For soccer fans across the tri-state, excitement over the World Cup is quickly turning into sticker shock – with some tickets now selling for tens of thousands of dollars. <\/p>\n
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the economic think tank Groundwork Collective that focuses on prices and affordability, says she has seen resale seats going as high as $23,000.<\/p>\n
“There are a lot of ways FIFA could choose to allocate those tickets. They could focus on using a lottery system, so everyone has a shot at a ticket…they could use a line – first-come, first-served – but instead, they’ve chosen to really auction off the tickets to the highest bidder,” says Owens. “And we will see a World Cup that is more inhabited by investment bankers and hedge fund managers <\/p>\n
She says this resulted in the most expensive World Cup in world history – and $13 billion in revenue for FIFA across the four-year cycle.<\/p>\n
After initial backlash, FIFA did release a number of limited $60 tickets, but Owens says there simply weren’t enough of them.<\/p>\n
“The total number of tickets comes to less than 2% of seats for the World Cup this year,” says Owens. <\/p>\n
The rest are subject to dynamic pricing and an uncapped resale market.<\/p>\n
In response, FIFA sent News 12 a statement defending the high prices, saying they match what fans already pay for big events and that the money goes back into growing the game around the world.<\/p>\n
But experts are still predicting resale prices to keep climbing as the tournament gets closer – which may leave many local fans watching the games from home.<\/p>\n