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After a long wait for tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to go on sale, many U.S.-based fans no doubt felt penalty-kicked in the gut when prices finally were unveiled on Oct. 1.
“The vast majority of 2026 World Cup tickets cost hundreds of dollars, and most upper-deck seats at the [World Cup Final] cost either $2,790 or $4,210, according to fans who won the opportunity to purchase tickets on the opening day of sales,” reports TheAthletic.com.
Tickets to the World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on July 19 were grouped into four categories, with Category 1 featuring the priciest tickets ($6,370) and Category 4 the least expensive ($2,030). “Within a couple of hours,” according to The Athletic, “tickets to the World Cup Final were no longer available in any category.”
FIFA previously announced seats to World Cup matches would be available for as cheap as $60, but fans found out tickets at those prices were only for group-stage games, located in the upper-deck corners and “extremely scarce,” The Athletic noted.
“Add in airfare and hotels for those traveling, or parking for those who are local, and the cost of going to one World Cup game, let alone several, is going to be more than the GDP of some countries,” USA Today columnist Nancy Armour proclaimed.
“To me, this is madness. It’s absolute madness,” Jim Waian, a California resident who’s attended seven World Cups, told National Public Radio. “We could pay $6,730 to go to the final. And we’re pretty big fans, my wife and I, but, you know, that’s just too much.”
“Explain to me like I’m 5 how this World Cup is going to attract a new generation of fans and expand the reach of the game in the United States when only the wealthiest people can experience it in person,” Armour wrote. “And don’t say by watching on television. Americans have been able to watch the major European leagues, Champions League, continental championships in Europe and South America, and the World Cup for a good decade now and that hasn’t prompted the kind of growth Infantino envisions next year’s tournament creating.”
Bryan Armen Graham, deputy sports editor of The Guardian‘s U.S. operations, was even less diplomatic — calling FIFA’s “ticket scheme” a “late-capitalist hellscape.”
“FIFA had kept the costs under wraps until the very moment of sale, replacing the usual published table of price points with a digital lottery that decided who even got the chance to buy. Millions spent hours staring at a queue screen as algorithms determined their place in line. When access finally came for most, the lower-priced sections had already vanished, many presumably hoovered up by bots and bulk-buyers (and that’s before FIFA quietly raised the prices of at least nine matches after only one day of sales). The whole process resembled less a ticket release than a psyop to calibrate how much frustration and scarcity the public will tolerate.”
In a statement to NPR, FIFA explained that the association’s pricing strategy adapts to industry trends and that FIFA will reinvest most World Cup revenue in member associations across the globe. FIFA also cited the high cost of watching sports in America. But, as NPR pointed out, the average NFL ticket price was just under $300 when the season began.
The ticketing rollout is a “monthslong, multi-phase process,” according to The Athletic, involving about 4.5 million people entered in a “Visa presale draw” lottery. A total of 1 million tickets at 16 stadiums in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be available during the first wave of ticket sales.
USA Today cited the World Cup’s dynamic (or variable) pricing that could fluctuate based on demand as “a major focal point regarding ticket sales during the FIFA Club World Cup hosted in the United States earlier this summer, with ticket prices dropping significantly for some matches. Tickets for the Club World Cup Final between winner Chelsea and runner-up Paris Saint-Germain were lowered twice — two days before, and a day before the July 13 match at MetLife Stadium.”
Meanwhile, FIFA also has created FIFA Collect, in which fans can purchase a “Right to Final” NFT token for $999 that entitles them the right to purchase an actual ticket to see their favorite team play in the World Cup Final — “if your team makes it,” as FIFA marketing says.
Time will tell how all this will play out next year, and whether FIFA’s pricing strategy ultimately, um, pays off.
For now, though, let’s give The Guardian’s Graham the final word(s): “The 2026 rollout exposes a new frontier of sports capitalism: the monetization of emotion. FIFA has built an ecosystem in which every feeling — excitement, anxiety, devotion — becomes a revenue stream. Fear of missing out? There’s a token for that. Late-stage panic? Dynamic pricing will account for it. Regret? The resale platform will take another 30%. Buying a ticket is no longer an act of fandom but of speculation, a wager placed on both your team’s fortunes and one’s own disposable income.”
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