NEW YORK (AP) — world cup Starting Thursday, FIFA is charging record fees for 11 stadiums in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada. FIFA uses dynamic pricing and has repeatedly increased prices since tickets went on sale last fall. FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the price Wednesday is considered well-suited to the North American market, but has been criticized for its five-digit list price.
Here’s the situation on the eve of the World Cup opening match.
Some venues are sold out, but seats are available for most games.
On the eve of the tournament, 29 games were sold out (some games had wheelchair seating available), and tickets remained for 75 games, including both semifinals, all four quarterfinals, five Round of 16 games, and 14 of 16 new Round of 32 games. This will also include unannounced knockout stage tickets, which will not be available until FIFA knows which teams have advanced to a particular match.
Many of the tickets available are in the expensive Category 1 and Category 2 levels. Added in April by FIFA.
While hundreds of seats (all priced in the four digits) were available for the semifinals in Arlington, Texas, just over 20 seats were available for sale on FIFA’s official ticket site for the Atlanta semifinals.
There are only a few relatively cheap seats left.
Only three games remained in the lowest-priced Category 3 seats. Two of them were originally expensive.
Low-cost tickets for Thursday’s U.S. opener against Paraguay in Inglewood, Calif., could have been bought for $1,120, but only two were left. Other available prices for this game were $4,105, $2,735, $2,330, and $1,645. Over 100 tickets were listed as available.
Category 3 was also available for $980 in Canada’s season opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto on Thursday, with $2,240 and $1,645 seats also available.
More than 370 $180 Category 3 seats remain for sale, with just one game remaining, June 26th in Seattle, Egypt vs. Iran. Hundreds of tickets were also available for purchase for $1,000, $875 and $550.
More tickets available as game day approaches
“Tickets are always on sale,” Infantino said.
In addition to tickets being returned to FIFA, the governing body is also putting seats on hold.
“We also need to always reserve tickets for teams that qualify for additional rounds,” he said.
There are some even better deals on the resale market
FIFA has its own resale marketplace and collects 15% from both buyers and sellers.
Additionally, tickets are available on other resale sites such as StubHub and SeatGeek.
Tickets for Paraguay vs. the United States start at $661.25 on FIFA’s resale site and $920 on SeatGeek. England vs. Croatia on June 17th in Arlington, Texas, starts at $880 at Seat Geek and $850 at FIFA.
Tickets for the July 19 finals at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, start at $7,986 at SeatGeek, $8,775 at StubHub and $9,085 at FIFA.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
