WC2026 Planning

Discussion in 'USA Men: World Cup Fans & Travel' started by Hamburgler03, Dec 19, 2022.

  1. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You’ll get your tickets. Because stubhub will find tickets to fill your order. But they don’t have tickets or an allocation.
     
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  2. soccer_23

    soccer_23 Member

    Feb 6, 2014
    StubHub is just the middleman. You or I could make a listing right now at any price we want and mark the expected delivery date as June 10th, 2026. And then we can source the tickets at some later point through any means (FIFA lottery, buying on another resale platform, etc) and provide those to the buyer before June 10th, 20206. The sellers right now are gambling that they'll be able to get tickets at a lower price than what they're listing.

    It's interesting to look at some of the prices on there for different matches. The cheapest tickets for the final are at $5600 (before fees), which is just about the same as this season's Super Bowl. I'd expect it to fall at least a little bit once FIFA starts putting tickets on sale. I'm thinking around $4000 right before the tournament starts. For Qatar and Russia, it was around $2500. I can't remember any farther back than that.
     
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  3. wixson7

    wixson7 Member+

    May 12, 2009
    boulder
    Stubhub takes your money and has 2 years to try to source them. If they can't then you get your money back.

    Money guarantee but no actual ticket guarantee.
     
  4. Cheetah101

    Cheetah101 Member

    Apr 21, 2009
    Arizona
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Looking at the updated schedule:
    FWC26 Match Schedule_24092024.ai (fifa.com)

    If the USA top their group and go all the way, then their route will be:

    1. Los Angeles, Fri 6/12/20026, Match 4, Group Stage
    2. Seattle, Fri 6/19/2026, Match 32, Group Stage
    3. Los Angeles, Thurs 6/25/2026, Match 59, Group stage
    4. San Fransisco, Wed 7/1/2026, Match 81, Round of 32
    5. Seattle, Mon 7/6/2026, Match 94, Round of 16
    6. Los Angeles, Fri 7/10/2026, Match 98, QF
    7. Dallas, Tues 7/14/2026, Match 101, SM
    8. New Jersey, Sun 7/19/2026, Match 104, Final
    So a good chance of spending a lot of time on the West coast.

    If they finish 2nd then it's off to Dallas followed by Atlanta

    3rd place and it's either Boston or New Jersey for round of 32.
     
    Shabs repped this.
  5. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks! (assuming correct)
     
  6. soccer_23

    soccer_23 Member

    Feb 6, 2014

    There's a third (very interesting) possible path if the US finishes 3rd in group D:

    R32: KC
    R16: Vancouver (!!)
    QF: KC
    SF: Atlanta
    F: New Jersey

    The Vancouver R16 match is (of course) the path for the winner of Canada's group.


    The other two 3rd place paths for the US are also interesting (identical except for the first match):

    R32: Boston/NJ
    R16: Philadelphia (July 4th, 250th anniversary)
    QF: Boston
    SF: Dallas
    F: New Jersey

    It's honestly a shame they didn't select that path for the US group winner. I get wanting to have a base camp in LA and minimize travel, but it would've been cool to have July 4th in Philadelphia and balance east coast vs west coast, instead of LA x3 and Seattle x2.
    One cross-country flight to set up a new base camp wouldn't kill anyone, and the Northeast corridor is very compact. There are long breaks between these matches, especially for group winners. I suppose playing indoors in LA and in milder climates in Seattle may be a factor too, instead of sweating it out in the hot and humid outdoor stadiums in the Northeast.
     
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  7. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If US Soccer cared about the 4th in Philly they would have made it happen because they had a say in the scheduling as the host. They don't and I agree; Philly in summer or anywhere in the east coast is hell and torture combined. LA is the best choice; a real home advantage because advancing is the goal.
     
  8. Cheetah101

    Cheetah101 Member

    Apr 21, 2009
    Arizona
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks, I missed the possibilities from match 87!

    The July 4th match is the last match in Philly, so regardless of who is playing there will be some patriotic extras, probably fireworks, but possibly more.
     
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  9. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've never bought WC tix before. I blew it in '94 thinking they were too expensive or something. Ha.

    But I'd like to think I'd not repeat that mistake this time, so as I mentally prepare for this possibility, here are some noob questions, for those of you who've secured tix for past WC's (And I apologize if parts of this has been covered already above or in other threads)

    Q: When roughly are tickets likely to start going on sale?
    Q: Once sale begins, do you have to act super quickly on buying tickets or else you won't get anything?
    Q: Will there likely be stages in when sales are open to different groups? Like how TM does for concerts in USA?
    Q: For USMNT tix, how important is it to join USSoccer's membership structure to secure tix? (and at this relatively late stage)

    NOTE: The dream would be to see a USMNT game wherever they are (even if LA/Seattle), while the alternate would be to see some more random game near-ish to me (Boston, NY, Philly)
     
  10. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    1) likely going on sale fall 2025. That’s the normal cycle
    2)for stage 1 …no rush. Stage 2 is first come first serve. Will depend on your place in the virtual line. For stage 3 bots are your best friend. Stay on this board to get some good ideas.
    3) the first stage is random draw. You’ll have plenty of time to select games. If you want USA games. Request tix where you know or think they’ll play.
    4) in the past US soccer has sold access to tickets with the level of membership. But who knows what they’ll cook up this time.
     
