Going to North America '26: tickets, accommodations, etc. (non-politics)

Thanks

 

I think about that McDonald’s often

 

Thanks for all the comments relating to my provisional accommodation choices and transport. I’m not going to respond to all individually, but as topics.

KC. I should really have said finding anything decent and affordable as, at the moment, very little is showing as available in the City. However, I expect this will change closer to the dates, as seen at previous tournaments, once reality sets in on demand etc.

For AT&T, we might end up staying in downtown Fort Worth, but there is a surprising amount of accommodation within walking distance of AT&T stadium, but again price and availability are limiting at present, though I’m content with the option I have for now.

As relatively frequent visitors to the US (we’ll complete our 50 States collection on this trip as we are missing a handful) making around 2 trips per year on average over the last 26 years, we are not really that bothered about the cities attractions (won’t have time either as other than Boston, these are 2 night stays with long transit drives between) and have been to enough NFL and College football to experience the tailgating vibe before.

 

Yup. Only 8 miles from downtown DC. 20-30 min drive or 30-35 min metro ride. Very easy to access, but the stadium is a piece of shit

 

That wouldn't be my experience compared to the likes of Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark etc. The British and Irish fans obviously travel in far higher numbers. Although French travelling support has grown recently.

I suspect a lot of the demand from France is for North African countries. The likes of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt will be very well supported even allowing for visa issues.

In the same way the highest demand for most World Cups has been from the United States. However much of that demand is from those who wear a sombrero to games rather than the stars and stripes.

 

1978841424914497614 is not a valid tweet id

 

A large number of French people bought tickets to resell them

 

Did anyone else notice some of the cheapest resale tickets actually disappeared right around when the VISA rejection emails went out? Not worried at all yet given how tiny the inventory has been on there so far, but interesting that the FOMO of the first presale ending may have actually had a real effect

 

A lot of people simply don’t understand how the process works and that’s it’s not uncommon to have no tickets at this phase (unless you want to overspend). And the resale platform was linked in the rejection email, so there was probably a lot of click-through traffic from that.

 

Thanks for the hints. It does seem like the key is entirely unique entries.

Were you using dummy addresses and phone numbers?

 

For the handful of matches I was tracking out if interest, the prices went up by a hundred or so in the 12 or 24 hours before the emails went out. But also keep in mind around that day they also changed the way they display fees and how they include them in the price displayed.

Really it is much too early for resorting to resale in most cases, given the outrageous extra prices people are charging on there plus fees. Though sometimes you hear of people finding good deals close to face value.

 

..and every US stadium will be very similar in terms of tailgate/fun. (Though Atlanta/Seattle are walking distance from downtown).

Highly recommend if you have a car.. and if not, just get to the stadium and walk around, it's how we have dealt with the reality of these remote stadiums with big concrete parking lots.

 

Except for SoFi Stadium, where you’re explicitly not allowed to tailgate

Hopefully they don’t also banish the hot dog carts and tequila/beer sellers. Probably will push them to the sidewalks nearby instead of by the lake, knowing the security perimeter FIFA will establish.

 

For what it is worth, none of my German friends plan to come to support Germany -- but I have acquaintances who live there who will come to support Iran. So just because someone in France bought a ticket doesn't mean they support Les Bleus. And even if they do, unless someone snags a TST, they can't be assured of seeing them until after the draw. Same applies for people living in France who have ties to countries that have already qualified like Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria, Tunisia and Gabon who intend on coming to North America to support them.

 

+1 for just walking amongst the tailgates - as someone who often flies in for a match, I don't have the gear for cooking or keeping beer cool. Thankfully thousands of others volunteer their largess, most often at no charge. If pin trading is still a thing, bring plenty to show your appreciation.

-1 for things being similar between U.S. cities. The security config could seriously impact tailgating, especially if FIFA brings along some crazy rules for what is and isn't allowed in "their" parking lots. I'm assuming that isolated locations like Foxboro, Kansas City, Dallas will look the most similar to their NFL gameday counterparts, but even the Meadowlands could look pretty bizarre if the only lots open are K, N, and P with the rest behind security for those sponsor-activation plazas and (V)VIP lots plus the thousands of Ubers. Tailgating inside American Dream isn't tailgating (as Copa attendees can attest.)

