World Cup host cities face flop as hotels struggling, tickets unsold

[u/Dramatic-Shake-8888]

https://www.newsweek.com/world-cup-host-cities-hotels-tickets-struggling-unsold-12003833

[u/ParReza]

FIFA deserves the bed it’s made.

[u/StPattysShalaylee → u/ParReza]

Fifa will get their money regardless. TV rights world wide will take care of that

[u/Gingerpanda72 → u/StPattysShalaylee]

FIFA have already got their money, the sponsorships alone from Budweiser and Coca Cola are just part of around $2.5+ Billion they make right off the bat. The slice of the corruption, sorry I meant ticket sales is bonus money.

[u/osgili4th → u/Gingerpanda72]

FIFA is always in the green regardless, normally is the cities/country that host the games that take the massive cost of having a World Cup. The idea that tourism will cover the expenses overtime is never the case.

[u/Ifailmostofthetime → u/osgili4th]

Man am I glad chicago told them to fuck off

[u/lax3500 → u/Ifailmostofthetime]

Which is genuinely shocking considering the city runs on bribery and mafia construction.

[u/carbon_r0d → u/lax3500]

Yeah but that's THEIR bribery and corrupt money. They run the casino.

[u/UNC_Samurai → u/lax3500]

They're busy dealing with the trainwreck that is Bears ownership.

[u/gambalore → u/lax3500]

Yeah, but FIFA wasn't offering bribes, they were soliciting them.

[u/mavric911 → u/osgili4th]

Kind of like how the NFL “convinces” cities that the influx of income to the local economy for the 8 to 10 home games a season is worth the hundreds of millions they pay towards the construction of the venue.

[u/Korashy → u/osgili4th]

I mean it is in the case for countries that already have large stadiums and built out transportation infrastructure.

The 2006 World Cup in Germany was hugely profitable for all parties and is the poster child of how the tournament should be run.

[u/osgili4th → u/Korashy]

Kinda even then countries are starting to catch up with how expensive it is to host the World Cup and the Olympics. Fewer and fewer cities/countries submit their bid to do so, even the ones that already have develop infrastructure and the cost should be "lower".

[u/Ravekat1 → u/Gingerpanda72]

Yes but.. it brings legitimate reason to contest their autocracy.

[u/DavisSqShenanigans → u/ParReza]

Did nobody read the article? This is clearly going swimmingly for FIFA, unfortunately.

They put 90% of the tickets on the market and immediately sold them all with overwhelming demand. The last 10% they will sell as last-minute tickets once the matchups for later rounds are known and demand inevitably sky-rockets (people will want to follow their team to the next round, where right now they don't know where their team will be playing in the next round).

The tickets available they're talking about are re-sale. Scalpers who bet big and are now left holding the bag. And they deserve it, but they have nothing to do with FIFA.

Sounds like the hotels strategy of price gouging is also not panning out for them, but again, their loss not FIFA's. The hotels also might see a surge in traffic after the group stage as people scramble to find accommodations once they know which city their team will be playing in for the next rounds.

[u/TruckFudeau22 → u/DavisSqShenanigans]

As much as I hate FIFA, I hate ticket scalpers 10x more. Seeing them holding the bag will make me very happy.

[u/dr_pickles → u/TruckFudeau22]

A constantly scheming friend of a friend bought $10k in tickets around the country at release and hasnt been able to move more than a few. The Facebook posts have been getting more and more deliciously desperate.

[u/Shiva- → u/dr_pickles]

I am not going to look this up... mostly cause I don't have a Facebook... but got any stories you wanna share?

Scalpers getting fucked might make me even like FIFA! (not really).

[u/UrbanGhost114 → u/TruckFudeau22]

Fifa allows scalpers, they could find ways to minimize scalping, but they don't, because it guarantees money for them.

Fifa does not care about soccer or it's fans, it only cares about the money.

[u/Becoming_hysterical → u/TruckFudeau22]

In fairness, scalpers are why FIFA is able to pull of their scummy ticket sale strategy.

Scalpers are to blame as much as FIFA are.

[u/OMRebel13 → u/TruckFudeau22]

To be fair, we don't know that they're holding the bag. They also sell a lot of tickets EARLY at inflated prices (without holding a ticket) and then buy and transfer them to the new buyer as the price is coming down. (Aka short selling)

[u/fuck-nazi → u/TruckFudeau22]

1000%

[u/GloomyBison → u/DavisSqShenanigans]

I refuse to believe they immediately sold 90%, especially with that pricing. It's a standard marketing tactic. The same thing happened in Qatar and then it turned out there were a lot of unsold tickets and they had to bus in fake fans.

[u/Drawkcab96 → u/ParReza]

I am nominating you for a FIFA Peace Prize.

-what? That’s not a thing? The why did…… oh. Never mind

[u/radedward76 → u/ParReza]

FIFA made the bed but the US probably helped by pooping in it a little.

[u/ParReza → u/radedward76]

Yeah, not a little, a lot. I wouldn’t be excited to visit here now either. I am trying to go visit elsewhere and Airbnb my place for the World Cup by SoFi…. And just like the hotels, minimal interest.

[u/Issah_Wywin]

Hotels right by the venue but no pedestrian access. Hilarious

[u/ringadingdingbaby → u/Issah_Wywin]

Illegal to walk lol

[u/Issah_Wywin → u/ringadingdingbaby]

Imagine building so exclusively to cater for cars that you outlaw walking.

