Recommendations of the Editorial team
Who can still remember the 2014 World Cup? Germany becomes world champion and the expression “7:1” becomes an insult to the Brazilians. The good old days when kebabs cost 4.50 euros and Panini stickers cost 0.60 euros. But the year is 2026. Panini stickers now cost 1.50 euros per pack, and kebabs cost 8 euros. A difference of 12 years brings with it inflation. But even if you look at the new FIFA ticket prices adjusted for inflation, your jaw will sometimes drop. A bloated schedule, dynamic pricing and high transport costs give the World Cup a capitalist flair that unfortunately now seems worthy of the USA.
FIFA is turning the price spiral
FIFA initially advertised ticket prices starting at $60 for the group stage. The best category in the group stage cost $6,730. The catch is dynamic pricing – i.e. price adjustment depending on demand. This caused the same category to jump from $6,730 to $10,990. FIFA also earns a lot of money on the secondary market because it runs its own resale site. FIFA collects a fee of 15 percent per ticket from both the seller and the buyer. Infantino should like that. The sellers themselves determine the prices on the secondary market, which sometimes leads to horrendous sums of $22,000 for the opening game.
Your name in the stadium
If there are still a few fans who have found new wealth by selling grandma’s last gold earring, FIFA has a new, incredibly original idea for how to invest that money: in their own name. It offers paid fan greetings on scoreboards in stadiums. The whole thing is called “Super Shoutout” and costs a mere $79. These greetings should be displayed before the game. Grandma will be happy.
The advertising drum can also be heated up a lot, because the new drinking breaks mean more advertising time for TV stations. Due to the heat, mandatory breaks are required after 22 minutes in each half. More interruptions during games and generally more games thanks to 48 instead of 32 teams mean significantly more TV revenue – assuming there is interest in all games.
If you want to get into the stadium, you pay all the way
If you don’t already fail to enter the USA, you can expect further cost traps. If you want to get from A to B cheaply, you can use public transport – this is also the case in New York. A return trip by train to the stadium previously cost $12.90. However, the railway company noticed something: What will the tourists do when they want to go to the stadium for the World Cup games? 12.90 quickly became 150 dollars.
There was a huge outcry, whereupon the company gave in. Now the trip only costs a mere $105. If you decide to travel by car, FIFA has your pockets open there too: parking costs of up to $300 can exceed the ticket prices. And anyone who made it to the MetLife Stadium should be prepared for beer prices of around 12 euros for 0.5 liters.
You’d rather sit in the beer garden with friends and calculate how much you’ll save if you buy beer from Jürgen around the corner.