And a wine & cheese tailgate in the Bay is rather different from a brisket and beer tailgate in the South. A Seahawks gameday looks absolutely nothing like a Huskies gameday - same city, totally different vibe. Miami is often it's own version of goofy when compared to its neighbours who know how to tailgate. Combine that with a weekday afternoon vs. the traditional 4-hour-prior weekend festival, and I disagree with your "similar" description. (Heat + concrete may also play a factor, although that doesn't slow too many regulars in September.)

 

Have they closed Thunder Alley AND Electric Avenue? And if my memory is any good, both of those are far enough away from the stadium that they should remain open even with the FIFA-mandated security perimeters?

 

I checked with someone - not authoritative. _MBTA_ has been asked to facilitate 20k passengers. The train is one option to make that happen. No one from the MBTA has said they'll put on 10 trains, likely because they know they can't on a weekday afternoon. But nothing confirmed on if MBTA can help, and how they'd do so.

Good example of why all the transport plans are awaiting the draw and the match times before publishing any details.

 

That's a generous (or euphemistic) take, I think you you are being quite diplomatic with this assessment. As a practical matter it was mostly about the guy who owned the stadium at the time, a sort of reverse-alchemist with a talent for turning gold into worthless ore. The final selection committee trip to the stadium was a disaster. Would have been better for the region if DC had never been considered and instead Baltimore put forward alone from the start (rather than rushed in at the end once it was clear that FedEx was not viable and that there was zero confidence that its owner would make it so).

 

Loop pop

It's a good point that much of the population purchasing tickets may not be buying them for their national team.

I did a quick scan of the top 10 ticket purchasing nations for the last few world cups:

2026: USA, Canada, Mexico, England, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, France
2022: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, USA, Mexico, UAE, England, Argentina, Brazil, Wales, Australia
2018: Russia, USA, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, China, Australia
2014: Brazil, USA, Argentina, Germany, England, Colombia, Australia, Chile, France, Mexico
2010: South Africa, USA, England, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Brazil (no further info available)

 

What's your source?

 

Digging into the data a bit further, if you remove the organizing and close neighboring country(ies) - and China for Russia 2018 -, you're left with the following countries listed with and sorted by ascending population, total number of appearances 2010 - 2026 (expected appearance for 2026):
- Tier 1 (mentioned 4x or more)
Australia (27M - 5), Argentina (46M - 5), England (57M - 5), Germany (84M - 5), Mexico (132M - 4), Brazil (213M - 4), USA (347M - 3)
- Tier 2 (mentioned 2x or 3x):
Colombia (53M - 3), France (67M - 5)
- Last Tier (mentioned once):
Wales (3M - 1/2022), Chile (20M - 2/2010&2014), Peru (35M - 1/2018), Spain (48M - 5)

Missing from this list is Italy (59M), they have participated only twice since 2010.
My analysis:
- European fans from England, Germany and France do travel well, the opposite for fans of Spain and maybe Italy though you can't blame them recently. No surprise for Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. Same for Colombia as they're in the list for the three World Cup they played.
- Australia is a bit of a surprise there at the top - please explain! - and USA is also a surprise for 2018 Russia where they did not even qualify. My take is that the USA has the largest number of touts in the world... American "fans" see the World Cup as a huge business opportunity... and so does FIFA!

 

First World Cup 26 T-shirts have been released
https://store.fifa.com/en-us/world-cup/2026-world-cup/t-shirts
I can only describe them as "the good, the bad and the ugly". Apparently the Loch Ness is in Boston harbor
What do you think?
Good: LA, Seattle and Mexico (though I'm not so sure about the latter!)

 

Great observations! I will shamelessly add that a number of the sources for this info (prior to 2022) noted that Canadians were the largest group of fans who did not have a team competing in the world cup. I think we were the 11 or 12 largest fan base in 2014 and 2018.

 

lol, these are laughably bad. I don't mind the world cup posters, but it looks like they have just been ironed onto a t-shirt. Perhaps the people responsible for the re-sale portal were also put in charge of merchandise...

 

I liked the Houston astronaut and the Guadalajara one