00:00The upcoming FIFA World Cup shaping up to be the most lucrative in history, with FIFA expecting $11 billion in
00:05revenue from an expanded 48-team, 104-match tournament that is taking place across North America.
00:10That's right, but what are the true benefits of hosting the World Cup for the U.S.?
00:14The average citizen is expected to shoulder the burden of traffic, security, and other disruptions, with many Americans not even
00:20able to afford the tickets to the Games.
00:22We spoke with Bloomberg Opinion columnist Adam Minter to discuss if he thought there were real benefits to hosting the
00:272026 FIFA World Cup.
00:30Right now, the best we can say is that the jury is kind of out on this.
00:34You know, if we just look at one of the benefits that everybody touted, tourism benefit, the numbers are running
00:39behind.
00:40Hoteliers are saying that they're 80% behind the forecasted room occupancy rates that they were given months ago.
00:48That's not good.
00:49Airbnbs are facing the same situation.
00:52You know, if the tourists aren't coming, the economic projections surrounding what the tourists were supposed to spend beyond just
00:58the hotels aren't going to come true either.
01:01So, at least on the economic development side, it's not there.
01:05Can you talk about the whole concept behind, you know, why host cities do this?
01:10I mean, there's the infrastructure boost, right?
01:11There's the reason they can do it is because they want to improve their image, right?
01:14So, for the U.S., I mean, we have the infrastructure, we have the tourism industry, we've built up soccer.
01:22Soccer is not like how it used to be.
01:24It's really become something big here.
01:25What, I don't understand what the benefit is.
01:27Is it for small businesses?
01:29They do a lot of these, like, different, you know, festivals, watch parties, things like that.
01:33Right.
01:33I mean, that was always the implicit bargain, as you said.
01:36There's infrastructure.
01:36There's an image boost.
01:38And when those things are all taken care of, when the U.S. already has its own domestic soccer league
01:42with Lionel Messi, what's left?
01:44It's accessibility.
01:45That means, you know, regular folks, families can go to the matches, in theory.
01:50And if you can't get a ticket to the match because it's unaffordable, because, you know, some of these tickets,
01:55like, to the opening U.S. match against Paraguay,
01:57they're starting at around $1,900 U.S. dollars per ticket.
02:00If you can't do that, you can at least go to a fan festival, which is the idea.
02:06FIFA asks the host cities to set up these big festivals where anybody can come and watch a match with
02:11everybody else.
02:12But even those aren't quite living up to the accessibility promises.
02:16You know, in a lot of places, they may be free.
02:19Some of the cities offer them for free.
02:20But then, of course, they've got the premium seating.
02:22And some of that premium seating at the free fan fest starts around $200.
02:26And even the free fan fest, for example, in Los Angeles, it's a $10 admission fee.
02:31So this promise that this is sort of the people's festival, the people's tournament, isn't really turning out to be
02:38the people's tournament.
02:38It's not accessible to everybody else.
02:40And even that side of the bargain isn't coming true.
02:42Well, that's what I want to go back to what you were talking about at the beginning, about, you know,
02:45Airbnb bookings are down.
02:46The hotel bookings aren't where they need to be.
02:48Do we know why is it a combination of how much this is costing in a time when a lot
02:52of people, not just in the U.S., but around the world, are feeling the economic squeeze?
02:56There's also this visa issue.
02:57It's not a time when a lot of people from some of these countries where their teams are playing are
03:02going to either be able to get a visa or might be nervous about getting that visa and traveling in
03:06and out of security in the U.S.,
03:08just given the uncertainty of immigration right now.
03:11How much are those factors weighing in?
03:13Those are factors, and another factor that we can't talk enough about, really, is simply the price of tickets.
03:19One of the things you're seeing is the fan groups, the supporter groups in places like Europe, they're complaining that
03:25they can't afford to fly to the U.S., stay in a hotel,
03:29and above all, buy a ticket into a match because, you know, they can be thousands of dollars, and FIFA
03:35is controlling the supply.