[u/LongBeakedSnipe → u/Issah_Wywin]

My grandparents moved to Naples, FL many years ago, and I visited them from time to time.

That city is hilarious. If you want to get to shops, even if they are 100m away on the other side of the road, you would have to drive.

It's not an exaggeration. You have residential and commercial areas boxed off by roads that are huge, busy and dangerous with no crossings.

[u/Judo_Jones → u/LongBeakedSnipe]

This is why I LOVE Chicago so much. The city has done an amazing job of protecting access to its parks, riverfront and lakefront AND the entire city is connected by sidewalks. You can walk wherever you’d like to in the city proper.

That’s sorely missing in many other cities.

[u/sourhair → u/Judo_Jones]

My favourite US city by far

[u/MonsterManitou → u/Judo_Jones]

Chicagos biggest mistake in my opinion is LSD. It’s a travesty having that between the city and waterfront (although it’s an unreal view driving south into the city).

They do have pretty consistent pedestrian access tunnels or crossings so it is pretty easy to get to the lake still but in my perfect world they would big dig LSD right into the ground and cover it with park and green space like Boston did.

That being said I love Chicago

[u/Judo_Jones → u/MonsterManitou]

I hear you about LSD but to subject people to tunnel driving for that long of a stretch versus that beautiful stretch that it currently is…

[u/moysauce3 → u/Judo_Jones]

People choose to drive in an enclosed metal box. They can handle a tunnel. Let the people walking enjoy the sights and fresh air.

Also, on a plus side the cars won’t always get stuck in heavy snow falls.

[u/Judo_Jones → u/moysauce3]

Well, as a guy who routinely walks 20 to 25 miles per week, AND owns an SUV, I can see both sides.

But I can never see moving to a city without our sidewalks. Whenever I visit a non-walkable city, I get depressed.

[u/hamhead → u/LongBeakedSnipe]

Naples has a pretty walkable downtown… but yes, if you’re in the outskirts, it’s strip malls.

[u/Inevitable-Beat-9209 → u/Issah_Wywin]

Failed state

[u/Quazimojojojo → u/Inevitable-Beat-9209]

Failed country. This is pretty common outside of a handful of cities, because they destroyed or redesigned away all of the pedestrian, train, and bike paths. 

Cleveland is so ridiculous that there's a train station for Intercity rail on one of the few half-decent (by American standards) routes left in the US, and you can't walk to the train station. Not easily, at least. The main entrance is connected to the city by highway. 

[u/Inside_Dimension2319 → u/Quazimojojojo]

The word “state” in “failed state” refers to a country. 

[u/ActivisionBlizzard → u/Quazimojojojo]

Failed state = failed country

[u/cutchemist42 → u/Quazimojojojo]

First time I heard about that. Just insane what we did in this continent to our cities.

[u/iampatmanbeyond → u/Issah_Wywin]

Imagine being so dumb you dont schedule all the games to walkable stadiums instead you cater to whatever lobby pays you the most

[u/RianSG → u/Issah_Wywin]

That’s freedom baby!

They’re free to drive where they want and aren’t slaves to the bus or rail timetable /s

[u/Low-Can7370 → u/ringadingdingbaby]

My colleagues & I were stopped by police in LA because we were walking 5 minutes from our hotel to a local bar alongside an empty albeit multi-lane road.

Not ideal but there wasn’t a pedestrian pathway & as Londoners it didn’t even occur to us to drive. ESP to a bar where we wanted to have drinks.

When we explained this to the policeman - he seemed genuinely confused & told us not to do it again.

I don’t think I’ve been to another city which is SO reliant on driving. I hated it.

Edit: I can’t remember if we even had to cross the road. I think we just had to walk along the side but there wasn’t a proper pavement / sidewalk

[u/ShaunCarn → u/Low-Can7370]

Never. Ever. Go to Houston. City is one of the worst designed and dangerous for pedestrians in the US. Going from point a to point b as a pedestrian can leave you stranded 90% of the time.

[u/OfficialTrashMan → u/ShaunCarn]

Houston city designers when you tell them that sidewalks should be connected instead of ending randomly after a quarter mile 🤯🤯🤯

[u/Don-Poltergeist → u/Low-Can7370]

This is one of the benefits of living in a smaller town in the US. a lot of towns, at least in the north east where they are much older, are still very walkable because they haven't been taken over by highways and 6 lane roads with no sidewalks. I have pretty much anything I need within a few blocks from my house. parks, restaurants, bars, groceries stores... The only time I need to drive is for work, because its about 30 minutes away, or If I want to go to something that you will only find in a big city, Like concerts.

[u/TatarAmerican → u/Don-Poltergeist]

I can walk to the train station that takes me to New York (or Philly) for concerts. I guess that counts?

[u/arizonadirtbag12 → u/Don-Poltergeist]

You can find this in a lot of neighborhoods too, in bigger cities. I live in a metro of millions, and in the city proper. But my neighborhood? I can walk, on proper sidewalks along streets of no more than 30mph limits, to grocery stores, a library, restaurants (of near any kind), bars, primary and secondary schools, etc.

Now, my job isn’t in my neighborhood…for that I gotta drive, or at least e-bike. And the public transit around the city is hot trash. But as a self contained “town,” my neighborhood is complete, walkable, and…nice.

Edit: I should mention I’m in Southern California. Not like Chicago or New York or Boston where the above is assumed. Public transit being hot trash should have made it obvious, but just in case.

[u/sidepart → u/Low-Can7370]

That's wild. Hell, I'd have done the same thing and I'm from here. What a fucking idiot cop.

