Red card for FIFA: ticket prices are out of this world!

 Infantino’s cash grab is keeping true fans away.

Ten grand to watch a football match?

And it’s US dollars we are talking about.

That’s how much Fifa is asking fans to stump up for this year’s World Cup Final.

Fifa has become a scalper on a corporate scale.

US$10k is more than a year’s salary for fans from many countries.

It’s also 2,500 times what I paid to watch six matches, including the final in 1966. I still have the ticket stubs.

Of course, it was a different world. An ancient world and ancient money.

Three group games, the quarter-final and semi-final, cost seven shillings and sixpence each; the final a lofty 10 shillings. Total? Two pounds, 17 & 6 in old money.

Not much more than RM15 (£2.875 or US$3.87).

It was only six years since players in England had the maximum wage of £20 a week removed.

After winning the trophy, many of the England team drove home in ordinary cars and stopped for fish and chips on the way.

Four years later in Mexico, widely considered the greatest World Cup ever, tickets were still bargain-priced.

Again, I watched right through to the final, which cost 60 pesos (just under US$5). Group games were 30 pesos.

For that, I got to see Pele in his pomp six times. I saw his header in the final, and the famous Carlos Alberto ‘team’ goal that sealed Brazil’s win.

And I saw the stupendous Gordon Banks save.

All those dine-out memories for less than ten bucks.

There is something seriously wrong with this World Cup.

Football was once the people’s game. Not anymore. Corporations will blink at US$10k for a match.

Even Trump said he wouldn’t pay the US$1,000 for the US’s opener.

To watch any of the 104 games, you’re looking at several hundred – and sometimes thousands – of greenbacks to get in.

Former Liverpool CEO Peter Moore, who is now an official in the US, thinks it will cost between US$10,000 and US$35,000 to follow your team right through.

Nothing is cheap. A parking place anywhere near the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles is, wait for it, US$300. And you still have a couple of kilometres to walk. I guess it will be renamed ‘SoFar’ very soon.

Public transport doesn’t exactly come to the rescue. You might think US$20 isn’t bad for the train from Boston city centre to the Foxborough Stadium, but it will quadruple during the tournament.

This tournament has opened the door for countries that would not normally be near a World Cup, while simultaneously shutting out their fans.

In places like Haiti and Curacao, they’ve been living for this moment, but most can’t afford to go.

Many deterrents, including the scrutiny of social media histories, have not been implemented. Even ICE thugs were pulled back after killing two US citizens. But the threats were enough.

But cost is the real killer and now officials are said to be “nervous” about low attendances, let alone a lack of atmosphere.

Fifa claims that Americans are used to paying more for sport in super stadiums. But what about the other 47 countries, including co-hosts Canada and Mexico?

There is only one purpose-built football stadium at this tournament and it’s in Toronto, Canada.

There is a cultural difference, too. Football is a low-scoring game and you fear for what will happen if teams park the bus.

Fifa, and President Gianni Infantino in particular, have to cop the blame for this.

Ticket prices had always been kept low until now. Even when the US hosted in 1994, Fifa refused to hike them for fear of upsetting fans. Now, it is Rip-off Central!

When Infantino announced that half a billion had been sold in January, it was Fifa that had bought them. Then they resold them, and now take 15% from both buyer and seller.

It’s like the movie when you realise the bad guys are the government.

What Fifa has done is made a money grab and they’ve over-reached.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo deserve full houses for their farewells. At these prices, they can’t be guaranteed.

New York and New Jersey have subpoenaed Fifa as part of an investigation into its ticketing practices for the World Cup, citing soaring prices and reports that fans were misled about seat locations.

As one official said: “It’s a lesson in how to suck the joy out of it.” - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.