The Unpopular Truth About World Cup Ticket Prices

Even before the first ball of the World Cup was kicked in Mexico City on Thursday, there was one team that everyone was already rooting against. FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, have been widely lambasted for ticket costs this year—which are four to 10 times higher than they were for comparable matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.Initial prices for some of the cheapest games in the United States ranged from $60 for a smattering of nosebleed seats to $620 for seats closer to the field. Tickets for Friday’s U.S. opener in Los Angeles ranged from $560 to $2,735 when initially released. Critics argue that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, is gouging fans of the world’s most popular sport. The attorneys general of New York, New Jersey, California, and Texas have launched investigations into World Cup ticketing, including for allegedly misleading fans about seat locations and creating false scarcity to drive up prices.FIFA, which maintains that legal experts have vetted its practices, should be held culpable for any misrepresentation of where ticket buyers will be sitting. But the loudest complaints have been about World Cup organizers’ use of elaborate pricing techniques to maximize revenues. Take the final at MetLife Stadium on July 19, where $2,030 was the lowest cost of entry. Thanks to dynamic pricing, which adjusts ticket costs based on demand, the “Category 1” seats, the most desirable regular seats for sale by FIFA, shot up from an initial $6,370 to $8,700, and then to $10,990 during later sales windows.Infantino has defended the overall pricing strategy by pointing to limited supply and high demand. He has also noted that on secondary markets, including one that FIFA oversees, many tickets sell for well above face value. The implication is that the soccer organization has previously been—and may still be—charging less for tickets than the market would bear.I, too, would like to take my family to a World Cup game without spending thousands of dollars. But