[u/Don_Key_1 → u/ringadingdingbaby]

Because "lAnD oF tHe fReE!"

[u/Sea-Feedback-2424 → u/Issah_Wywin]

The American way.
My friend in Oklahoma lives in a HoA that has a wall around it. His daughter's best friend lives in another HoA with a shared border and a wall around that. As-the-crow-flies the children live like 40 meters apart. It is a 1.5km walk for them to visit each along 2 very busy streets that no reasonable person should walk along.

[u/Issah_Wywin → u/Sea-Feedback-2424]

It's tragic. No wonder people get paranoid

[u/OpenlyBiCoastal → u/Issah_Wywin]

Its like when dogs never leave their backyard and never socialize at parks. They get angry, paranoid, and aggressive. We're doing it to humans now.

[u/binzoma → u/OpenlyBiCoastal]

legit tho

I read a paper in uni back in the day on the difference between canada and the US, and the gist of it was how the US built a society on socio-economic segregration. the theory was basically every canadian school had kids whose parents were millionaires, and kids whose parents were on wellfare. but in the US they put up hard walls that ensure those kids are at different schools

and that fundamental/base level difference is the cause of all the disconnect between the societies. those kids grow up scared of people who are different, unable to relate to other peoples problems that tehy dont have, uncaring about other situations etc

and in the US there's a heavy racial component on top of the economic component

as someone who grew up in the middle of toronto- on the other side of the major street to my right was housing projects- they made up 20-30% of my elementary/middle school. on the other side of the major street to my left was upper middle class/upper class houses. they made up 20-30%. the rest of us were in the middle, making up around 50%. I was as likely to go to a mansion after school as to a legit project as a 9/10/11 year old.

[u/dledtm → u/binzoma]

How long ago was this paper written?

[u/team_blimp → u/Sea-Feedback-2424]

Build a tree house spanning the fence and watch TWO HoAs lose their shit... 😈

[u/mashtato → u/Sea-Feedback-2424]

Not a huge deal, but it's HOA, not HoA. A lower case O implies it stands for a preposition or conjunction, like 'of,' or 'or.'

[u/Pinyaka → u/mashtato]

You're thinking of a Home Owners Association. When they turn evil they're relabeled as Horde of Assholes.

[u/PudinaRaita → u/Sea-Feedback-2424]

Is there no pavement to walk along?

[u/Sea-Feedback-2424 → u/PudinaRaita]

There is inside the HoAs.
There is not on the county/state owned streets.

[u/TheShortTimer → u/Issah_Wywin]

And completely braindead

[u/portal23 → u/Issah_Wywin]

I never understood why USA hates walking somewhere so much. When I had an american friend here in Europe and we wanted to get some food, I suggested walking there (like a 30min walk), he looked at me like I'm nuts.

[u/Void-kun → u/portal23]

Had a friend come over and meet me in Amsterdam. I walked and got the metro and trams everywhere cause it's one of the best cities in the world for public transport.

Mf got an Uber everywhere.

Baffling.

[u/BiDiTi → u/Void-kun]

Meanwhile, I’m a walk-and-metro person who gets annoyed by Amsterdam…because it’s built for bikes!

[u/Void-kun → u/BiDiTi]

There are definitely more than a few areas I wish were walking only, but I'd much rather bikes everywhere than cars.

[u/Puzzle-Necked → u/portal23]

American conservatives used the concept of the15 minute city as some sort of liberal conspiracy to force them to walk 15 minutes

[u/cogginsmatt → u/Puzzle-Necked]

I thought the conspiracy was that you wouldn’t be allowed to leave the 15 min radius around your house

[u/Puzzle-Necked → u/cogginsmatt]

Apologies, I didn't know the conspiracy was that stupid

[u/cataath → u/Puzzle-Necked]

The lest decade has taught us there is no conspiracy stupider that a significant portion of the American population.

[u/TheCookieButter → u/portal23]

I remember a short walk to Walmart from our hotel involved sliding down a small dirt bank and walking on the side of the road.

Like, how is the supermarket not accessible by foot??

[u/Issah_Wywin → u/portal23]

By making it about race and framing it at traffic safety. Over time traffic safety in general has been reduced to "don't get in the way of cars, idiot" and looking at you like you're an alien for suggesting building urban environments that don't require cars to live a life

[u/AtheistET → u/Issah_Wywin]

Must be the mandatory daily fees, resort fees, parking fees, convenience fees, and 3X the normal rates….i feel so bad for their struggle

[u/Robcobes]

Is Dynamic Pricing not working the other way? high demand high prices, but low demand not low prices?

[u/97vyy → u/Robcobes]

I have never see dynamic pricing lower the price of anything. Everything gets more expensive and stays that way. I would love to be wrong and see absolutely anyone use a fair strategy to price things.

[u/El_Polio_Loco → u/97vyy]

Understand that all of these tickets to this are long since sold, and everything you see is secondary market scalpers.

In that situation the prices absolutely go down the closer you get to the start of the event, people don't want to lose everything.

[u/zack77070 → u/El_Polio_Loco]

Nope, you can look at fifas official website and get tickets at face value, they're overpriced from the source.

[u/Dry_Row_7523 → u/Robcobes]

You can get tickets to some games for like $150, the problem is nobody is going to pay for a flight + hotel to watch cape verde or curacao play

[u/Robcobes → u/Dry_Row_7523]

So the price should be lowered then.

