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

Thank you. What's the rationale there, greater supply for main tickets vs. PMA tickets?

 

I don't disagree that these tournaments that are overseas just aren't for everyone to go anymore and there are definitely people who will complain just to complain. Having said that, your budget assumes that someone can get all Cat 3 (I think that will be a tough thing to do) and is willing to stay in the suburbs based on hotel prices I am seeing where public transportation isn't fully available everywhere.

I could see someone in England seeing the ticket prices where they might know they need to splurge for Cat 1 or Cat 2 and just not wanting to deal with the hassle of some difficult travel compared to what they're use to. I live in a host country and the travel needed to get to different venues has been a turn off to me from the start before I even knew FIFA's prices.

 

Come on, Gianni, even you know these prices are excessive. Especially for the supporters through the FAs. Disney World doesn't jack up their prices this much from one season to the next.

 

I know. They are expensive. But there is reasoning and logic to it. Cannot deny reality.

 

second account same card?

 

But we’re talking about only the “true” England fans. The ones who have traveled all over Europe to follow the team and accumulated their cap totals and status to a point where they can guarantee Cat 3 supporters tickets (which are about 50% of the supporters allocation). The random England fan who isn’t as dedicated will have to pay more for tickets.

 

I don't think there's much logic other than "let's see how much we can rob these people of their money." And I'm saying this as someone who is almost always willing to pay for tickets I want.

 

If people are paying money and are willing to splurge then it is not robbery.

 

I'm not comparing to travelling in Europe. Others have done so but only to state that it would be better value. I don't think anyone expected the USA to be cheap. It is the scale of the rip off that has annoyed people. I don't think anyone complained about the cost in 1994. Obviously it wouldn't have been England fans if they did!

I went to the Brazil World Cup. Some flights were expensive, from memory Recife to Belo Horizonte was notably expensive. Hotels were expensive in Recife and Rio but cheap in Sao Paulo.

Something is wrong with the market when flights within the USA are significantly more expensive than those across the Atlantic. Might be something to do with 4 airlines having 80% of the market.

Is it a good thing that some South Americans will pay any price, even a price they can't truly afford, to attend some football matches?

 

Regarding pricing, with this level of (supposed) demand, there's not really any way to ensure "fair" pricing unless you're somehow able to nuke the secondary market and prevent transferability of tickets (which would bring a ton of controversy in itself). And even then you'd have a ton of people pissed off that they were unlucky in the ticket lottery.

I'm no fan of FIFA and think they've used a bunch of anti-fan / anti-consumer tactics recently, but there's really no way they can win with everyone here.

 

Hahahahhahahaha. Same generation.... I know no other Sabrinas lol

 

No-one wants to go to Disney, they want to go to a World Cup. Disney is a private corporation, whilst FIFA is supposed to be a non-profit with a monopoly and they're behaving in a monopolistic manner. FIFA should be torn up and reformed. Even the IOC, with the Olympics in LA in 2028, are distancing themselves from FIFA-style pricing.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.c...ic-pricing-for-tickets-in-initial-sales-drop/

 

That is a prescription you are offering.

I am only offering a description of what is. Not the way it should be.

You should know better that when you have all the elements and variables for expensive tickets you should not complain about it much. Just deal with it. Or don't go. Someone else is going to buy that ticket so FIFA does not care.

 

Same boat. Been to 4 world cups with tickets from group stage to the final at each one. It's knowing the price of previous years that makes it hard for me to buy. We were spoiled I guess. I'm pretty sure Saudi Arabia 2034 will be back to the ticket buffet... if AI hasn't changed the world economy lol. Honestly though I have just as much fun chilling at restaurants and bars before and after the games with all the fans than in the stadium itself... Have all my accomodations and flights from the group stage to the final, but no tickets. Might just attend a couple group games and early kos then just enjoy the crowds in each city. I laugh when stubhub says "amazing deal $13,000" for the Final

 

FIFA should not be after the most money they can grab. They should be for the good of the game, which includes the genuine supporters.

I haven't got anything further to add and don't want to bore everyone else, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

I am not disagreeing with you. I think every match should be free. And everyone should also get free ice cream and lollipops.

I just live in reality and know that the profits are either going to go to FIFA or to secondary market ticket sharks. Those are your only two options.
No one wins in either scenario.

 

I think that’s one way to see it, but is also the mindset that results in lifesaving medication in the US costing thousands of dollars... So maybe it’s just two different ways of seeing things: the “the market will regulate it” approach vs taking into account ethical considerations when setting prices despite there being demand. If it’s just about people willing to pay the money, where do you draw the line? What if for World Cup 2034 some rich Saudi princes want to book the entire stadium as their private VIP lounge and exclude the public from the event, willing to pay 3x more than ticket sales for the entire stadium would make?! Is that also ok? Also, enormous amounts of public funding go into these events, police forces have to be paid, roads are closed down, there’s maintenance costs etc. How do you justify Joe Plumber’s tax money being used for that if Joe can’t afford to go to any of the games? In short, I’m fine with half the stadium being local bankers and lawyers, doctors and old money Americans or wealthy foreign tourists. But keep it fair and let the common folks enjoy the show as well. 50x Cat 4 tickets and $3,000+ “value” tickets just don’t do the job. *Rant over *

 

FIFA (and American) pricing sucks but I don’t think it can be overstated on average how much poorer the English football match goer is than the American football regular is. And that’s not a knock on the English, I would much rather go watch football there than here. But American football (and other events at American football stadia) are sadly not “working class” events any longer. The working class fan has been long ago priced out of being a “regular” and are resigned to maybe seeing their team play once a season.

