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

Following your team is always so much more expensive than posting up for the experience.

Now back to good news! Hotels are starting to be bookable!!!! Can even use points! Hilton and Marriott are not yet open but Hyatt is. If you have Chase UR points to burn, now would be a good time. June 11-14, USA's first match in LA you can book Hyatt's on award points. Checked a few to confirm. Also cash rates are largely normal at this time for what LA in the summer is.

I know the points game isn't as prevalent as in the USA, but if you have em, easy way to save money.

 

And for those who are on a tight budget, this needs to be reemphasized: *Go to Mexico*
10x the World Cup atmosphere at one-tenth the price.

I’ve started looking at hotel and Airbnb listings for dates/cities where my plans are already fixed. Dozens of well-located options in Mexico City for about $60/night, while something similar in Seattle is $400/night. Completely different price scale. Food/drink/entertainment while there are similar. And Mexico City is a major airport, well-connected to Europe and Latin America. Great connections to all major US airports and easy to Guadalajara and Monterrey.

I live in a US host city and I’m still planning to spend half the group stage in Mexico.

 

Completely agree. Also by the looks of it, you will get the opportunity for another USA World Cup soon-ish. We don't know when the next Latin American country will host. That experience will be worth it. We plan on doing a game in Mexico somewhere as well for that amazing experience.

 

I'm curious what the CDMX/Guad/Monterey experience will be like for games involving a non-Latin-American team? Obviously game day for El Tri will be incredible anywhere in the country, and I expect massive travel contingents to host cities for all the fans unable to travel to the U.S. or Canada should current visa rules continue to apply. But an...Australia vs. Belgium match? Thoughts?

 

It’s not the traveling supporters as much as the local fans and city being into it. It’ll be hard to tell the World Cup is going on in Dallas or San Francisco, but it’s a huge deal in Mexico. Guadalajara and Monterrey are also smaller cities, so everything is more centralized. Mexico City is likely to have large contingents of neutral or visiting soccer fans from other teams (like Rio or Moscow/St Petersburg), and the atmosphere of a World Cup match at Azteca goes without saying.

 

I am pretty sure it is going to be great. how great … we‘re going to see.
there were two world cups in the past with total and limitless excitment everywhere in the host country .. italy and germany. mexico could join them … hopefully

 

Packed M3 in the rtb drop today, excited for it but also excited to see how they stack dynamic pricing on the rtb cost.

I will also say I think Toronto will be incredible for the World Cup. Even if Canadian soccer culture itself isn’t as developed, there is a fantastic international soccer culture here due to all the first-gen immigrants etc, and Toronto will avoid the oppressive heat that other places will have in June/July.

 

The question is what is meant by dynamic pricing. Are there predetermined, different prices for games in the same round – which is what you can initially assume – or do the prices become more expensive over time (after sales start)?
Well, for the first option, you could base your decision on FIFA Collect's marketplace prices. They also advertise very different prices there – and Collect takes advantage of this when pricing the drops. You can clearly see which games are in demand based on FIFA Collect. Apart from the host games, these are the games in Mexico – Azteca and Guadaljara, as well as in the USA/LA, especially game 73 (2 A – 2 B).
I could imagine that this is how things will work, and accordingly, there will also be different fixed prices for the RTBs.

 

The CWC FIFA super pack had unique per match pricing in Cat1, 2 and 3. My guess is that's the "dynamic pricing model" for 2026.

 

The question is how they determine prices/demand before the draw, since indications are they intend to sell tickets (or at least packages) before December.

They can set a higher price for LA venue packages than the KC ones. Or the individual matches in those cities. But if the draw comes out with Argentina or Colombia playing in KC while LA hosts Switzerland and Uruguay, that all changes.

Perhaps we’ll see the prices recalibrate between each sales phase. The demand/price in the pre-draw sales determined only by the city and date (weekday/weekend) of the match, with all teams TBD. And then a complete reset and new pricing after the draw.

 

I don't think it's a decision that will be made at UEFA's level. After the "Oasis outrage" last year, the UK and European Commission are taking a close look at dynamic pricing:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/a...-to-investigate-ticketmasters-dynamic-pricing

 

I don't believe that, despite the "draw," the group assignments for teams like Argentina, England, or Brazil are purely random.

