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The proof that America has conquered football - Welcome to the Rip-Off World Cup
Here is another event separating us all according to the great hierarchy of wealth, telling many of us that, actually, this World Cup just isn’t for you.
NEXT SUMMER’S WORLD Cup will be scored to a similar preamble to the 1994 edition in the United States.
Can soccer finally conquer America?
To which we have two answers: 1) Probably not and 2) it doesn’t matter, because you’re asking the wrong question.
America has conquered soccer.
The towers of American dollars currently propping up European football is evidence enough of this, but the World Cup will offer conclusive proof. And consistent with that subtler style of American imperialism, this is an ideological takeover.
American pro sport has led the way in the degrading of fan to consumer, and of seeing profit as the sole benefit of selling a ticket.
What’s that? We could offer cheaper tickets to the less wealthy fans whom we claim to represent and who might kindle a hostile atmosphere and give us an on-field edge? No thanks, we’d rather move the franchise to another city instead.
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Football fans across the world – and especially in Europe – are stuck in a forever war against this prevailing capitalist mindset, but the battle has been lost with respect to the next edition of Fifa’s quadrennial jamboree. Welcome to the Rip-Off World Cup.
This is the first World Cup at which dynamic pricing is at play, a system built on the principle that the rich are more important. Although Fifa have claimed the cheapest tickets will be available for $60 – though have yet to announce how many of these will be available, amid concerns there won’t be more than a handful per game – The Times reported last week that the cheapest face value ticket for the USA’s opening game in Los Angeles was priced at $560.
And that’s only if you’re lucky enough to pay face value. For the first time, Fifa have their own resale platform on which tickets can be sold for more than face value, given this is legal practice in the US and Canada. (It is not permitted for any games in Mexico.)
The Times reported last week that the cheapest ticket available on the resale platform for the same USA game was priced at $1,569, with the category one tickets ranging from $4,255 to an utterly ludicrous $99,513. And this was before anyone knew the USA’s opponents in this game were going to be the glamorous, international heavy-hitters of Paraguay. Anyone paying almost a hundred grand to watch USA/Paraguay offers final proof that The Market is not the rational thing its many champions claim it to be.
Fifa sold fully two million World Cup tickets before the draw was made, meaning all buyers were aware of when buying was the fact that nine of the games would each feature one host nation.
Fifa can defend selling that many tickets on such a vague premise by pointing to their resale platform, which they are running in the US and Canada because the law allows for tickets to be sold above face value. In doing this, Fifa are wrestling the secondary ticket market away from the likes of StubHub, and are justifying it by saying this is in line with US market practices while allowing them keep the money within the game.
And that means keeping a lot of money within the game. Fifa are taking a 15% cut from both the buyer and the seller on their resale platform, meaning they’ll take $300 for every $1000 traded. Plus, Fifa’s selling two million tickets on the primary market before knowing who will be playing where is likely to push more tickets to the resale, secondary market, given ticket-holders’ preferences to follow certain teams.
It’s true that Fifa need to make money, but do they really need to make this much money at the expense of supporters? While Fifa can develop the sport in tangible ways with the disbursement of some of this money, they also have an obligation to develop it in those intangible ways that inspires participation and strong feeling.
There has never been an event as powerful as the World Cup for winning hearts, creating memories, and kindling dreams, but the competition’s great democratic sweep of joy is at odds with this exclusionary pricing structure.
There have been other rip-offs. Spare a thought for the people who purchased a ‘Right to Buy’ token in advance of the World Cup which, in return for a variable fee, guaranteed the token-holder first refusal on tickets.
The bad news is that Fifa didn’t advertise in advance the fee of the ticket that would be guaranteed, and so many token-holders shelled out only to discover they then had to pay for a more expensive, Category 1 ticket. We know of one non-Irish fan who paid $2400 for the right to buy two tickets for Mexico’s third group game at the Azteca, only to realise their only purchase option was a pair of Category 1 tickets for $1800.
We were told dynamic pricing wasn’t at play for the tickets sold to loyal fans directly by the respective football associations, but the prices nonetheless vary from city to city and game to game. England fans hoping to see their team against Croatia, for instance, will pay between $265 and $700. The face value price of tickets for the final, meanwhile, ranges from $4185 to $8680. Football Supporters Europe estimate the cost to follow your team to the final is around five times what it did in Qatar four years ago.
And if you want to follow your team to the final, you have to pay the full cost of the ticket in advance, and you’ll be refunded any knockout matches for which your side doesn’t qualify. Oh, and Fifa are charging a $10 administration fee to hand back that refund. That’s $10 per game to be refunded, by the way.
Away from Fifa, the good capitalists of North America are filling their boots. The Athletic reported on Wednesday that hotel prices in Mexico City around the opening game has increased by almost 1000%, with an average increase of more than 300% around opening matches in the 16 host cities.
Fifa’s MO is to bow expediently to whatever is demanded of them by their hosts. Hence they took away the booze at the 11th hour in Qatar, and demanded players drop the ‘One Love’ armband. This time around they have yielded to the awesome and animating price-gouging of the US of A.
Gianni Infantino’s slogan that ‘football unites the world’ is ringing more hollow than usual around the forthcoming World Cup. Instead, here is another event separating us all according to the great hierarchy of wealth, telling many of us that, actually, this World Cup just isn’t for you.
