Fans pack stadiums as FIFA’s high World Cup prices fail to curb demand

NEW YORK: FIFA’s decision to charge sharply higher prices for World Cup tickets has not deterred spectators, with attendance figures showing stadiums were nearly full through the group stage and demand for Sunday’s final climbing to exceptional levels.

More than half of the 72 group-stage matches were sell-outs, while most of the remaining games were only a few seats short of full capacity. FIFA said around 99.7 per cent of available seats were occupied during the preliminary round, easing earlier doubts that expensive pricing would leave large gaps in the stands.

Those concerns had intensified after empty seats were visible at Guadalajara Stadium during the June 11 match between South Korea and the Czech Republic. FIFA put attendance for that game at 44,985 in a venue with close to 46,000 seats, and a Reuters witness reported visible unoccupied sections around the ground.

Prices rose with demand

The tournament opened with group-stage tickets initially priced at $575, more than twice the top-priced group ticket at the 2022 World Cup. FIFA also introduced dynamic pricing for the first time, allowing prices to move according to demand and other factors, meaning many fans paid well above the starting rate.

By Wednesday, hundreds of tickets for the final at New York/New Jersey Stadium were still on FIFA’s platform for a little over $7,000, raising questions over whether the governing body had pushed prices too high. But ticketing expert Scott Friedman said the late availability likely reflected so-called slow ticketing, in which organisers release inventory gradually to encourage purchases.

Speaking about the strategy, Friedman said FIFA had judged demand accurately despite worries a year earlier about visa issues and political tensions in the United States. He said people still paid heavily across the 104-match tournament.

“What FIFA did a very good job of was determining what demand would be because people [were] paying these absurd prices for just about all the 104 matches,” said Scott Friedman, a ticketing expert who previously worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Friedman, who runs the Ticket Talk Network, also described how limited visible inventory can push buyers to act faster.

“They can act like they already sold their seats and kind of just dribble them in accordingly, to obviously increase market demand,” said Friedman, who runs the ‘Ticket Talk Network’, dedicated to exploring how seats for sports mega-events are bought and sold.

“Like ‘Oh, there’s only so-and-so amount of tickets left available in the section, I better buy now’.”

By Friday, nearly all final tickets appeared to have been sold, with a small number still listed on FIFA’s sales platform at about $32,000 each.

Questions over transparency

Adam Elmachtoub, an associate professor of industrial engineering and operations research at Columbia University, said frustration around pricing has been heightened by a lack of clarity over how the system works.

“One reason for the frustration over the last few months is that no one really knows how this works,” said Adam Elmachtoub, an associate professor of industrial engineering and operations research at Columbia University.

He said consumers are used to variable prices in sectors such as air travel and retail, but argued that openness matters more when a global event of this scale is involved.

“People are willing to accept dynamic pricing — we deal with it for airfare, we deal with it even [for] buying clothes — but I think when it’s such a high-profile event, transparency will help a lot.”

“The notion of what is fair pricing here is complex because entertainment is not like a necessity,” said Elmachtoub.

FIFA later added a limited number of cheaper tickets after criticism over affordability. Politicians including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had pressed for lower-cost access for local residents.

Resale market pushes costs higher

The US resale market also added to the cost of attending matches, as secondary sellers were largely free to ask whatever price buyers would pay. The report contrasted that with Mexico, another tournament co-host, where resellers are not allowed to offer tickets above their original purchase price.

SeatGeek said a wave of listings late in the week reduced prices somewhat, but the average ticket for the final was still listed at more than $11,000 as of Friday. The company said that still made the match the most expensive event sold on its platform, 8pc higher than the 2024 Super Bowl.

Chris Leyden, SeatGeek’s senior director for marketing, said interest had remained strong throughout the competition as each stage and fixture shaped demand.

“What we’re seeing with this year’s World Cup is that demand fluctuates with every round and every matchup reveal,” said Chris Leyden, senior director for marketing at SeatGeek.

“The appetite for this tournament has held up remarkably well from the group stage through the knockouts.”

The strength of the football itself also helped sustain interest, with the top four ranked teams reaching the semi-finals for the first time since the rankings system was introduced. Sunday’s final will also likely be 39-year-old Lionel Messi’s last World Cup match.

Concerns over access remain

Even with strong sales, rights groups said the event had remained inaccessible for many supporters. The Sport and Rights Alliance said fans from several countries had been unable to secure visas, despite FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s pledge that this would be the most inclusive World Cup.

Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, said the tournament had effectively favoured wealthier fans, particularly those able to travel to the United States without visa hurdles and absorb the cost of tickets.

“It’s been a World Cup for a happy few,” Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, told reporters.

“Those in Europe, Norwegians, Scottish, who have enough purchasing power to travel to the US, don’t need a visa to enter the country and can afford the extortionate ticket prices.”