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  11. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #61 marianelah, Oct 6, 2024
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2024
    @NorthBank If youre interested in securing USA tickets right now. There is a FIFA program going on right now to secure tickets. I already have rights to but to Azteca match 53 (Mexico vs ?). Azteca match 24 (group K) and and Atlanta match. You get a right to buy a pair of tickets for each match when they go on sale.

    currently the Right To Buy for the USA opener in LA is reselling for $1580. Original price was $500. It was $700 two weeks ago. It's a FIFA program on a FIFA site. There's other Right To buys available on that site and more rights to buy are going on sale next week.

    https://collect.fifa.com/marketplace/FT_G_M02
     
  12. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Right-to-Buy site seems odd. The only match I see offered is M4 (USA @LA), but not match M32 (USA @seattle) or M59 (USA @LA). Also the prices for M4 seems a bit steep, but I guess understandable if this is the system that was described above, where a company like Stubhub will "sell" you rights to a certain match when of course the tickets don't exist yet. It's almost like "ticket futures"? Feels a bit sketchy and pricey. And if I were to get tickets via the lottery wouldn't they be a lot cheaper?

    p.s. Thanks for the answers to my previous post.
     
  13. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For "stage 1" I presume you mean the group stage, and "stage 2" is R32?

    And I should've included one more question along with my original four:

    Q: What are the ticket prices likely to be roughly, for group stage matches (USMNT or otherwise) if you get them direct from FIFA?
     
  14. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The lottery would be FIFA pricing. Prices haven’t been anounced but have always been reasonably priced.
     
  15. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Stages I mean ticketing stages. Here’s how it went down in 2022 which will give you an idea of 2026
    https://www.fifa.com/en/articles/sa... the FIFA World Cup,finished on 29 March 2022.

    no one knows anything about pricing. Google 2022 pricing and add 20% is my guess
     
  16. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks, that was helpful. Looks like they started Phase 1 sales (random, then FCFS) about 1 year before tournament, and that lasted about 3 months. Then Phase 2 (random, then FCFS) lasted about 5 months.

    What is not apparent to me (again I'm generally ignorant of WC ticketing) is whether there's a difference to the kind of tickets that are available for Phases 1 & 2? Or are tickets to all fixtures available in both phases? If so, then is the purpose of Phase 2 just so that they can offer a second random sale process closer to the tournament??

    Also is it a given that the groups/fixtures be settled before Phase 1 ticket sales?
     
  17. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    all tickets are available in all phases. Phase 1 random sale is a blind sale, before the world cup draw. You dont know who's playing where. I'm assuming FIFA will try to sell more in this phase. Since we have more games and some low quality games which may not sell out otherwise. One note for big matches; Cat 1 Lower level mid field tickets are usually given to sponsors and VIPs. If you want to sit close to the field cat 3 is the best bet (behind goal). If you like being mid field; Cat 1; but you will be watching 10 rows from the top.
     
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  18. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Aha, so that's the big difference (and the reason?) for the 2 phases: 1 is blind before draw, and 2 is after draw. Anybody know what % of tickets usually sell phase 1 vs 2?

    And thanks for the tip about Cat 3 behind goal. I think I heard that before. And luckily I prefer behind goal, sometimes 2nd tier is ideal, depending on how far away from the pitch it is. To my knowledge both LA & Seattle have decent seating behind goal, although Seattle has that funky narrow thingy.
     
  19. marianelah

    marianelah Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I dont think anyone knows the reason or percentages. We can assume they'll be very concerned about filling seats early because of the number of seats they have to fill. One thing we do know is FIFAs biggest nightmare is empty seats on TV.
     
  20. soccer_23

    soccer_23 Member

    Feb 6, 2014

    I don’t think they've ever said what the percentage breakdown is for the blind phase versus others. But I would assume (and in my experience), the blind round has the most tickets available. So if you don’t necessarily care who is playing and just want a certain date/city, you stand a good shot at getting tickets in the blind round. As mentioned, Cat 1 has the most tickets available (by far), so you also will have better odds if you select Cat 1. But you might be in the upper level and you’re paying as much as 2-3x more than Cat 3, which might even be readily available later (if the matchup isn’t attractive).

    In the blind lottery, I usually submit I lot of Cat 2/3 applications for matches that will work with my tentative itinerary. And I hope to get lucky on a few and get those cheap at face value. If later on there’s a big game I want to see, I keep trying in later rounds or in the end pay extra on a resale site like StubHub.

    For USMNT matches specifically, joining the US Soccer Insiders program and applying in their lottery will give you access to the USSF block (8% of stadium capacity, better odds the higher your paid membership tier). Typically, your odds are much better in this lottery than the general FIFA one, if you’re looking for USMNT tickets. But this time, I suspect it’ll be slightly different as the host country (with their match schedule already known even now).

    FIFA also normally has two separate pools of tickets for domestic host country residents versus international fans, with independent sales for each and the domestic sales including a much cheaper Category 4. Not sure that will be the case here. And for Qatar, you could easily fake a domestic account by simply registering with any Qatari “home” address.
     

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