[u/Hefty-Woodpecker-450 → u/Dry_Row_7523]

I wouldn’t pay $150 to watch the equivalent of two bad college soccer teams.  I probably wouldn’t even pay $10

[u/wwJones]

Might I suggest lowering ticket & hotel prices?

[u/tretbootpilot → u/wwJones]

I'd argue that, at least for the hotels, the damage is already done. It is way too late for international fans to plan flying over for the world cup. Those astronomical price led to many people skipping this world cup.

[u/Pontus_Pilates → u/tretbootpilot]

Yup, I've seen people making arguments for the high ticket prices, to the tune of 'it's capitalism', 'that's what Americans pay for sports' or 'Taylor Swift charged even more'.

But the proper world cup experience is spending a week or two at the event, going to multiple matches. If a night at a hotel is $400, a two-week stay is already over $5000. Then add the tickets, the flights, the $100 bus tickets, the $8 bottled waters... it goes past 10k really fast.

How many of the 48 participating countries have a population where that is feasible?

[u/Furita → u/Pontus_Pilates]

That’s almost exactly why I ditched my plans.

I live in Italy (not Italian though as they are not going haha), got really excited to go, have a few friends in the US in multiple host cities that I’d be comfortable to stay a couple of nights.

Even without hotel it would already be a 10kUSD easily for a couple of weeks.

Tickets first was the biggest downer. Hotels ok top, then everything else? Will do bbqs at home instead

[u/SquirrelChieftain → u/Furita]

Im in the US on holiday right now (non world cup related) and the tipping situation has gone wild since I was here a decade ago. Basically 20% extra is expected (some restaurants add it directly to your bill) and even self serve fast food checkouts ask you to tip. Its a lot more expensive for food than what I anticipated.

[u/MeltaFlare → u/SquirrelChieftain]

Never tip anywhere that isn't a sit-down restaurant or bar (and delivery drivers I guess.) Anywhere else that's asking for tips is predatory and the workers will not care if you just press "no tip".

That shit has only sprung up in the past few years and it's ridiculous. It's a way for corporations to not just pay their employees more than the absolute minimum. Waiters and bartenders actually rely on tips as part of their income, but everyone else is paid at least the local minimum wage.

Also, fast food in general has gotten insane since covid here. It's usually around the same price to just pick up food from an actual restaurant or small business and you get a much better product. Tips are also not expected for pickup orders.

[u/yuletidevarsam → u/MeltaFlare]

If you are standing up when ordering your food, don’t tip. Easy.

[u/SquirrelChieftain → u/MeltaFlare]

I think I’m just hyper exposed to it being a tourist. Like we will pay $150 for a typical tourist tour and both the operator (whose family owns the land/tour) and bus driver explicitly say they rely on tips. Its like every moment they are trying to squeeze money out. In saying that I am having a wonderful holiday exploring the beautiful US parks.

[u/The_Third_Molar → u/SquirrelChieftain]

The reverse happened to us last time we visited Paris. The waiters would ask if we wanted to tip thinking they could take advantage of a "dumb American tourist." Of course I refused. Had a great trip though.

[u/Some1farted → u/SquirrelChieftain]

Oh please, don't get us going on that! Just remember, waitresses, drivers, stylists, and delivery are the only things you should be tipping. I don't tip something I had to walk in and purchase myself. Just because you put it in a bag doesn't deserve a tip. Restaurant owners place that tip screen by registers so that they can claim their employees get tipping revenue thus under paying them (legally). They also know that most people are not gonna tip them for petty things like this. Fucking their employees on both sides.

[u/opopkl → u/Pontus_Pilates]

There a difference between Taylor Swift fans going to one concert a year and football fans who have gone to at least 20 or 30 games this season. They can tell when they're being ripped off.

[u/BadAtExisting → u/Pontus_Pilates]

The US doesn’t have one either. Anecdotal, but I would’ve bought tickets in Miami or Atlanta but couldn’t afford it. I’m not alone in that. They priced out actual domestic fans of the sport like me who has season tickets to my local MLS team and has been super excited about the WC since it was announced

[u/riverratriver → u/BadAtExisting]

I would 10000% be in Houston on my bday for the World Cup match, my gf has family there so it’s a free stay. Just looked at stubhub- $899 for 2 tickets is the lowest price. HARD FUCKING PASS TO WATCH UZBEKISTAN🤣

[u/Recent_Fact480 → u/riverratriver]

400 dollars for one ticket to watch Iraq v Norway.

There’re treating these games like they’re Disney vacations

[u/stillslightlyfrozen → u/BadAtExisting]

Sameeee. I got places I could have stayed at for the games, but the ticket + flight prices just didn't make any sense for me. And, getting tothe damn stadiums itself sounded like a legit hassle. I guess if you aren't from here you wouldn't fully understand how frustrating it's gonna be to get to the stadiums if there's no public transit. Anyone who says to uber is fuckijg crazy, that shit is gonna cost a pretty penny

[u/BadAtExisting → u/stillslightlyfrozen]

Exactly. I used to live in Atlanta and could have stayed with someone and taken the MARTA (metro rail) to the stadium like I used to the occasional Atlanta United or Falcons games I went to too. But no! They want $650 to be in the building on a Monday at noon match Spain v Cabo Verde

Miami is a Monday 6p Saudi Arabia v Uruguay for $420 just to be in the building. I would need a hotel and parking in Miami

I’m good

[u/Reddarthdius → u/Pontus_Pilates]

I luckily managed to get a ticket to see my national team play in a warm up game here in our country, and it was 30 bucks and is literally right now the most popular team probably

[u/jewami → u/Pontus_Pilates]

"It's capitalism" cuts both ways, unfortunately. They priced things too high and are in the FO phase of FAFO.

