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

I still look at accommodation in some of these cities like Boston, Seattle and Vancouver, and i must admit, they surely have to be holding back lots of properties for the dates of the games, because there is absolutely nothing that is a somewhat decent price/location that isn't "sold out"

I know we said before about FIFA having certain ones which is fair, but even your Holiday Inns are not available. Without knowing smack on prices for hotels, makes me a little scared getting tickets, with the possibility of them dropping due to Dynamic pricing

Add that to the current price increase on some of the original places, im not sure how some are going to afford in, me included. This is for a Moderate 4 star hotel in the middle of Seattle. Surely no one is going to pay this?

 

Have some faith my friend. Based on what I've been seeing, Canada is as likely to find themselves in a QF as is the USA or Mexico. In all honesty, I have a hunch that CONCACAF will do ok in this World Cup. Mexico is gelling, Canada has a high ceiling if they can gain enough experience, and the US will probably come together just in time to not be embarrassed. Then there's Panama, Costa Rica and a few others that will feel they're at home and find some wins...

 

Yeah I just wonder how much appetite there is for very expensive tickets next year. Economies are not strong, people haven't seen real buying power growth in a long time and feel their jobs are not secure. Throw in the travel costs and I just can't see big demand to pay $400 for group match unless it's a big name. You all might be right that the smart money will sit out the early ticketing phases except for maybe 1 key match targeted...

 

Seattle is ridiculous. I started looking in June and everything within a mile of the stadium is $800 a night.

 

no. “Multiple” accounts which are the means of touts in the past that go unregulated will end up with FIFA giving away a bunch of slots to individuals who will not be using them. For example, 1000 slots may be given to 200 individuals instead of 1000 to 1000.

Or take for example one of us applies 200 times, end up getting an early slot that we use to buy the tix we want, and all our other applications are successful for later time slots but we never use them.

This is going to make it take a lot longer for FIFA to sell tickets (they will have to add/prolong rounds till all are sold), especially when touts/scalpers are only going to be interested in late phase matches/the opening match.

They also clearly want to gauge demand for dynamic pricing. Allowing multiples/Alias accounts in the hundreds of thousands is going to skew their understanding and analysis of “real user” demand. They would be foolish if their intention is to make as much money as possible, to not ban all multiple/alias applications.

 

Yeah that's about right: 3000 tickets for about 900 to 1000 successful applications. Has anyone seen which phase the federation supporter tickets will be offered? Is it Phase 3? It's certain not going to be phase 1 is it...

 

I found the official definition of Dynamic Pricing:

"Once FIFA has sold every possible ticket as part of some over-priced VIP or hospitality package, the remaining crumbs will be released to the peasants. Prices for these tickets will initially be set extremely high, but can be adjusted even higher if the organizers determine that people are dumb enough to pay even more".

 

So you make a logical case for screening the applications. It's just that they NEVER seem to do it in the past...

 

I got 2 bed Coast Seattle Downtown hotel for $229/night for June 18-20, 2026. 24-minute walk to stadium. Bought right away when first available, direct on June 27.

 

Yes, because in the past it benefitted them. They had already decided prices and required you to input payment information that would automatically be charged if you were successful. This specific phase requires no “commit to purchase” and you are not obligated to buy tix if you get a slot in the lottery.

 

There is no limit in the number of slots. They are not announcing them all by Oct 1st. They are going to keep allocating accounts to slots until they are sold out so they can put out a press release at the end of the phase bragging about how many tickets they sold to create more excitement for future sales periods.

 

Seattle local here......look for places along the light rail line......light rail goes straight to the stadium and is the most popular way for Sounders/Seahawks/Mariners fans to get to from/games and Lumen Field/TMobile Park.

There aren't actually that many hotels downtown....

 

You don’t know that for fact. Nobody does. Even if they do unlimited slots, unlimited “multiple”/Alias applications are going to slow down their sales process, and skew their analysis of demand. It makes absolutely 0 sense for them to allow that to pass this time.

More applications does not mean more sales in this phase. We are applying to slots, not for purchases. Again, in the past we applied for purchases. Not this time.

FIFA doesn’t need to boast number of applications or demand either. The layman thinks these tickets are harder to get than even we know they actually are. They have nothing to prove. It’s the World Cup.

