World Cup sticker shock: The ugly cost of the beautiful game’s grand eventplayIs the 2026 FIFA World Cup ticket structure misleading? (2:42)Cesar HernandezJun 4, 2026, 09:01 AM ETMultiple Authors
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Saving up for a World Cup is nothing new for die-hard soccer fan Paul Marshall.
In 2014 and 2018, the Southern California native made trips to Brazil and Russia for the festivities. In 2022, he spent the entirety of the competition in Qatar, from the opener to the final.
Then, in 2026, the grand celebration came to his own backyard.
“It was a shock when the prices came out,” reported Marshall about the World Cup with 104 matches split between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. “It’s like three to four times [more], then when you look at matches like the final, it’s even more, it’s like eight times more.
“It was a shocker.”
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On FIFA’s resale marketplace, in which soccer’s organizing body takes an additional cut from transaction fees, prices have soared into four to six figures for consumers. There have even been tickets listed for more than $2 million. By pricing out ordinary fans, FIFA risks hurting the image of the tournament.
Lawmakers across the U.S. have questioned FIFA’s perplexing multi-category ticket-selling process, leading to a subpoena from the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey, who stated in a joint announcement that tickets have “far exceeded the prices for any previous World Cup tournament” thanks in part to dynamic pricing that can wildly inflate costs.
In the last World Cup, prices were set between $70 to $1,600 when tickets were revealed.
When scanning through the bid proposal from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which details what participants and local officials could expect from a tournament hosted by the three countries, the financial burden for fans was initially far more reasonable.
The proposed face value of tickets ranged between $21 to $323 (not including suites) for group-stage games. The final, again excluding suites, ranged from $128 to $1,550. To quote the bid proposal, “Prices have been projected based on those from historic FIFA World Cups and validated against comparable ticket prices within the host countries.”
Within this model, forecasts estimated ticket revenue reaching between $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion. FIFA confirmed to ESPN that the cheapest tickets originally went on sale at $60, making that revenue forecast appear extremely conservative.
That $60 entry point is something that the governing body has celebrated. In a statement to ESPN, FIFA noted that “50% of each [country’s federation’s] allocation (roughly 8% of the net purchasable capacity of the stadium) will fall within the most affordable range.”
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to North America, and its arrival means significant sticker shock for fans. Illustration by ESPNHowever, the number of $60 tickets for each game was likely to be in the hundreds, rather than thousands, according to The Associated Press.
Average prices for the cheapest tickets available for group-stage games two months before the tournament’s start were much higher. For example, in Los Angeles, where the U.S. men’s national team will play twice, the average cheapest ticket for group-stage games 60 days out was $1,040.52 on FIFA’s resale market. In Dallas, where global icon Lionel Messi will play two matches, the average cheapest ticket for group-stage games was $1,028.
For context, that’s roughly double what the average American spends on food in a month.
U.S. President Donald Trump also chimed in, saying, “I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you,” when discussing World Cup tickets that could go for more than $1,000.
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Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, agreed with that sentiment.
“I think they’re high,” Giuliani reported to ESPN. “I think I’m with the president on this one. These prices are high, and I think in some ways FIFA’s a bit of a victim of their own success.”
As for Marshall, the fan from California who is going to 11 games this summer, he’s spending more than $10,000 on tickets alone.
“And I’m not going to the final,” he reported with a laugh. “It’s insane.”
Speaking of finals, it’s worth comparing the World Cup to the May 30 UEFA Champions League final, which is widely recognized as the pinnacle of club soccer. Prices were set between $80 and $1,090 for the event, and unlike FIFA’s World Cup selling policy, tickets had to be kept at face value on the resale market and had no fee charged to the seller.
It’s a hypothetical, but there could be Americans who will pay more for a World Cup group-stage game in their own city than a neighbor who crossed the Atlantic to watch Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal for Europe’s top club honors.
Compared to the average cheapest ticket price of $446.89 for group-stage games as of June 1, L.A. residents could instead spend as little as $28 on an Olympic 2028 ticket. In Miami, the cheapest ticket for group-stage games seen on June 1 costs an average of $960.54, which is more than the cheapest race-day ticket of $799 for Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix, an event that has become notorious for its extravagance and exclusivity. Even this year’s Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium could be attended for $950.