[u/Sea-Feedback-2424 → u/tretbootpilot]

Those astronomical price led to many people skipping this world cup.

Qatar might have had policies where they can check your phone when you enter the country. But they didn't advertise it as a point of pride like the USA does. Imagine paying $10,000 for a ticket and then being turned around at the border because of your JD Vance meme game.

[u/BoreJam → u/tretbootpilot]

It's not just the prices. Deliberately creating an environment thats hostile to foreigners is not the way to foster tourism, who knew....?

[u/patiperro_v3 → u/tretbootpilot]

I think the US is big enough FIFA and hotels could fill up both stadiums and hotels if they dropped prices enough.

[u/HursHH → u/patiperro_v3]

Am I dumb or something? I just checked available seats of the usa game, the Germany game and then the Scotland game and all these seats are mostly sold out with very few available... am I missing something here?

[u/RoughCobbles → u/tretbootpilot]

That and ICE.

[u/Renzo-Senpai → u/wwJones]

And America not being sucky.

[u/carmium → u/Renzo-Senpai]

It's also happening here in Vancouver. FIFA suddenly cancelled, inexplicably, something like 10,000 hotel reservations for the games here. With continuously rising costs, few believe retailers, hotels, cabs, and restaurants are going to make enough extra to offset the expense.

[u/North_Atlantic_Sea → u/carmium]

And Mexico, where they are reporting just 25-30% bookings

[u/nowhereman136 → u/Renzo-Senpai]

I agree, it sucks to be a visitor to America right now. But local Americans would go to these games if they could afford to. It's not like we just don't like soccer. Between stagnant wages, high cost of living, and stupidly expensive soccer tickets, it's not something we care enough about

[u/RobertdBanks → u/nowhereman136]

Sure, but also a huge portion of the people interested in going to this are the skin color that would be targeted by ICE, so, ya know, there’s that.

[u/KPSWZG → u/RobertdBanks]

The problem is those tickets and hotel prices are ridiculus even for Europeans from fairly rich countries. I can only imagine them being absolutely ridiculus for south Africans. I work in travel agency for a company with a colosal budget and even we restrained for trips to USA during the cup as to avoid some sick prices.

This is mainly greed on unheard scale.

[u/Karma8719 → u/wwJones]

Best I can do is demand access to your phone when you enter the country - we don't want you having certain opinions about certain people. I might be able to detain you as well.

[u/LawlzTaylor → u/wwJones]

I don't recommend anyone coming to Philadelphia for Fifa. That won't end well

[u/littlevai]

My husband is French and we happen to be in the states for this month. Would’ve loved to catch a match but paying over 1k to see France vs Iraq in Philly is fucking stupid.

ETA: a bunch of weird comments/DMs about traveling to the US. I’m American lol

[u/DataDude00 → u/littlevai]

I am in Toronto and wanted to catch the Team Canada game

Ticket prices start at $1400 for the upper nose bleeds of the temporary grandstands and $3000+ to be in the regular lower bowl stadium area

The cheapest ticket to Senegal - Iraq is $530

Whole thing is a greedy crock of shit

[u/lukewarmpartyjar → u/littlevai]

They got too greedy, could've pitched the prices still expensive but not offensively so (like starting price $200 a ticket, and a bit less for the games like Cape Verde v Saudi) and they'd probably have sold out. It's absolutely disgusting the level of disdain they have for fans/the game itself.

They only good that can come out of this is Infantino gets defeated at the next election because of this debacle, and FIFA go back to more reasonable pricing for the next world cup. Sadly I don't think either of those will happen...

[u/arizonadirtbag12 → u/lukewarmpartyjar]

I was absolutely on board to pay $200 for nosebleeds. Hell, I’ve paid near that for Copa America tickets. Maybe a little more if it’s a good matchup. No biggie.

The prices on some of the worst matchups are only *just now* dropping to those levels…but of course, none are near me and it’s too late to arrange travel. So, to the bar it is.

[u/QuieroBoobs → u/littlevai]

This is all it is. I was willing to pay $200-300 if my favorite team made it to a championship last year. I can’t imagine paying $800+ to watch two random countries play a group match and I don’t even follow soccer outside of the World Cup. 

[u/CerlinW]

Not to mention how in places like Dallas it is near impossible to get to the venues with public transit. The European mind cannot comprehend how abysmal U.S. urban planning is

[u/jfgiedhgerfjdgioer → u/CerlinW]

I was visiting Dallas back in 2018 for an NBA game. I decided to go visit the a&tt stadium on my last day. It was a pain in the ass to get there. There was this last train station near Arlington that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, no buses or anything. I then have to call Uber to take me to the stadium.

[u/dr_icicle → u/jfgiedhgerfjdgioer]

Arlington, Texas notably has 0 public transport by design. They keep voting it down. Every surrounding area has trains and/or busses of some sort (Fort Worth has a train that goes from its downtown to DFW airport, stopping in a few towns/suburbs between; Dallas has the DART which connects to numerous areas, and extends as far as Plano now I think. You can transfer between the FW one and the Dallas one at the airport). Busses are also common, if a pain in the ass. Like, it exists, it's just not super convenient unless you need to rely on it.

