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Why FIFA’s ‘extortionate’ 2026 World Cup ticket prices are not the real problem
Football fans are unhappy with 2026 World Cup ticket prices. Many believe these costs will exclude passionate supporters. However, a different perspective suggests these prices are strategic. America's open resale market allows scalpers to inflate prices significantly. This unregulated system means high prices are inevitable, regardless of FIFA's initial pricing.
Football fans have described the 2026 World Cup ticket prices as “extortionate” and “absolutely despicable.” The prices, fans say, will put rich Americans in stadiums at the expense of passionate supporters.
But there is a reasonable argument to be made that the prices are shrewd and are not entirely the fault of FIFA, football's governing body. To illustrate, let's play out an alternate reality in which the prices are what they were in 2022: $69 to $220 in the group stage, $206 to $425 for a quarterfinal, and so on.
In this alternate reality, millions upon millions of people apply for tickets in FIFA's lotteries; a small minority of applicants actually get those tickets; and the majority of fans are left to stare at exorbitant resale prices — the same exact prices they are staring at now. That brings us to the crux of the issue: America's unregulated secondary market. It's somewhere between an excuse and a reason for FIFA's unprecedented sales strategy.
And it's the reason that many 2026 World Cup tickets were inevitably going to cost ghastly sums, no matter FIFA's initial price point. Lower prices attract scalpers — who, if they are paying $100 and are confident somebody else would pay $500, are certain they can turn a profit. In many other countries, including Mexico, laws restrict scalpers; cheap tickets, therefore, mostly get used by their original buyers. But not in America, where everyone from Average Joes who run sketchy solo operations to cor porate giants like StubHub can flourish.
They, and more so the laws that enable them, are just as blameworthy as FIFA. Even at FIFA's “astonishing” actual prices, these scalpers have infiltrated lotteries. Thousands of tickets are available on StubHub, SeatGeek and elsewhere. Facebook groups and Reddit threads have been dotted with enterprising people offering to sell tickets — or even to sell entire “FIFA ID” accounts.
Most innocent fans, meanwhile, have struck out in FIFA's first two lotteries, and might soon have to choose between staying home or paying something beyond FIFA's prices. On popular resale sites, for every single 2026 World Cup game, prices are currently higher than FIFA's. A ticket sold by FIFA earlier this fall for $155, and now being offered by FIFA at $265, is listed on Stubhub for $1,032. The seller of that ticket, in theory, would make more than $500. And FIFA's argument, essentially, is: Why should that $500 go to a random individual instead of to football? It's a valid point.
There's a contrarian view of World Cup pricing that places FIFA as the good guy, milking America's absurd private wealth and redistributing billions of dollars to poorer countries to further football development. Where the argument falls flat, and where FIFA went wrong, is with a lack of specialized offerings for loyal fans, or for potential fans who could use a cheap ticket to soak up an unforgettable experience and get hooked on the sport.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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