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The proof that America has conquered football - Welcome to the Rip-Off World Cup
NEXT SUMMER’S WORLD Cup will be scored to a similar preamble to the 1994 edition in the United States.
Can soccer finally conquer America?
To which we have two answers: 1) Probably not and 2) it doesn’t matter, because you’re asking the wrong question.
America has conquered soccer.
The towers of American dollars currently propping up European football is evidence enough of this, but the World Cup will offer conclusive proof. And consistent with that subtler style of American imperialism, this is an ideological takeover.
American pro sport has led the way in the degrading of fan to consumer, and of seeing profit as the sole benefit of selling a ticket.
What’s that? We could offer cheaper tickets to the less wealthy fans whom we claim to represent and who might kindle a hostile atmosphere and give us an on-field edge? No thanks, we’d rather move the franchise to another city instead.
Football fans across the world – and especially in Europe – are stuck in a forever war against this prevailing capitalist mindset, but the battle has been lost with respect to the next edition of Fifa’s quadrennial jamboree. Welcome to the Rip-Off World Cup.
This is the first World Cup at which dynamic pricing is at play, a system built on the principle that the rich are more important. Although Fifa have claimed the cheapest tickets will be available for $60 – though have yet to announce how many of these will be available, amid concerns there won’t be more than a handful per game – The Times reported last week that the cheapest face value ticket for the USA’s opening game in Los Angeles was priced at $560.
And that’s only if you’re lucky enough to pay face value. For the first time, Fifa have their own resale platform on which tickets can be sold for more than face value, given this is legal practice in the US and Canada. (It is not permitted for any games in Mexico.)
The Times reported last week that the cheapest ticket available on the resale platform for the same USA game was priced at $1,569, with the category one tickets ranging from $4,255 to an utterly ludicrous $99,513. And this was before anyone knew the USA’s opponents in this game were going to be the glamorous, international heavy-hitters of Paraguay. Anyone paying almost a hundred grand to watch USA/Paraguay offers final proof that The Market is not the rational thing its many champions claim it to be.
Fifa sold fully two million World Cup tickets before the draw was made, meaning all buyers were aware of when buying was the fact that nine of the games would each feature one host nation.
Fifa can defend selling that many tickets on such a vague premise by pointing to their resale platform, which they are running in the US and Canada because the law allows for tickets to be sold above face value. In doing this, Fifa are wrestling the secondary ticket market away from the likes of StubHub, and are justifying it by saying this is in line with US market practices while allowing them keep the money within the game.
And that means keeping a lot of money within the game. Fifa are taking a 15% cut from both the buyer and the seller on their resale platform, meaning they’ll take $300 for every $1000 traded. Plus, Fifa’s selling two million tickets on the primary market before knowing who will be playing where is likely to push more tickets to the resale, secondary market, given ticket-holders’ preferences to follow certain teams.
It’s true that Fifa need to make money, but do they really need to make this much money at the expense of supporters? While Fifa can develop the sport in tangible ways with the disbursement of some of this money, they also have an obligation to develop it in those intangible ways that inspires participation and strong feeling.
There has never been an event as powerful as the World Cup for winning hearts, creating memories, and kindling dreams, but the competition’s great democratic sweep of joy is at odds with this exclusionary pricing structure.
There have been other rip-offs. Spare a thought for the people who purchased a ‘Right to Buy’ token in advance of the World Cup which, in return for a variable fee, guaranteed the token-holder first refusal on tickets.
The bad news is that Fifa didn’t advertise in advance the fee of the ticket that would be guaranteed, and so many token-holders shelled out only to discover they then had to pay for a more expensive, Category 1 ticket. We know of one non-Irish fan who paid $2400 for the right to buy two tickets for Mexico’s third group game at the Azteca, only to realise their only purchase option was a pair of Category 1 tickets for $1800.
We were told dynamic pricing wasn’t at play for the tickets sold to loyal fans directly by the respective football associations, but the prices nonetheless vary from city to city and game to game. England fans hoping to see their team against Croatia, for instance, will pay between $265 and $700. The face value price of tickets for the final, meanwhile, ranges from $4185 to $8680. Football Supporters Europe estimate the cost to follow your team to the final is around five times what it did in Qatar four years ago.
And if you want to follow your team to the final, you have to pay the full cost of the ticket in advance, and you’ll be refunded any knockout matches for which your side doesn’t qualify. Oh, and Fifa are charging a $10 administration fee to hand back that refund. That’s $10 per game to be refunded, by the way.
Away from Fifa, the good capitalists of North America are filling their boots. The Athletic reported on Wednesday that hotel prices in Mexico City around the opening game has increased by almost 1000%, with an average increase of more than 300% around opening matches in the 16 host cities.
Fifa’s MO is to bow expediently to whatever is demanded of them by their hosts. Hence they took away the booze at the 11th hour in Qatar, and demanded players drop the ‘One Love’ armband. This time around they have yielded to the awesome and animating price-gouging of the US of A.
Gianni Infantino’s slogan that ‘football unites the world’ is ringing more hollow than usual around the forthcoming World Cup. Instead, here is another event separating us all according to the great hierarchy of wealth, telling many of us that, actually, this World Cup just isn’t for you.
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