets being sold for various categories during these phases aren’t what they were advertised as.
All the while, resale sites are already listing tickets for even crazier prices. One for the aforementioned final was apparently up for more than $2 million (€1.7 million).
Empty seats?
As Fifa grapples with the primary host of the tournament being at war with one of the participants, the question of whether we will see vast sections of empty seats in fancy stadiums is also starting to be asked.
Indeed, there are already suggestions that the demand for tickets may have peaked and that Fifa’s hyping of the tournament hasn’t been matched by the response on the ground.
According to a New York Times report today, listed prices on resale sites have been gradually declining in recent weeks. One estimate suggests that the price of the cheapest tickets on resale sites has fallen for 76 of the tournament’s 78 matches in the US.
Canada and Mexico are also co-hosts of the tournament and are sharing equally the remaining 26 matches outside the US.
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The asking price for resale tickets has declined so consistently that there are reportedly dozens of matches where the resale price is now listed as lower than the face-value price Fifa originally set.
Those matches are likely to include some of the ones that Fifa expected to be among the most in-demand of the opening stage, including the USA’s own opening fixture against Paraguay in Los Angeles on 12 June.
A separate report on that fixture cited documents circulated to local organisers saying that just under 41,000 tickets have been sold for the USA’s opening game, with the stadium capacity listed as being 69,650.
It is unclear if the lower figure excludes tickets that never went on general sale and Fifa has said it is “misleading”.
Significantly, however, Fifa did not say the game was sold out nor did it give a number on how many tickets have sold.
Other metrics, too, are pointing to a feeling that World Cup fever has not yet taken hold.
Some host cities like Kansas City even reported that room bookings for June and July are below what would be expected in an average year.
In Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, many respondents described the tournament “as a non-event”, the report said.
Fifa was partially blamed by the hoteliers for block bookings that were over-ambitious, but it was also noted that “visa barriers and broader geopolitical concerns” were keeping a lid on travel from abroad.
Despite President Donald Trump frequently touting the country’s host status for the event, his administration has nonetheless also launched a wide-ranging crackdown on visas for visitors to the United States.
In mid-January, the US froze immigrant visas for 75 countries under its crackdown on illegal migration.
Among the targeted nations were four countries qualified for the World Cup: Iran, Haiti, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
The White House said this does not affect tourist visas and therefore fans who have tickets can benefit from expedited visa appointments at US consulates.
But visas are not guaranteed for ticket holders, and many fans have expressed fears over how they will be treated upon arrival at US airports.
This is also nothing to say of the concerns among migrant communities in the US that ICE agents would use World Cup events to detain more people.
Last month, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 167,000 people were arrested between January 2025 and March this year in and around the 11 cities where the US matches will be played.
Trump and Infantino in the Oval Office. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
For their part, Fifa and Infantino have been unequivocal that any talk about ticket sales not going as planned is way off the mark.
Infantino has claimed that more than five million tickets have already been sold for the World Cup, surpassing the record for the tournament of 3.5 million, which was set the last time it was held in the US in 1994.
The 2026 figure is, of course, helped by the fact that the tournament has ballooned this year to include 48 teams and 104 games.
By comparison, back in 1994, it was 24 teams and 52 games.
Cynically, Fifa will also point to its bottom line and forecasts that the World Cup will help it make $9 billion (€7.65 billion) this year, a stratospheric increase on the $2.5 billion (€2.12 billion) it took in back in 2022.
A chunk of this figure of course comes from TV rights and sponsorship, but there’s no doubting too that fans are having their pockets picked to an extent not seen before.
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Fifa is rinsing fans for its US World Cup, but could we end up with empty seats and a big dud?
EUPHEMISM OF THE week goes to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who deftly explained on Tuesday why football fans are being ripped off ahead of this summer’s World Cup in the US.
“We have to apply market rates,” he said, adding that the United States was “the most developed” entertainment market in the world.
‘Developed’ is how Infantino describes a situation where the most expensive face-value ticket for the final in New Jersey was nearly $11,000 (€9,000).
The cheapest ticket for the final is $4,185 (€4,000), roughly seven times more expensive than the cheapest ticket four years ago in Qatar.
Even tickets for your standard group game have ballooned compared with previous tournaments.