You can certainly help with hot, warm, and cold balls

 

I’ve even heard rumors that once the top 12 seeds are set, they’ll manually assign them groups (based on possible cities):

Group A: Mexico (CDMX, Guadalajara)
Group B: Canada (Toronto, Vancouver)
Group C: England (Boston, NY, Philly, Atlanta, Miami)
Group D: USA (LA, Seattle)
Group E: France (Houston, KC, Philly, NY)
Group F: Argentina (Houston, Dallas, KC)
Group G: Brazil (Seattle, Vancouver, LA)

etc


Seems fraught with competitive balance suspicions, since you’re also implicitly assigning the knockout rounds paths. But I wouldn’t be shocked to see it.

 

FIFA is doing "dynamic pricing" next year because of the North American culture. No way Europeans let them get away with the shenanigans in 2030.

 

it's been done for the Gold Cup in Concacaf. They fix the group seeds to ensure Mexico and USA meet in the final. But I doubt it'll be done in 2026. What I think may happen is they'll place the current world champion in group C. It'll be announced -- After Argentina qualifies and before the draw.

Western Region - USA and Canada (Groups B and D)
Central Region - Mexico (Group A)
Eastern Region - World Champ Argentina (Group C)

 

Eh, I put this as more likely than I initially thought but strictly for TV purposes. We know that the East Coast games are going to kick off earlier which is way better for European TV viewing. Groups C, E, H, I, and L are predominantly or completely East Coast based. Putting European teams there would not be a surprise. There are also only 2 West Coast groups left, G and the mixed West/Central J. Putting Argentina and Brazil there to make sure no European teams end up in the West kickoffs would be normal.

If all big teams qualify, Belgium and Portugal likely draw the short straws and get the 'Central' Groups F and K. They could sweeten the pot for those 2 teams by giving them kickass travel schedules (Dallas, Houston, Dallas and Houston, Houston, Atlanta)

 

I’ll stick to my theory. But a "draw manipulation" will backfire only in Europe. North Americans are used to manipulations and shenanigans and most don't care. Besides; every group has a European team and some will have 2.

The Pro Euro TV schedule used in USA 94 was because FIFA thought USA was a dead market and had to cater to Euros for success. 2026 TV contracts are signed; so if Euros dont watch. oh well, but money's already in FIFAs pocket. I wouldn't be surprised if many years post 2026 every World Cup caters to the North American TV market. The Europeans are too much "trouble".

North America is the biggest legal money grab ever. Catering and ripping off the North American consumer is 100% legal. And most consumers will be ok with it. Euros are way too much hassle with regulations etc; Also,FIFA knows they'll be forced to face Euro regulations in 2030. So the open market today in the wealthiest continent on the planet is a gold mine.

FIFAs dilemma?
Cater to 600 million of the wealthiest consumers on the planet who over pay for just about everything? or cater to 450 million of the "whiniest consumers" (their view) on the planet who demand the lowest price?

Like Don King used to say "Only in America" ..

we're gonna get cooked, rinsed etc. whatever you want to call it and it'll be 100% legal.

 

It has been done before. In 1990 when England were seeded (when Belgium had a better record) to get them to Sardinia (easier to manage the hooligan fears).

 

I agree with this. Further to that - the Asian market is much bigger than it was in 94. Europe is still the biggest TV market but it is not the only tentpole in the circus.

On a further thing with the dynamic pricing, they have lots of information already from the demand for the RTBs and the hospitality. I sense they are just trying to work out the mechanics at the moment.
I have been to the USA numerous times. It is not just the individual cities. If you draw a circle of 100 mile radius around each ground - that is the potential 'local' demand'. People in the States are used to driving and parking at games (go on Google Earth and look at the car park space next to SoFi stadium) - public transport is less of a consideration than it is for us in Europe.

 

but. that"s how. they did it in many world cups. before 1994 for all top seeds.

 

I think the main point is that they will assign the teams by decision - whereas previously the group a seed was assigned to was by draw.
Both methods have been used before.

 

My view on it is that since the ticket conversion will be relatively late in the process (if its similar to CWC RTB), they'll have an extremely good sense of individual match demand and will price things accordingly.

To your point it will be frustrating if FIFA double dips as the drops themselves are also dynamically priced but I would be shocked if it doesn't happen.

 

One possible benefit of dynamic pricing I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is being able to pick your precise seats on a map. But we're still awaiting official details from FIFA for all of this. It was always annoying, but also a little mysterious and fun, to have a ticket but only know where your exact seat was until a couple weeks before the start of the World Cup.

There's always been a huge range of seat quality in Category 1, and less so with the other categories. You could be anywhere between the front row to the nosebleeds, from midfield, to the corner flag.

 

we‘ll see that … it was never the case with the world cup
few times in the past you could see your seats in the shopping cart, but you could never pick the seats from the seating chart