Hmm. Saw the box where you can move down a category. Can you drop 2 levels, from Cat 1 to 3, if both Cats 1 & 2 are oversubscribed?
You are basically forced to go Cat 1. Cat 1 is where 80% of the tickets are located. They start the draw from Cat 1 and if you select the "other categories" box, you then go into the Cat 2 draw, and so on. If that were not the case, I think that everyone would go in for Cat 3. It is a fraction of the cost and potentially a better seat than Cat 2. Cat 4 is even better, but only open to Brazilian residents and grotesquely oversubscribed.
according to that one guy who claims he heard that from someone at the English FA or something like that. Nobody knows, really
Either way, game theory dictates that the best way to maximize chances for A ticket is CAT 1 with downgrade option.
Not sure I follow your point. I agree that every cat will be oversubscribed. This dictates that the only way to enter the draw for each cat is to go Cat 1, where majority of tickets will be located, and check the downgrade box. If we look at it that way, the requests for Cat 3 in the last "game" will actually be thousands (of downgraded Cat 1s and 2s) as well as the Cat 3 only. The point is if you go Cat 3 only you have a miniscule chance of success, whereas the others have a minimal chance.
I think you're assuming they'll do a draw for category 1, then roll all the losers into 2 and then into 3 for those draws. I think it's very possible they simple draw each section individually since all will be full. They'd only downgrade you if spots were open in the lower categories.
You're damn skippy I did. And it made perfect sense. But now you got me asking why I thought that in the first place. Damn you Real Corona, for the uncertainty you have brought to a an already uncertain pursuit. Why couldn't you just let me believe in the tooth fairy? But seriously, still better chance to go Cat 1, no?
Haha, sorry man. As I understand it, and I am just speculating, you would have statistically the best chance at getting tickets in whatever category would have the most tickets. Not sure which that is.
My guess is the way to tell is if anyone from Rd. 1 got tickets in a lower category than the one they chose, as most were oversubscribed. I remember hearing some did and that led me to believe that they picked cat 1 first and then rolled everyone down the line. If not, next to no one would have gotten cat tix lower than their original application. Make sense?
From what I remember, not all games in South Africa were sold out and US fans pretty much all got tickets to games they applied to. Similarly I know there are plenty of games now that aren't sold out in Brazil, usually between smaller nations in remoter venues.
I remember reading that some guy got a lower category TST (I think it was TST-6) than the one that he applied for. Considering the really low number of higher TSTs - weren't there only like 90 TST-7s for each country? - I would think that all TSTs for the US were oversubscribed in the first phase.
I tried for a USA TST-5 CAT3 and didn't get anything. I could've conceivably been given a TST-4 CAT3 or TST-3 CAT3. But I got nothing. I did get a Ghana TST-7 CAT1 for 2010 South Africa though during the 4th Phase (the 2nd first come first served phase).
IMO, the ticket distribution process combined with the remoteness of the host country, to reduce demand. I met Yanks who flew into SA without a single game ticket, and attended more that 10 games. Friends were able to get tickets for the Opening Ceremonies. International scalpers were thwarted, by the fact that tickets were only distributed in SA. To print tickets, you had to insert the actual credit card used to purchase the tickets, into kiosks at the airport. Some people who were unable to attend, had to give their C/C to a friend, to print the tickets. Most were then re-sold to Yanks at face value. USSoccer is requiring us to be members, to apply for the February phase, but people are still being allowed to join, for free! Why did I pay for the past 4 years?
Well if we don't get priority there will r a big question mark about why they'd advertise it as such and not actually give us the priority.
On a positive note, internal flights have dropped in price for some routes, and dramatically in some cases. Both TAM and GOL have made good changes. Just got salvador to recife for $100, It was $500 last week.
Still over 1000USD to fly from SP to Manaus for the Portugal game. Not that I could get a hotel or ticket if i even booked the flight.
c'mon, you are rich...what's another grand? yes, that price is outrageous. $500 one way from Natal/Recife/Salvador..... uggh.
I’ve seen a nice drop in fares for my routes too. The 2000+ approved extra flights went on sale last FRI so hopefully prices stay on the low side for a few more weeks as I don’t plan on booking any more legs of my trip until after the lottery on 08FEB. Speaking of which…. After scouring multiple e-mail folders and accounts, I finally found the 4-yr membership e-mail from US Soccer from 2010 (my initial excitement quickly waned however after seeing that the verbiage states priority is good THROUGH BRA ’14 and not TO BRA ’14: *****We hope you have enjoyed your Founding Fan experience during the inaugural year of the U.S. Soccer Supporters Club. We are looking forward to another exciting year and hope you continue your support of the U.S. National Teams by renewing your membership. U.S. Soccer SC memberships are now available for a one-year or four-year term. The one-year membership….yadda, cubed… Four-year memberships have a rolling 48-month term and provide privileges and ticketing priority to fans through the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Priced at $199 (domestic shipping included), this membership offers a discount over the annual renewal option. Fans opting for the four-year membership receive an annual membership package with a new USSSC scarf, membership card and yearbook.***** Addition folder-scouring failed to produce the e-mail which I was actually looking for and which is appearing more and more to be a figment of my imagination; a pre-RSA ’10 e-mail stating that members who did not apply for tickets to that tournament would go to the front of the line in 2014. Was I dreaming or do other fedsters out there remember receiving an e-mail to this effect? I can’t imagine why I would delete such an email. Maybe it was a phone call, who knows. Anyways, the pessimist in me is looking for as much historical detail as possible to use in e-mail diatribes in the event the ‘Sunil-gave-the-nearly-2000-AO-package-holders-individual-codes-guaranteeing-them-tickets’ rumor turns out to be true and I lose out on my Cat III application because there simply aren’t any left to begin with! (the breakdown of our PMA’s 8% seems to be a mystery but I doubt that the TenDot tour operator will lose out on any profits by paying higher Cat I/II prices for all the heads aboard their 3 planes). The optimist in me however dismisses these rumors as heresay and trusts implicitly in the integrity and capacity of our fed, refusing to believe that they would ever risk damaging the relationships established over the years with members of their own Official Supporter's Club by letting themselves be pushed around by an un-official supporter's group (of which I have also been a paying member since their inception) and their price-gouging travel agency. The optimist in me also believes that the 3 planes are really small and that we'll all be given way-cool commemorative scarves! Rant over (dude, I just heard).