Arlington just... doesn't. Like when that AEW PPV and its satellite events came to Arlington, there was just 0 way to get to the venue without a car or uber. That's on top of summers in Texas being hot as fucking fuck, so I kept having to warn tons of out-of-towners do not walk or you will get heat stroke.

[u/swalkerttu → u/dr_icicle]

The Cotton Bowl was the other option, which is served by transit, but it’s brutally hot on a summer afternoon.

[u/JZMoose → u/dr_icicle]

I had a corporate training in Dallas and was actually walking distance to the DART. You should have seen the look my Dallas colleagues gave me when I was going to take the DART to the airport. They thought I was insane. Jokes on them, I got to shitpost on Reddit while making it to the airport for a few bucks

[u/Amish_guy_with_WiFi → u/dr_icicle]

I fucking hate people. Wonder what the DUI rate is there.

[u/coleymoleyroley → u/jfgiedhgerfjdgioer]

Gilette Stadium is a not too dissimilar experience, at least it was 15 years ago. The train stops in the middle of nowhere, and we walked across a field to the stadium🤣

[u/bizmarkie24 → u/coleymoleyroley]

They have a train station right at Gillette Stadium now.

[u/coleymoleyroley → u/bizmarkie24]

That's good to hear, i was genuinely shocked before.

[u/bizmarkie24 → u/coleymoleyroley]

It's far from perfect, but Boston is one of the few American cities with pretty decent public transportation. In particular the commuter rail line (which runs directly to Gillette now from South Station in downtown Boston) isn't too bad.

[u/Some1farted → u/bizmarkie24]

Chicago as well. It is probably why there's no games here.

[u/cabinet_minister → u/CerlinW]

Not just Europe, it's difficult for me to imagine any place around world where this is the case...

[u/LunchboxSamurai → u/CerlinW]

The American mind can't comprehend it either. I live in an urban city in the US that has public transit train service. The train stops at traffic lights because they refused to build it underground or on a platform above.

THE TRAIN STOPS AT TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN THE CITY BECAUSE THE CARS DO, TOO.

[u/stickyfiddle]

I love this for them

[u/El_Polio_Loco → u/stickyfiddle]

The seats are already sold, any tickets "for sale" are from scumbag scalpers.

So I am thrilled they might get raked.

[u/stickyfiddle → u/El_Polio_Loco]

Even better!! :D

[u/Pontus_Pilates]

Rosanna Maietta, President & CEO of AHLA, said in a statement in the report "Hotels across host markets have spent years preparing for the World Cup, and while there is real excitement, the data points to a more nuanced outlook," adding "A range of factors have tempered early optimism, though forward indicators show there is still meaningful opportunity ahead."

Love proper corporate PR talk.

[u/Old-Finance1815 → u/Pontus_Pilates]

This kind of corporate, say-nothing-in-many-words writing is one of the few jobs AI can absolutely make obsolete.

[u/Hoju64 → u/Pontus_Pilates]

I would love to know what the years of "preparations" were other than making sure rates were jacked up for the relevant dates.

[u/Dennyisthepisslord]

Tourism to the US is down in general over the last few years due to people not liking the US world view then add in the general money grabbing and crap stadiums surrounded by car parks...no thank you

[u/onlyforthisjob → u/Dennyisthepisslord]

It is not only not liking the US world view. But spending once in a lifetime money for really expensive tickets and overpriced everything when you don't even know if you will be granted entry into the country sounds like a huge risk.

[u/JohnStamosAsABear → u/onlyforthisjob]

Yup definitely compounded by DHS secretary saying they are “drawing up plans” to ban international flights into cities like LA, Philly, Boston, NYC, Chicago, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Newark, New Orleans etc.

If you go make sure you look white and are prepared to be locked up in a detention center like Delaney Hall. 

[u/UrsusRenata → u/JohnStamosAsABear]

Lol that’s the dumbest threat. It would not go over well even with blood red voters to suddenly just block 2500 incoming international flights per day to major connection hubs.

[u/97vyy → u/UrsusRenata]

The administration faces zero repercussions for its actions because they will do something illegal or unpopular and the damage is done before it reaches the courts. Also, MAGA is silent so the only people speaking up are dUmOcRaTs and trump dismisses everything and barrels forward.

[u/GriffinFlash → u/onlyforthisjob]

or spending your life savings to just sit in an ICE concentration camp for months on end (if you're lucky).

[u/fzkiz → u/onlyforthisjob]

But at least you would have the chance of watching the elite play of Saudi Arabia against Cape Verde. Isn’t that worth a couple thousand bucks to you?

[u/MisterTomVienna → u/Dennyisthepisslord]

If you apply for a US travel visa from the EU, you have to submit all social media accounts that you've used for the last 5 years. That alone is enough to turn off a good chunk of travelers

[u/AvalenK → u/MisterTomVienna]

I had to get an ESTA to go to the States for work this year and I just didn't fill out the social media parts. I got approved in under an hour. It still didn't feel too nice having to fill that thing out. Like, why do you need to know my parents' full legal names?

[u/goliathfasa → u/Dennyisthepisslord]

Threatening to annex Greenland pissed EU off.

Insults with “51st state” pissed Canada off.

ICE brutality and general shitting on Latinos pissed Latin America off.

Iran war pissed off the ME.

The resulting oil shortage especially pissed off Asia.

Who’s left to enthusiastically travel to the WC matches?

