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  • 18 hours ago
Do the World Cup's pricey tickets reflect US market rates and stop scalpers, as FIFA says?

FIFA says World Cup ticket prices reflect US market rates and help prevent scalpers from profiting. But experts and consumer groups say the comparison with US sports leaves out important context.


READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/06/15/do-the-world-cups-enormous-ticket-prices-reflect-us-market-rates-and-stop-scalpers-as-fifa

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Transcript
00:03Would you pay more than $30,000 for a ticket to the World Cup Final in New Jersey?
00:08A category 1 ticket, the most expensive general admission cost $8,680,
00:14before rising to $10,990 by April and then to $32,970 in May.
00:21Following a wave of criticism, FIFA offered National Federations more than 130,000 tickets
00:27priced at $60 for regular supporters.
00:30FIFA president Gianni Infantino has described this year's prices as justified by US market rates.
00:36He also said that the average ticket, costing less than $500,
00:40is comparable to other major playoffs in the US, but experts say otherwise.
00:45With the World Cup what you have is an international competition that isn't taking place annually,
00:51it's taking place every four years and obviously it involves national teams.
00:55Maybe sometime in July, Infantino will be able to say this was the average price,
01:01but until then we can't really say that because of market demand.
01:06And while Infantino's comparison may hold for some resale markets,
01:09it doesn't for officially listed prices, which are often cheaper according to the Associated Press.
01:15Infantino also said that higher listed prices prevent ticket resellers from pocketing huge differences,
01:21but consumer groups have contested this.
01:23These high prices don't prevent resale. We're seeing it now.
01:27We're seeing tickets being sold at over something like 2 million euro.
01:31What FIFA have done is introduced a 15% fee for the buyer and the seller of the tickets.
01:37So from every ticket that's resold, FIFA take another 30% back.
01:41FIFA is right that some major US sporting events command high ticket prices.
01:46However, experts say Infantino's comparison is misleading,
01:50as it compares a once-every-four-year global event with US domestic play-offs.
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