World Cup: Will high ticket prices lead to empty seats?
With some get-in prices reaching more than $1,000, tickets remain available for a large number of World Cup games.
With the FIFA Men’s World Cup exactly six weeks away from kicking off in the United States, Mexico and Canada, soccer’s global governing body potentially finds itself in a catch-22 of its own making. FIFA, which is expected to bring in a record $11 billion in revenue from the tournament, has employed a type of dynamic pricing model for ticket sales it’s calling “variable pricing,” dramatically increasing prices for tickets in the 11 host venues based on demands from fans all over the world. It led to the average ticket price across FIFA’s three category groups to increase by an average of 34% between October and April, per The Athletic, with costs increasing for at least 90 of the competition’s 104 total matches.
The average cost of the cheapest group stage ticket is nearly 50% higher than the previous World Cup record, adjusted for inflation. Apparently the World Cup’s working slogan, “Football Unites the World,” mostly applies to those who can afford the get-in price. The sticker shock appears to have driven fans away.
The Athletic obtained a document dated April 10 reportedly sent to local organizers indicating that fewer than 41,000 tickets had been sold for the US’ group stage opener against Paraguay at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on June 12 despite a listed seating capacity of just under 70,000. FIFA disputed the report, stating the document “does not accurately reflect actual sales to date. ” And yet, as of this publication, seats remain available — albeit at a get-in price of $1,120.
At least seven group stage matches have wide ticket availability, according to FIFA’s official ticketing website, including Canada’s group stage opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina at Toronto’s BMO Field on June 12. More than 2,000 tickets are still available, at a get-in cost of $1,645. This begs an essential question central to the World Cup’s success here this summer: Will high prices lead to large swaths of empty seats at what is supposed to be one of the world’s premier sporting events?
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