FIFA has turned the 2026 World Cup into the most expensive cultural event in history because it has become a new Ticketmaster

For almost a century, FIFA has not cared about selling cheap tickets: the money in football was in television. But as has happened with the musiccinema and other cultural events, spectacularization is the order of the day, and for the 2026 World Cup the business model is closer to Ticketmaster. Direct consequence: two US attorneys general have already asked him for explanations through judicial means.

Pocho record. The World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada starts this Thursday, becoming the most expensive cultural event in history. The cheapest ticket to the group stage cost an average of $200 and the most affordable ticket to the final started at $2,030. Adjusted for inflation, the price is double that of Qatar 2022 and quadruple that of the United States 1994.

Because. The reason is more than obvious: for the first time, FIFA controls ticket sales directly, without delegating it to local organizers, and has launched dynamic prices. Between October and April made at least one category more expensive in 95 of the 104 gameswith an average increase of 35%. The Category 1 ticket for the final went from $6,730 to $10,990.

Other niceties. Another novelty this year that is not going down well with fans is that the buyer does not choose a seat either. You pay for a category that corresponds to an area of ​​the stadium and FIFA assigns you a row and seat months later. For example, in April many fans who had paid for Category 1 discovered that their seats were in areas previously marked as Category 2, because FIFA had modified the maps and reserved the best seats for a new “Front Category 1”. More expensive, of course.

The law. The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have judicially summoned to FIFA to investigate your sales practices; The one in New Jersey accuses the agency of turning the purchase into a labyrinth of “false scarcity.” California had previously sent its own letter of request. Justice accuses FIFA of setting up its own secondary market without price caps in the United States and Canada: as explained your own support pagecharges a commission of 15% to the seller and another 15% to the buyer. Only in Mexico does it limit resale to the original price, and by legal requirement. On that platform there have been tickets for the final listed by more than two million dollars.

The opacity does the rest. FIFA has almost never reported how many tickets were left per match or per phase, and before publishing any price it sold tens of thousands of “Right to Buy” tokens through its crypto collectibles platform: hundreds of dollars for the right to buy a ticket whose final cost was not known until much later.

More opacity: in February, FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated that all matches were sold out. His own organization had to correct himand in April acknowledged that about five of the planned 6.7 million tickets had been sold and that the rest were being held for “continued sales.” Different ticketing experts identify this retention as a classic tactic to create a sensation of demand. Although it is not clear if the play has given the expected results: the United States’ debut against Paraguay accumulated 10,000 entries listed on resale platformsa, many below the original price.

The accounts come out. Wow, they come out: in Qatar 2022 the box office contributed about 950 million dollars; for 2026 FIFA budget up to 3,000 million for tickets and VIP packages (premium entry plus experience). The organization foresees earn 8.9 billion with the tournament within a four-year cycle of 13,000 (which is how FIFA organizes its accounts) in the most optimistic calculations. There are those who consider that this calculation even falls short: an academic analysis It projects that the box office and VIP experiences alone will exceed 7.4 billion, and to that would be added TV rights, sponsorships and other income.

One but. The Economist It points, however, to a very specific problem this year: the public in the fields is part of the television product that FIFA sells around the world for more than 4 billion dollars. It must be remembered that in the Club World Cup, spectators had to be relocated in front of the cameras in half-empty matches to keep up appearances. All of this underlines the idea that FIFA is torn between a couple of businesses in which it wants to be the leader: squeezing in-person spectators and protecting the image of the spectacle that the rest of the planet sees. For now the eyes with the dollar sign are watching intently at the first one.

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