In Brazil in 2014, group phase tickets ranged from $90 (€76) to a maximum of $275 (€230) whereas this time out, the cheap seats cost between $120-$200 (€100-€170) and the most expensive categories are between $700-$1,200 (€590-€1,000).
The bewildering nature of the ticket prices is only matched by the confusion attached to the sale process itself, which has seen various different “phases” of tickets being released and allegations that tickets being sold for various categories during these phases aren’t what they were advertised as.
All the while, resale sites are already listing tickets for even crazier prices. One for the aforementioned final was apparently up for more than $2 million (€1.7 million).
Empty seats?
As Fifa grapples with the primary host of the tournament being at war with one of the participants, the question of whether we will see vast sections of empty seats in fancy stadiums is also starting to be asked.
Indeed, there are already suggestions that the demand for tickets may have peaked and that Fifa’s hyping of the tournament hasn’t been matched by the response on the ground.
According to a New York Times report today, listed prices on resale sites have been gradually declining in recent weeks. One estimate suggests that the price of the cheapest tickets on resale sites has fallen for 76 of the tournament’s 78 matches in the US.
Canada and Mexico are also co-hosts of the tournament and are sharing equally the remaining 26 matches outside the US.
The asking price for resale tickets has declined so consistently that there are reportedly dozens of matches where the resale price is now listed as lower than the face-value price Fifa originally set.
Those matches are likely to include some of the ones that Fifa expected to be among the most in-demand of the opening stage, including the USA’s own opening fixture against Paraguay in Los Angeles on 12 June.
A separate report on that fixture cited documents circulated to local organisers saying that just under 41,000 tickets have been sold for the USA’s opening game, with the stadium capacity listed as being 69,650.
It is unclear if the lower figure excludes tickets that never went on general sale and Fifa has said it is “misleading”.
Significantly, however, Fifa did not say the game was sold out nor did it give a number on how many tickets have sold.
Other metrics, too, are pointing to a feeling that World Cup fever has not yet taken hold.
A survey of American hoteliers released this week showed that summer room bookings are well below what was forecast.
Some host cities like Kansas City even reported that room bookings for June and July are below what would be expected in an average year.
In Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, many respondents described the tournament “as a non-event”, the report said.
Fifa was partially blamed by the hoteliers for block bookings that were over-ambitious, but it was also noted that “visa barriers and broader geopolitical concerns” were keeping a lid on travel from abroad.
Despite President Donald Trump frequently touting the country’s host status for the event, his administration has nonetheless also launched a wide-ranging crackdown on visas for visitors to the United States.
In mid-January, the US froze immigrant visas for 75 countries under its crackdown on illegal migration.
Among the targeted nations were four countries qualified for the World Cup: Iran, Haiti, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
The White House said this does not affect tourist visas and therefore fans who have tickets can benefit from expedited visa appointments at US consulates.
But visas are not guaranteed for ticket holders, and many fans have expressed fears over how they will be treated upon arrival at US airports.
This is also nothing to say of the concerns among migrant communities in the US that ICE agents would use World Cup events to detain more people.
Last month, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 167,000 people were arrested between January 2025 and March this year in and around the 11 cities where the US matches will be played.
Migrant communities in the US are among the most passionate football supporters in the US, so much so that Fifa has discussed asking the US to pause ICE raids for the duration of the World Cup.
Negative spin
For their part, Fifa and Infantino have been unequivocal that any talk about ticket sales not going as planned is way off the mark.
Infantino has claimed that more than five million tickets have already been sold for the World Cup, surpassing the record for the tournament of 3.5 million, which was set the last time it was held in the US in 1994.
The 2026 figure is, of course, helped by the fact that the tournament has ballooned this year to include 48 teams and 104 games.
By comparison, back in 1994, it was 24 teams and 52 games.
Cynically, Fifa will also point to its bottom line and forecasts that the World Cup will help it make $9 billion (€7.65 billion) this year, a stratospheric increase on the $2.5 billion (€2.12 billion) it took in back in 2022.
A chunk of this figure of course comes from TV rights and sponsorship, but there’s no doubting too that fans are having their pockets picked to an extent not seen before.
Written by Rónán Duffy and posted on TheJournal.ie
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FIFA Gianni Infantino Soccer Ticket Prices United States World Cup 2026