FIFA is already one of the most corrupt, greedy, and short-sighted governing bodies in sports — but even they’ve found a way to top themselves. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026 information about the ticketing process is being revealed, and it’s the most disgusting, money-grabbing mess imaginable. It’s so bad that I hope fans will boycott the event to ensure it looks like the farce it is.
Tickets to a global sporting event like the World Cup were always going to be high, but FIFA is pushing those figures into the stratosphere. Every single stage of the event is being priced out for sports fans, with tickets being offered for prices that vastly exceed what they were in Qatar for 2022.
For example, a first round match at Qatar would have set you back anywhere from $11 USD in the low-cost fan section, which represents a tiny fraction of tickets sold — then escalating to the highest price tickets costing $200 USD. For the next World Cup those same affordable fan tickets are rising to $60 each, a 545% increase. Again, these are for a tiny fraction of the stadium known for not really being attainable because it requires a lottery.
So, what’s the next cheapest seat you can buy? $200. Yep, the most expensive group stage ticket in Qatar is now the cheapest option in North America — and this is only for games featuring teams people don’t really want to see. If there’s a specific team you’re hoping to catch, then good luck. The majority of seats for the first game featuring the USMNT are selling for the $2,700, with many selling for even more than that.
This is because FIFA is introducing what it’s calling “variable pricing,” similar to booking an Uber during a surge period. Instead of simply pricing the event and adding on a premium for, say, England vs. France — instead they’re waiting to see what the demand for tickets is going to be, and then pricing tickets accordingly. FIFA’s idea is: If you don’t pay it, someone else will — and who cares if soccer fans can’t afford it?
If this sounds extremely shitty, it’s because it is. Don’t worry though, because it gets much, much worse.
For the first time ever FIFA is selling RTB vouchers, or “Right to Buy.” These are vouchers which grant you the ability to then purchase a guaranteed ticket for a game. It’s an NFT of course, because FIFA decided to make this as obnoxious as possible.
Right now you can go onto their official website and purchase an NFT for a quarter final game in Kansas City with prices starting at $549. Once again, this is not a ticket — and does not get you entry. It’s just a voucher giving you the right to buy a ticket at a price set by FIFA at a later date.
This is one of the cheaper options. Semi-final vouchers in Dallas begin at $1,196 — and because greedy crypto chuds got in on this, there are NFTs for New York City starting at a cool $100,000.
Let’s go back to this Kansas City example. Let’s say you’ve purchased your dumb NFT for $549, because that’s the only way to get a ticket. Then as the event approaches you get an email from FIFA saying you can now buy your ticket for the quarter final for $4,000. You decide that’s too expensive, because of course it is. Don’t worry, because you can re-sell your NFT through the FIFA site and perhaps recoup your money! The bad news is that FIFA is taking a 15% transaction fee on every resold RTB token.
These unbelievably ghoulish morons have turned the simple process of buying a ticket for an event into a cryptocurrency scheme. It’s almost as if a global sporting event was organized by someone who pays for a checkmark on Twitter.
FIFA is ensuring it’s going to be impossible for anyone in an average income bracket to take their family to the World Cup. If you assume two adults and two kids, and we’ll pick a non-elite market like Seattle, and the group stage. Out of the gate the cheapest option right now is to purchase two NFTs for June 26 and $244 — for a total of $488. No idea what time the game is, forget who’s playing. You luck out and get two teams nobody cares about, because this keeps the price lower. It will now cost that family of four a minimum of $1,288. That is the absolute best-case scenario. These are for the cheapest seats, to the cheapest game, outside of a giant market.
Every ounce of excitement I had for this next World Cup is gone. Instead it’s been replaced with a white-hot passion to see all this stupidity go down in flames.
