To be fair to Donald Trump (if we absolutely must), he has had a lot on his plate recently, what with waging a war on Iran, so it is understandable that he hasn’t been waiting in a queue on the FIFA website trying to snap up a reasonably-priced World Cup ticket.
But when a journalist from the New York Post got him on the phone last week and told him tickets for the US team’s opening match against Paraguay on June 12 were selling for an average of $1,000, he reflected the feelings of many when he said: “I wouldn’t pay it either”.
That was his last public comment on the extortionate prices being charged for the tournament, and we can’t know if he’s been on the phone to the FIFA bigwigs. But there has in recent weeks been a flurry of defensive manoeuvres – and some movement on prices – as officials try and salvage some good will for the greatest footballing show on earth.
Hotels in host cities are slashing prices, rail services are walking back from their grossly inflated fares, and resale ticket prices are falling. A demand that fans from certain countries had to post a $15,000 bond before entering the US has also been quietly shelved.
But good luck getting anyone in charge of the World Cup to offer anything close to contrition.
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Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House World Cup Task Force and son of former New York Mayor turned Trump sycophant Rudy Giuliani, laid it all at the feet of the markets.
“We don’t really believe in price controls,” he told the Financial Times. “It actually shows just how sought-after it is to come to the United States for a World Cup.”
Despite the run of negative headlines about prices, visa difficulties for overseas fans, and fears about the immigration and customs enforcement, he was bullish: “It’s an unbelievable opportunity to show the world American exceptionalism over our first 250 years.”
FIFA chief Gianni Infantino was equally tone deaf. When asked about the much publicised $2 million asking price for a resale ticket behind the goal at the World Cup final, he shrugged it off. That was nothing to do with FIFA, he insisted. He then promised to “personally bring a hot dog and a Coke” to anyone who paid that staggering sum.
As to complaints that the prices for the first-round matches were too high – where the average is over $300 a ticket – Infantino claimed they were comparable to going to a college American football game. Wrong. As Fox News explained, tickets to a college game went for under $300, and sometimes as low as $30.
When the pro-Trump conservative broadcaster is joining in with the World Cup pricing bashing, there must be trouble brewing.
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At the heart of the controversy is FIFA’s dynamic pricing model, which inflates prices in response to demand. But for all the cries of “it’s the market!” it is still FIFA that set the original prices. It’s still FIFA that made this the most expensive World Cup in history.
They also take a 30% cut in the value of the resale tickets on their official platform – split between the buyer and seller – so a lot of those costs are on them too.
With limited numbers of tickets released in confusing lotteries over the past year, demand looked huge – so prices kept climbing. Now, however, Giuliani and Infantino’s beloved markets are having a reset.
At the end of April, five million tickets had been sold, of a capacity of around seven million tickets for the 104 games in Mexico, Canada and the United States – an awful lot of empty seats just a few weeks before kick-off.
Many of these tickets also appear to be in the hands of people who bought them in the early rounds and hoped to resell them for inflated prices. For many matches, that plan seems to have backfired.
Log on to FIFA’s official resale platform, and there are plenty of tickets available for most matches. And according to the most recent figures compiled by TicketData, the cost of the cheapest listed resale ticket has fallen 23% in the past month.
Now you can see Austria vs Jordan in the first round for $169 – although Scotland vs Brazil will still set you back at least $1,419.
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There have also been walk-backs on some of the most egregious transport rip offs. The New Jersey transit organisation was planning to sell tickets from New York Penn Station to the MetLife Stadium for $150 – quite the increase on the usual $12.90 fare. They have since said they will offer the ride for $105.
New York’s Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has said all official fan viewing zones in the city will be free. Hotels in host cities are also lowering game day prices, by as much as 24% in New York.
None of this is much comfort to someone who paid a huge amount of money for a ticket which is now falling in price.
Giuliani has said that anyone who can’t afford the tickets can watch the games at FIFA fan festivals. But he – and all other World Cup officials – have been conspicuously silent since Trump’s criticism of the pricing.
But perhaps the White House is finally wising up to the fact that hosting the greediest World Cup in history is not a good look for anyone.
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