03:36They're controlling parts of the secondhand market.
03:39So that makes it very hard for, you know, these folks who, say, live in Ireland or the U.K.
03:44or Germany or wherever it is who would – this would be their once-every-four-year big shebang trip
03:50to afford it.
03:51They can't.
03:51So you're also losing that.
03:53And by losing that, you know, from a U.S. perspective, again, you're losing tourists, and you're losing the image
03:58boost, the opportunity for these folks,
04:00middle-class folks who are, you know, on a splurge coming to your country and saying, hey, this isn't so
04:04bad.
04:05This isn't what we've been reading about.
04:06You know, it was actually a friendly reception.
04:07So, again, it's another sort of broken part of the bargain, and it's got that international component to it.
04:13I'm wondering why are the prices so much higher this time around?
04:15We have some sound from the Atlanta mayor talking about this.
04:19We're ready from a safety and security perspective, from making sure that people can get around, get through, and get
04:24to the games and matches.
04:25But we also wanted the community to benefit.
04:27Everybody can't afford those expensive tickets.
04:30Everybody can't go to the match every day.
04:32But can they go to a fan fest?
04:34Can they go to a watch party?
04:35Can they get some cultural exchanges with the people that are going to be coming here?
04:40Can our small businesses thrive?
04:41So that's why I wanted it to be with the community and not to the community.
04:45So that hits on what you were just talking about.
04:47Is there a reason the tickets are so much more this time around?
04:50Yeah.
04:50FIFA wants to make a lot of money off this tournament.
04:53They've been very up front.
04:53Okay, there we go.
04:56They've been very up front.
04:57They control the ticket pricing, not the local organizers, not the local governments.
05:01FIFA does.
05:02And they've been very up front that the U.S. is the world's largest sports and entertainment market.
05:07And they are coming to take advantage of that.
05:10And, you know, they will also at the same time make the argument we're just pricing things where the market
05:14is.
05:15And there's a market for people willing to pay, you know, thousands of dollars for a ticket.
05:20You know, we're seeing it with, you know, the NBA finals.
05:23We've seen it with the Super Bowl.
05:25We see it with these mega events when they come to the U.S.
05:27So their argument is we're just trying to – we're helpless.
05:31We're only playing with the market.
05:33Well, I have to think because this kind of brings up, you know, we host FIFA World Cup, but we've
05:37also hosted the Olympics.
05:39So what's the difference between, let's say, the U.S. hosting the Olympics versus hosting the World Cup, let's say,
05:44benefit-wise?
05:45Yeah, I don't think that there is much of one at this point.
05:49I mean, you know, with Los Angeles, which is going to have our next Olympics, and with Salt Lake City,
05:54which will have the next Winter Olympics,
05:56both of them were chosen precisely because they already have the infrastructure in place.
06:00You know, so there's not going to be a real infrastructure benefit to those cities.
06:04You know, the image benefit, you know, the U.S. is already a sports destination.
06:09So then it becomes the same, you know, argument again.
06:12Is there an economic benefit?
06:13And one of the things that study after study shows is regardless of what these economic projections that we always
06:18see with these mega events,
06:20those numbers are never met.
06:21Oftentimes what happens is, sure, you may get an influx of tourists,
06:25but that just means that the tourists who are going to come at that time anyway aren't coming,
06:30and it all relatively balances out in the end.
06:32So what are you going to do?
06:34You're going to, at least in theory, make these events accessible.
06:38And if you've tried to get, you know, Los Angeles 28 Olympics tickets like I have,
06:44I was in, you know, the lottery or whatever it was, they're extremely expensive.
06:48When I finally got in the door and saw what the prices were, I said, you know, I think I'm
06:51going to hold off on this.
06:52So this is a familiar dynamic.
06:55All right.
06:55We'll have to see how crowded those stadiums are and who's in those very, very expensive seats.
07:01Adam Minter, thank you so much for joining us.
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