Adding to the costs are the aforementioned transaction fees that FIFA claims on each sale. Although the governing body doesn’t set the prices for tickets sold on its resale marketplace, it does control the digital platform and takes 15% from both buyers and sellers.
“A main insight from my work on ticket reselling is that modern resale markets change the economics of ticketing,” reported Pnina Feldman, an associate professor from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. “Historically, sellers disliked resale because uncontrolled resale created competition against them, but with electronic tickets, identity verification and an official exchange, the seller can control the exchange and collect fees on every transaction.
“An authorized resale market [like FIFA’s marketplace] enables the seller to control the exchange and charge commissions and is the seller’s best revenue-maximizing mechanism. That is the core economic logic behind FIFA’s resale platform.”
From FIFA’s perspective, it all makes sense. When promoting an event that’s been compared to “104 Super Bowls,” there’s money to be made, although soccer’s global organizer has previously noted that as “a not-for-profit organization, the revenue FIFA generates from the World Cup is reinvested to fuel the growth of the game” and that it expects to “reinvest more than 90% of its budgeted investments for 2023-2026 back in the game.”
No matter where the money goes, though, it’s fair to wonder if FIFA is hurting the tournament by pricing out fans.
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“There is a point at which revenue maximization can undermine the cultural value of the event,” Feldman reported. “The World Cup is not perceived by fans as just another luxury product. It has a public, cultural and national meaning. When prices move too far out of reach, the event may still be economically successful, but it risks becoming less representative of the communities that give soccer its value.”
That may already be happening. Ten days out from the start of the tournament, ticket prices showed noteworthy drops on FIFA’s resale marketplace.
Compared with prices 60 days out from the World Cup, the average cheapest ticket price across all 11 U.S. host cities fell by an average of 37%. In the Bay Area, which saw some of the sharpest declines, prices fell 59% on the official resale market. All the while, the governing body continues to promote new releases of tickets.
“FIFA, as a private organization, they reported, ‘Hey, we’re going to use dynamic pricing and we’re going to see where these land,'” Giuliani reported. “They’re either going to land at thousands of dollars of tickets or they’re going to end up coming down. I know right now … there are plenty of tickets that are available around the country for less than $200 for the World Cup. So I do think there will be some affordable options, but I’m certainly not denying that these prices are expensive.”
This is welcome news for last-minute attendees, although it means little for traveling fans who require lead time to make arrangements, but it also highlights a significant risk for FIFA. It’s an apples-to-oranges comparison, but just last summer there were plenty of empty group-stage seats across U.S. stadiums when FIFA rolled out its dynamic-pricing model (which is being used at this summer’s World Cup) for the Club World Cup.
According to a May report from the Athletic, the USMNT’s opener on June 12 in Los Angeles “is not on pace to sell out at current prices and purchasing rates.” Empty seats in a World Cup played in a market of nearly 350 million people would’ve once been unthinkable, but at the current prices, could some of the tournament’s 104 games be played in front of less-than-sellout crowds?
“Prices are hard to predict,” Feldman reported of the potential for price drops before or during the tournament. “They will depend on the eventual supply and demand in the market, but if I had to guess, I would expect a bifurcated market: Some tickets will fall as the event approaches, while the most scarce and culturally significant matches may remain extremely expensive.”
And tickets are just the tip of the financial iceberg.
Looking for parking in L.A. for the U.S. opener against Paraguay? That’ll cost you between $151 and $300 for FIFA-approved options. Want to take public transportation instead? In some places, that won’t be any cheaper.
The host countries’ bid book outlined that “Spectators will have complimentary public transportation to and from the stadiums on match days,” but the AP revealed that agreements with host cities were altered to allow them to provide public transportation “at cost.” Standard fares will apply to the rail systems in Atlanta, Houston and Seattle, while Kansas City has $15 shuttles to and from Arrowhead Stadium. Miami-Dade County is offering free shuttle service, and fans in Philadelphia can get free postgame subway rides funded by Airbnb.
Meanwhile, NJ Transit will charge $98 to get to MetLife Stadium, and in Boston, an express bus will cost $95.
“I have a lot of friends, real die-hard fans … they’re not going to go to a single game, and there’s games right up the road in L.A., and they can’t go because they can’t justify paying the amount of money,” Marshall reported. “Those are the people that it really hurts.”
So begins the sticker shock World Cup, but at what cost?
Additional reporting by Lizzy Becherano, Jeff Carlisle and Tisha Thompson.