 

We are just using our previous experience dealing with FIFA is past World Cups. FIFA does not seem to care about multiple applications. It is added work they have to do, and they don't particularly care to do it. With FIFA opening up their own secondary market, they would probably prefer scalpers as I assume they will take a 5% fee or some garbage like that.

 

Agree that I don't know that as a fact and neither do you. We are both speculating and we are both equally confident in our speculations. It's okay to agree to disagree. We'll find out what happens soon enough. Or perhaps we won't.

 

it is normally after the draw, so Dec/Jan except for a few play off teams that will be sold later.

 

I keep saying… it made sense for them to allow it in the past. Because this phase is different and for the reasons I keep explaining, there is no benefit for them allowing it to go unchecked in this phase.

I also keep saying it’s no added “work” at all. It is incredibly easy to fingerprint and filter accounts and applications appearing to belong to the same user.

 

BTW.....if anybody planning to come to Seattle has any questions about where to stay, what to do, how to get around, etc., post them here and I'll answer them.

I'll note that the Fremont Fair & Solstice Parade is always a lot of fun, and takes place on the weekend closest to June 21st, which will be during the World Cup.

https://fremontfair.com/solstice-parade/

 

First, those ideally-located hotels have nine months to sell those places; they can't sell those rooms until the draw comes out, and can't sell all the rooms until most fans have their tickets. So maybe no one will pay $1,000/night, but there's no reason to offer for less until MUCH later. And $1,000/night + tax was what was offered in Qatar; thankfully they were at least luxury properties. (And Seattle won't be as bad as central Vancouver.)

Second, expect to stay far FAR away from the stadium and/or Fan Fest in most Canadian and U.S. cities. Toronto might be the exception. Plan for a rental car or a decent Uber budget, although public transit buses are a reasonable (and slow) option in most cities not named Dallas and Los Angeles. The CBD is not the place you want to try and stay in June...unless you luck out of course. Accommodation is scattered widely amongst the suburbs which host many of the large businesses, even some convention centres.

Third, I found an adequate if old motel on Aurora, $300AUD/night in mid-June; even less in late June. 5km from the Fan Fest; train the rest of the way to the stadium. But as the local suggested, find a spot up in Lynwood or out by the airport or way out by Microsoft in Redmond. Grab the train in the morning; wander back before midnight.

Finally, there are a lot of hotels who haven't opened up availability past the end of May. So yes you'll have to check back to see availability and price in a month or three.

And if you want to pay the absolute minimum, staying by yourself, maybe get to a match elsewhere on the West Coast as well as Seattle...stay in Portland. Million flights a day, tons of cheap airport hotels. Not how I'd do it, but there were people on this board ready to stay in Dubai in 2022...to the point an airline actually offered a game-day hand-bag only set of flights w/ shuttle bus direct to/from the stadium. And Dubai hotels were nowhere near as cheap as Portland's will be.

 

from what we could hear until now, it looks like supporter tickets are coming much later this time. FIFA wrote “closer to the tournament”, whenever that might be

 

If I go to a game in LA, I'll be using the transit.

 

Demand. FIFA says in this article “ Right to Buy is also used to test demand, identify market trends and inform fair pricing strategies,”

RTB for all matches in Mexico have been in high demand and ridiculously priced. Mexico City will be the most expensive venue of all.

https://apple.news/A1jKgMv0FSVWyyxdC1Nc_AQ
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6609001/2025/09/08/fifa-collect-world-cup-tickets-2026/

 

Good point, forgot about that sentence. Will be very noisy if later due to travel booking.

Only rationale I can see is to sell all expensive tickets before selling lower fixed price supporters tickets.

 

You do NOT want to stay on Aurora Ave......the vast majority of motels on Aurora are home bases for hookers and their johns, and are NOT near the light rail (although the E-Line bus goes straight downtown).

 

What’s everyone’s strategy for the RTBs and how do you all think it will change after the visa presale? I have a few already for some knockout games I intend to go to but if the prices are higher than expected in this visa window how do you think the marketplace will react in the future? I could also see the prices on the marketplace changing a lot if we don’t redeem them before the draw.