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Inglewood, California — FIFA is facing backlash for sky-high prices and fees for the upcoming World Cup, causing consternation among fans and providing fuel to critics who accuse soccer’s world governing body of greed.
This World Cup will be the biggest ever after it was expanded from 32 to 48 teams, with 104 matches across the U.S., Canada and Mexico that are projected to generate a record $10.9 billion in revenue, according to FIFA.
FIFA’s official resale marketplace has shown staggering prices, with the sport’s governing body pocketing a 15% fee from both the seller and the buyer for each sale.
“If some people put on a secondary, on the resale market, some tickets for the final at $2 million, Number one, it doesn’t mean that the tickets cost $2 million,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in an interview earlier this month. “Number two, it doesn’t mean that somebody will buy these tickets.”
Infantino joked that if someone does pay $2 million, “I will personally bring him a hot dog and a Coke to make sure that he has a great experience.”
Last week, FIFA on its ticketing platform tripled the price for the top seats to the July 19 World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to $33,970, the Associated Press reported.
According to the ticket analytics firm TicketData, the average price for the cheapest tickets on resale markets across all World Cup group stage games as of Friday was $553. The cheapest available ticket for the final was $7,734.
President Trump, when asked last week about World Cup pricing, said even he personally wouldn’t pay $1,000 to watch the U.S. play Paraguay in the tournament’s U.S. opener June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, south of Los Angeles.
“I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you,” Mr. Trump told the New York Post.
CBS News saw some tickets priced at more than $45,000 on secondary markets for the match.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta was also not buying in. He sent a letter to FIFA Wednesday seeking answers about potentially misleading ticketing practices after reports that FIFA “sold tickets based on seating categories displayed on stadium maps and later altered those seating categorizations before assigning precise seat locations.”
But the sticker shock doesn’t stop at tickets. FIFA requires host cities to foot the bill for security and transportation costs, though the Federal Emergency Management Agency says some of those expenses will be offset by federal funding.
New Jersey Transit announced that round trip train fares to MetLife Stadium from Manhattan for World Cup games will run $98. The usual fare is $13.
New Jersey Transit CEO Kris Kolluri argued the increased fare spares daily commuters from carrying the cost of transporting hundreds of thousands of additional riders during the six-week tournament. Kolluri said that the cost to New Jersey Transit to run trains for the eight World Cup games at MetLife is estimated at about $48 million, and the train tickets are priced to cover that.
“Commuters in New Jersey should not carry the cost years into the future for a wonderful event, no doubt. But the fans who are going to the game should bear the burden of the cost, and that’s all we’re trying to say,” Kolluri said in a news conference last month.
Train tickets from Boston to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, will be $75 round trip for World Cup matches. Typically, those tickets are about $20 for concerts and sporting events, such as New England Patriots games.
Vancouver, B.C., is also pushing back, denying FIFA’s request for a police motorcade for Infantino.
“Any transportation arrangements that are made will be appropriate, measured, and consistent with how Vancouver safely hosts major international events,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s office said in a statement.
There are some signs those high prices could be contributing to keeping fans away. According to CBS News New York, new data from the commercial real estate company CoStar showed that several New York City hotels currently only have a third of their rooms occupied on World Cup match nights, 12% below last year’s levels at this time for the same dates.
