There are sporting events that describe themselves as celebrations of global unity and there are sporting events that describe themselves as celebrations of global unity while charging $800 for the cheapest available ticket, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup is doing both, which is the kind of commitment to a position that requires either conviction or a very confident definition of the word “inclusive.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended ticket pricing this week following coverage of half-empty stadiums in Guadalajara, Mexico, which is one of the host cities for the tournament that is available to co-host the event but apparently not to fill the seats. According to HuffPost, which ran a piece on the stadium situation this month, Infantino said ticket prices were “on par with other major sporting events.” The other major sporting events are the Super Bowl and the Champions League final, which are also largely inaccessible to the median fan and are attended primarily by corporate hospitality blocks. Infantino’s defense of $800 tickets is that they cost the same as other events that nobody could afford either, which is a defense of the policy rather than an argument that the policy is correct.
The tournament has sold more than 6 million tickets in aggregate and Infantino has called demand “historic.” The aggregate is real. The empty seats are also real, which means the distribution of those 6 million tickets has produced full stadiums in some cities and cavernous sections of empty seats in others, a result that is consistent with a tournament priced out of reach for the fans of the nations that care about the sport most, in favor of the fans of the nations that have the disposable income and the valid visa.
Thirty-nine countries were denied visas to participate in the tournament, including several in Africa and South America from which the most passionate football fan bases originate. These are not countries that declined to send fans. They are countries whose fans were denied the ability to travel. They are not in the aggregate ticket figure. They are in the empty seats.
“The most inclusive World Cup in history” is the official description. The visa ban covered 39 countries. The minimum ticket price is $800. These three facts coexist in the same sentence and FIFA has not noticed that they do.
When the most inclusive tournament in history bans 39 countries and charges $800 to enter, who exactly is it including?
Sources
HuffPost: Half-Empty World Cup Stadium Sparks Fresh Backlash Over Sky-High Ticket Costs