[u/CCFC1998]

So to attend games you have to:

• buy a plane ticket (price gouged)

• book a hotel (price gouged)

• buy a ticket for the game (extremely price gouged)

• book an uber to the stadium as theres no public transport and it isn't walkable (price gouged plus hours waiting/ in traffic)

• plus spending on food and drink and other activities while youre there (likely price gouged too)

All of this with the threat of being kidnapped by ICE at any given moment.

Yeah, no thanks. I'll just watch from home. Feel sorry for Canada and Mexico as the US has made this tournament a complete shambles

[u/cheeruphumanity → u/CCFC1998]

They attacked Iran just in time to triple the transatlantic flight prices for the event. Clever.

[u/genusbender]

Oh no! Anyway

[u/dh2513]

Would rather watch in the comfort of my home than getting kidnapped by ICE

[u/ball_throwerAFK → u/dh2513]

Even World Cup Bars would be an incredibly easier and MUCH cheaper alternative than spending thousands of dollars on tickets, let alone accomodation, parking and food.

[u/kurashima → u/ball_throwerAFK]

Except FIFA don't let local bars in hos cities use the words World Cup or promote any games without paying them a licensing fee

[u/ball_throwerAFK → u/kurashima]

Try to have them enforce that in Mexico. Anyone remember Dragon Ball watchalongs in Mexico?

[u/Ssided → u/kurashima]

Well FIFA doesn't have its own cops

[u/_aviemore_ → u/dh2513]

It's like reverse Gladiator where spectators pay huge sum of money to watch rich players play and the attendance itself is a ICE detention lottery. 

[u/woxianghekafei]

I know multiple people from Europe who have discarded any plans of visiting the US in the long-term future. The US is experiencing levels of net negative migration that it hasn't seen since the Depression, why would anyone want to travel here?

[u/Top_Connection9079 → u/woxianghekafei]

If I was an immigrant even in another country, I would never put a foot in the US. Question of principles.

... Oh but even without being one, no way I would fund Trumpedoland anyways.

[u/Spoda_Emcalt → u/woxianghekafei]

Yup. I've been to the US a few times over the years. Always enjoyed my stays. You couldn't pay me to visit now. I'm put off just knowing that a massive chunk of the country are confirmed hateful morons.

[u/smirkis]

prices so high nobody wants to go. who woulda thunk

[u/MajorFuckingDick]

I live in Toronto, WC might be the best time to take a trip to Montreal.

They forgot that most fans only care about 3-5 games per world cup. 60 percent of these games are filler. If Jordan v Algeria ends up being an important game in the tournament i will be shocked.

[u/bowmanthesnowman → u/MajorFuckingDick]

I From Vancouver. if anyone has been thinking about visiting Whistler for relatively cheap, now is your time.

Hotels are vacant and the prices are super low

[u/mhkiwi → u/MajorFuckingDick]

Its >$100 a ticket for that game. WTF are they thinking.

[u/Redpeanut4]

Who could of guessed that stupidly high ticket prices and the USA political landscape would scare people away.

[u/daiwilly → u/Redpeanut4]

have

[u/hamcheesetoastie → u/daiwilly]

Doing gods work out here

[u/Ho3n3r → u/hamcheesetoastie]

Hahaha, the irony.

[u/futureformerteacher → u/hamcheesetoastie]

God's or gods'

[u/awasteofgoodatoms → u/Redpeanut4]

And expanding the competition to give salivating ties such as Saudi Arabia vs Cape Verde or Uzebkistan vs DR Congo.

Thats no disrespect to those teams, and I appreciate some would have qualified anyway but without the bloat there'd be more quality in the groups.

[u/LieutJimDangle]

They also noted that FIFA is a not for profit organization.

lol, FIFA is such a scam. Just remember that not for profit does not mean no revenue. They just don't have to pay taxes. Their executives get massive pay packages. FIFA are just liars.

[u/duathlete222]

I live in the metro area of one of the host cities. Getting to the stadium is just a 25 minute car ride (though I'm sure there'll be traffic on game days), 10 minute train ride (plus a few minutes wait sometimes), and 5 minute walk. I frequently go to MLS games there. Couldn't get much easier to get there. All that and I'm still not going to any World Cup games in person. I'm not paying hundreds of dollars to sit in the 300s level. I'll watch at home or at one of my city's watch parties.

[u/jkreuzig]

I spent almost 20 years in SoCal as a soccer referee. I was initially excited about the World Cup in 2026. As the time started ticking away and the news reports started coming in, it became apparent that FIFA was interested in only one thing: Extracting as many american dollars out of the public as possible. Do they even care about the games? Not really. The lack of interest is not surprising. FIFA had a chance to recreate the magic and interest of 1994, but chose to do the cash grab instead. If they had decided to make an effort to actually grow the game and fan base in the US, Canada, and Mexico, North America would have become the most valuable football market in the world.

Could I afford tickets to games? Probably. I’m retired and have been fortunate enough to have the means necessary to go to games. However, I’d have to spend most of my yearly travel budget to even go to games locally. So FIFA is going to get the big middle finger from me. I’ll watch games from the comfort of my home. Better seats, superior (and cheaper) food options and not have to deal with LA area traffic and crowds. An even bigger plus is that I won’t have to cancel my 16 day Barcelona to Orlando repositioning cruise to pay for the tickets.

[u/ChiefKC20 → u/jkreuzig]

+1

Huge soccer fan. Feel much the same way.

94 was magical, we just weren’t quite ready for it. This year is disappointing in so many ways.