Much of the reason for that (beyond greed) is that America is massive, to an extent that I don’t know a lot of Europeans comprehend. NFL teams support a vastly larger “home” fan base than most English clubs. People will drive 3 or 4 hours to see their “home” team play a game. In England that’s a very long away trip.

NYC has a greater metro area with 5 million more people than London. Londoners have 16 professional clubs to support (along with many non league clubs). NYC has two football teams. And that’s before you take into account that the giants and jets are still the “home” team for people living 5 or 6 hours away by car. The area in which the fan base lives is massive. If you’re 5 hours away from London, you’re in Manchester. It would be like if the only professional sides in London were Chelsea and Arsenal, and your closest rival was United or City.

It’s not right, but group stage pricing is in line with what I’d have to pay for my local NFL teams regular season game this weekend. For better or worse (it’s worse), this is American sports pricing. This World Cup is for the North American sports fan. And despite that, it’s going to set an attendance record that will last until the next time the US hosts the World Cup again.

 

Comparing lifesaving medication to guys getting drunk and watching grown men kick a ball around is a bit of a stretch.
Comparing it to Disney like I did or Music events or Live Theater is a better metaphor or analogy.
It is a privilege and luxury to watch these type of things. High demand premium products and services are always going to be expensive and it all depends on how much someone wants to pay for it.

If I think a piece of crap art piece is only worth the amount of toilet paper I use then I will not pay for it. Someone else may look at the piece of crap artwork and pay a million dollars for it.
Am I going to ask for someone to regulate the prices of art cause I think it is crap? Heck no. Let the idiots spend their money on what they want. If they want crappy art they want crappy art.

 

You really do sound like an AI bot of a FIFA employee. We don't even know really what people are willing to spend. Sure, it sounds like people are willing to spend on the desirable GS matches and some knockout ones (we're not even sure if they will at Cat 1 though), but none of us have any idea what people are willing to spend on the medium matches and the lower desirable matches. Those latter ones might just be Cat 3 across the board.

I don't think most people would complain, to another poster's point, if they just increased prices 20% to 25% percent across the board from the last WC or the last Euros since most of the venues are in the US. They just went overboard with this, so that's why there is a backlash. It's pretty bad when even UEFA goes out of their way to troll FIFA in a press release.

 

I am just calling it as I see it.
If what you are saying is true then those undesirable tickets will lower in price on the reselling platforms.
That is not in contention with anything I said.

 

I wasn’t comparing the two. I was just saying that the “it’s ok as long as there’s someone willing to pay” approach results in perverted outcomes no society should accept. Costly life-saving medication is a real example. A World Cup game with the audience being a sole Saudi prince was a hypothetical. Either way, both is possible if you think any price is fine as long as there’s someone paying it.

 

Thought I would put my 2 cents worth on here, as someone in their Early 20's who saves money just for Tournaments like this...

I'm Australian, and Flights to and from the USA are not cheap, as I'm sure most of you in Europe also deal with. Current Dates around the tournament have Flights from Sydney to LA for around $2k AUD Return

Continuing on, for any "Major" Group games we are looking at $400AUD for a Cat 3 Ticket! This is the price for our game in Seattle without the expensive accommodation within that city at the moment

I expected flight prices to be sky rocketing in the US, so have generated a lot of Points to spend on travel in between cities to cover those expenses at least, which does lower the cost

As I would be traveling so far, I'm interested in doing more than just following Australia, because its another experience to see the other teams, and new cities while doing so

I have made multiple schedules which included a multitude of different matches however wanted to share one below

Summary:
22/6 - ARG V AUT - Dallas
23/6 - POR V UZB - Houston
24/6 - SCO V BRA - Miami
25/6 - ECU V GER - NYNJ
26/6 - NOR V FRA - Boston
27/6 - PAN V ENG - NYNJ

Total Ticket Price - $2320 AUD ($1545 USD)

All Flights from Houston to Miami, and Miami to NY are on Points , and will utilise Flixbus from Dallas to Houston, and from NYC to Boston for the Day Trip for NOR V FRA

After adding the average price of $400 AUD accommodation per night onto the total, I have the following

6 Games in CAT3 , 7 Nights Accommodation , 3 4hr+ Bus Trips , 2 Flights on Points + EST Additional Expenses = $8500 AUD or $1214 AUD a Day!

In Comparison, when I attended Qatar a few years ago, I went to 28 Games in 28 Days, including 3 of the 4 QF'S (with 2 tix for every match) , for just under $20k AUD

That was an average of $715 AUD a day, which sometimes included 2 Games!

In Conclusion, and I apologise over the large post, even when I cut every corner I possibility can to save every cent possible, this World Cup is set up to be out of so many of our budgets, especially us Aussies!

 

For those of you that have submitted the application, are you able to modify it before Jan 13th ?

 

Sure, but without a mechanism to prevent scalpers from hoarding inventory, most of those tickets would just end up on the secondary market at higher prices.