Fans are footing bigger bills than ever
The World Cup is back this summer, taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico, but instead of chatter about which players are going to perform on the pitch, the build-up to the tournament has all been about money.
The exorbitant ticket prices have completely overshadowed the football. Air Transat has highlighted the difference between paying to see countries play at the World Cup versus actually flying there, and the gulf is wide. Back in April, a handful of resale tickets for the World Cup final were listed at $2 million, with best remaining seats now being sold by FIFA for over $32,000. The cheapest seats for the USA’s opening game against Paraguay are $1120, which even Donald Trump said was too much, telling The New York Post, “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you.”
Even getting to the games will cost an arm and leg. NJ Transit hiked the price of journeys from Penn Station in Manhattan to the MetLife stadium (which is hosting eight games, including the final), from around $13 to $150. Following a massive backlash, prices have been slashed to $98.
FIFA is using a dynamic pricing model for its World Cup tickets, meaning the cost fluctuates with demand. With the organisation also taking 15% each from sellers and buyers on its own resale site, it’s easy to see how this looks like a giant money grab. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been widely criticised for his approach (if you’re making Trump seem reasonable then you really must be problematic), something he’s defended by pointing to the resale market in the US, where it’s not illegal to resell tickets at higher (usually much, much higher) than their face value.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who himself paid $700 to sit in the nosebleeds at Madison Square Garden to watch the New York Knicks play the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, was able to secure 1000 tickets at $50 for matches played at MetLife Stadium for New York residents, but it’s just a drop in the ocean. The cheapest resale tickets available are for the Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia group stage match at $156. Unsurprisingly, plenty of World Cup tickets remain unsold and hotel bookings are below forecasts, which will be detrimental to the economies of the host cities.
Sadly, the commercialisation of sport – and of culture – is only growing. Tickets for Premier League matches have been rising, as have the revenues for those clubs. And it costs more than ever to watch the football at home. A Sky Sports subscription can cost up to £34.99 a month, and of course, they don’t show all the games, so to get the full coverage you need TNT, coming in at up to £30.99 a month. 2026 is the first year since 2016 that both the Europa League and Champions League finals have not been free to watch (yep, you need TNT for those). Wimbledon, one of the biggest events in the UK’s sporting calendar, is famously expensive, and it’s only getting more so. Tickets for the singles finals topped the £300 mark for the first time in 2025, this year those seats are £350.
Sport isn’t the only culprit. Music fans have been feeling the same squeeze. Anyone who endured the queue for the Oasis reunion tour last year will remember feeling shafted by Ticketmaster, whose tiered pricing caused tickets to sell for more than double the advertised price. The company now has to be clearer about the prices fans will pay for tickets and not use any “misleading” labels. Tickets for Harry Styles’ summer residency at Madison Square Garden were being listed at $800 – $1000. Standing tickets for his Wembley shows started at £144.65, with Liam Gallagher even cracking jokes about the huge cost.
Spotify has announced that it’s trialling a new feature called Reserved, which it claims will make the ticket ordeal less painful for fans. The platform will identify an artist’s most dedicated listeners, reserve two tour tickets for them, and make them available to buy during a private window ahead of general sale. It’s a good idea in theory, but Reserved will be run in partnership with Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, the same operator that has been causing fans so many issues already. And no word on what the prices will be.
Concerts are genuinely expensive to stage (venues, production, crew, lighting, transport, and a chain of percentage-takers all add up), but that context only goes so far. Last year Olivia Dean called out Ticketmaster and AXS after some tickets for her tour were being resold at more than 14 times their face value, securing partial refunds for her fans. Robert Smith got refunds for fans who were subject to ‘unduly high’ fees from Ticketmaster when purchasing tickets (which were deliberately kept affordable) to see The Cure in 2023. And it doesn’t mean that artists – the massive pop stars at least – aren’t making money from their shows. Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour grossed over $2 billion and she made over $190 million after taxes just from the first leg alone (and where credit’s due, she handed out $197 million in bonuses to her crew).
Though the UK government has promised to make it illegal to resell tickets for above face value in an effort to combat ticket touting, legislation is still some way off – and in the meantime, that doesn’t stop the face value prices from going up. Ever higher costs of shows and matches impacts fans; they have to be more selective about what tickets they buy, which is particularly pertinent for the music biz as small venues are closing at an alarming rate. Fandom is meant to be about joy, not about money. There’s no point playing the game – or the gig – if the people who love it most can no longer get through the door.