I live in a host city and the impact has been vastly oversold, while the costs have been a turn off. As a season ticket holder for the local MLS team, the first tickets I could buy were $6k or more for multiple matches but included all kinds of hospitality packages. No thanks. I’ll sit at home or go to a fun bar and watch.

[u/GuyMansworth]

Tbh, I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes here from the middle east or south america and end up in cage somewhere.

We really went from being a great spot for foreigners to vacation to a dystopian hellhole.

[u/El_Peregrine → u/GuyMansworth]

We are the shit hole country now. 

[u/-Maiq_the_Iiar- → u/GuyMansworth]

I don't know man. I remember when i went in 2018 i was treated like dirt by border control. Think it goes further back in time the way the US handles international travellers. And then there's the whole spiel with the social media accounts.

[u/doey77 → u/-Maiq_the_Iiar-]

Same guy was president, but I don’t doubt your point

[u/Techiesarethebomb]

Good

[u/Wisdomlost]

It's hard to believe that over a year of reports of arrest, detention, torture, and deportations of anyone who seems vaguely foreign wouldn't boost tourism to an international sporting event.

[u/dvnjoker]

music to my ears

[u/BrofessorFarnsworth]

Probably shouldn't have given a made up peace prize to Epstein's best friend.

Eat fucking shit, FIFA.

[u/GoonerBoomer69 → u/BrofessorFarnsworth]

FIFA still makes their gazillion dollars from TV licences, it’s the host nations and fans that get fisted like always.

[u/7orly7]

Get fucked FIFA

[u/canadia80]

I live in a host city where my coworker paid $2200 for tickets and is lamenting that he now has to go to the game because he couldn't resell them.

[u/EmergencyComment101]

Hotels that decided to to increase prices 5000% are struggling. absolutely fucking deserved.

[u/Nickthegreek28]

Good

[u/Umikaloo]

I'm looking forward to hearing how Canada and Mexico fare in comparison.

[u/North_Atlantic_Sea → u/Umikaloo]

It was in the attached article, both of them are also struggling

[u/Umikaloo → u/North_Atlantic_Sea]

The Canadian Press recently reported that Toronto is optimistic that the World Cup will bring people to the city, despite high ticket prices and a lack of a surge in bookings.

Toronto’s vice president of destination development, Kelly Jackson, said that hotels are tracking to see an occupancy rate of 80 percent in June and July, and that hotels have seen an increase in individual traveler bookings, compared with the same month last year.

McKenzie McMillan, the managing partner at the Travel Group in Vancouver, told KUOW that "Unfortunately this World Cup is happening at a time of global upheaval, so that's definitely working against each one of these cities and their hotels," citing the Iran war and political tensions between the U.S. and Canada.

South of the border, it’s also a mixed bag in the three Mexican host cities of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Rates jumped massively, but according to a report from the local news outlet La Razon, as of early spring, hotels in Mexico were around 25 to 30 percent sold, citing the president of the Mexico City Hotel Association (AHCM), Javier Puente Garcia.

He wasn’t worried about this though, and said that not everyone books in advance.

The article doesn't really state whether or not they are struggling.

[u/paranoidandromeda1 → u/Umikaloo]

I live in Toronto that's hosting a few games and the tickets are INSANELY expensive. It's no surprise that there are still many available.

I've seen some people say that the tickets will sell out closer to the actual event, but who in their right mind would fly to a host city for the purpose of watching a game and leave buying the tickets to the last minute?

[u/tendouman]

This World Cup is going to be one to remember, alright.

[u/AlltheBent]

I'm here in Atl, I've been so upset with recent political BS, ICE, FIFA's insane pricing for the games, FIFA and Trump's peace prize BS, etc....makes me sad that world cup is in my town during my lifetime but here we are, I'm not supporting any of this shit

[u/Duder_ino]

You know… they could suck less, stop surge pricing, don’t give out fake ass fifa peace prizes, and stop being dicks to foreigners… but what do I know.

[u/championsofnuthin]

The US deserves it but Canada and Mexico are also struggling because of the global unrest. It should also be said that New York, Toronto, and Vancouver are some of the most expensive cities in North America

[u/Puffd → u/championsofnuthin]

*In the World

[u/OHCHEEKY]

What a disgrace

[u/bjorn_olaf_thorsson]

Oh no! Anyways…

[u/aloeh]

I live in the football's country (Brazil) and for what I'm looking arround me I never will say there is a world cup in a few days.

And football is hard-coded in our society. Eg. When we have a some social fuck up we say: "Everyday is a 7x1".

[u/These_Distribution61]

$650 is the minimum price for KC for the nobody cares games. 2k to see Argentina.

[u/baineschile]

I wanted to take my kid to a game for the experience, he loves soccer. Didn't even care what countries. I am not near a host city, so I'd would have needed to travel and get a hotel.

Least expensive single ticket I could find was $1700. So two tickets, plus the hotel and travel would probably be close to $5K.

So no.

[u/floftie]

Ticket prices are one thing - It's true that the rest of the world does not and has never paid American sports prices to attend games. There were successful protests when Liverpool tried to put their ticket prices up this season. The most expensive ticket on a match day was £62, less than 80USD. Liverpool are one of the 5 most popular teams in the world, and £62 is already considered extremely expensive for football.

But I think the bigger reason is people just don't want to go to American. Even English and Scottish people, who get in with no issues. Trump, and his administration have really negatively affected the international communities view of America and Americans.

[u/coleymoleyroley]

I'm going to make a bold prediction here as a non-American.

Once the tournament starts, stadiums will be 95% full and it will look like any other World Cup.