Footy Ticket Prices Have A New Normal, And It’s High! — Here’s A Better Way To Experience The Game
Is the game slipping away from us? It might feel like it, but maybe we just need to look for it in some new places.
If this past month has confirmed anything to us as footy fans, it’s that fan access to—and thus, the in-person experience of—games at the highest levels is becoming a thing of the past, if it’s not already. But it has also nudged us toward a deeper, more gratifying realization: exploring the game and experiencing the sport in new places, at the levels closer to its foundation and soul, is the way of the future (not to mention, it’s much more affordable!).
OUR NEW NORMAL
By the time I finally got access to the World Cup 2026 ticketing platform I knew what to expect. But that didn’t prevent the sticker shock. The resale platform was obviously no better. Even having saved thousands of dollars specifically to afford World Cup tickets and the required travel costs of attending (thanks for blowing it on host city rights, Denver!), I still found myself unwilling to pay any asking prices for games I’ve been scouting out for months now. Instead, I found myself asking a particular question: Is the game slipping away from us? More specifically, is the World Cup—the tournament and international party that solidified for me the idea that soccer is the global connector—slipping out of reach? It certainly feels like it at this point. And dare I say it, sometimes it feels like the game’s very soul is slipping away. Just recently, as an example, despite the fact that I’ve never been, reading the news of the final decision to demolish the San Siro in Milan because it simply is “not good enough” to host the modern day’s UEFA tournament matches gave me a palpable sense of loss (Is this how some people feel about statues?).
FIFA’s increase of prices on World Cup tickets for the North American market (anywhere from 2x-10x compared to 2022 prices), its permission for seller-defined pricing on its resale platform, or its utterly embarrassing allotment of Category 4 tickets aren’t the first instances of ‘the suits of footy’ doing all they can to maximize profits while sucking the soul out of the game—and most of us. One needs only look back a few years to the failed Super League launch, or more recently to the cancelled La Liga match intended for Miami this December between Villareal and Barcelona, before they’re compelled to wonder, “Do these suits and execs not get it?” And the answer is, “No. No they don’t.” Or, at the very least, they don’t seem to care. Or they know that with enough effort and persistence, enough people will come to accept the inevitable to make those efforts profitable (most likely this last one). After all, that La Liga match was ultimately given the go-ahead, but, according to Relevent Sports Group at least, simply wasn’t finalized with enough time to execute properly.
A CONVERSATION WITH MYSELF
It was when I fully accepted that answer above—that FIFA, or the chairmen of the biggest clubs in Europe, or La Liga’s Javier Tebas don’t understand or care about the average fan’s experience of the highest competitions in footy—that I started asking myself other questions like, “Sure prices are getting higher, but am I nonetheless getting my money’s worth?” and “Regardless of the pricing realities, do I really want to pay increasingly painful amounts to experience the game at the highest levels?” And finally, “Should I just start looking elsewhere for worthwhile fan experiences?” The answers to these questions, of course, are “No,” “No,” and “Yes!”, respectively. And the more I entertained this… potentially concerning self-dialogue (hey, sometimes when I talk to myself, it’s out loud), the more I allowed my mind to explore other ideas, namely the following:
FIFA’s monopoly is an illusion
FIFA may be angling to control, direct, or otherwise influence the game at every level, but there’s no way they ever truly can. The game still exists anywhere there’s a ball and two objects to serve as goal posts. Even at the professional level, the game exists in numerous instances and leagues, not just the top flights where they shoot off pyrotechnics during team walk-outs and stage matches in stadiums full of leather padded seats and premium alcohol service. As broad as their reach is, FIFA has yet to reach far enough to contaminate some truly incredible fan experiences at lower leagues or smaller regional tournaments that are simply out of their jurisdiction.
Change, of course, is inevitable
When we look at World Cups going from 16 to 32 to 48, and maybe one day even 64 teams, or from 1 host nation to two to three, or even from one single continent to three different ones on two completely opposite hemispheres (i.e. WC30), we could argue that the historical traditions of the game are being destroyed right before our very eyes. Or… we could say that like they always have, institutions evolve over time and we can either change and adapt with them, or dig in and rage against the machine. Regardless of what we decide to do, the reality remains the same: change is (probably) inevitable.
FIFA might actually be doing us a favor
Stay with me here. FIFA (and UEFA, and US Soccer for that matter) whether they mean to go about it this way or not (spoiler alert: they don’t), are actually growing the game globally by forcing fans who can only afford a ticket to a major tournament, or the required travel (but not both), to explore the many yet-untapped regions, leagues, and/or teams quietly making a name for themselves. Take Qarabag FK, for example. Have you ever heard of them? If you’re following the Champions League this season there's a chance you have. They’re in a pretty good spot in the table in this new league format (a great example of inevitable change?). Of course, UEFA is not FIFA, but where Gianni and his crew go, surely Čeferin and Europe will follow—anyone who thinks they’re not direct competitors is kidding themselves. Anyway, back to Qarabag.
A FOOTY TRAVELER’S THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
If I asked you if you were interested in attending a Champions League match, I would bet your mind goes to a game in England, or Spain, or Italy. But Qarabag are from Azerbaijan. For the sake of argument let’s say you’re up for a Qarabag home game, and are targeting their January 21 match against Frankfurt. The cheapest reasonable flight itinerary out of New York City (one that doesn't have you stopping in 3 different places first) is less than $600. Let’s say you want to spend the weekend ahead of the match exploring the area—you’ve never been to Azerbaijan before! You want 5 nights accommodation, which, after a cursory glance at respectable looking rooms and properties, you can get for $70/night. So we take the total tally up to $950 so far.
Of course you gotta eat, which for 5 days and nights, according to everyone’s favorite AI-powered search engine, will run you about $220, including one night of splurging on a fancy dinner. Let’s bring it to $1170 then. Of course, there’s still the match ticket (at least $150 let’s say) and probably a few Silk Road cultural activities along the way (internet’s conservative-minded budget = $200). If my math’s right we’re looking at a $1520 trip, $1600 if we round up.
And so here’s the question: Would you rather explore a new place in the world, discover a new culture and potentially a new perspective, and probably have an incredible story or two to share with friends and family—all while getting to witness the beautiful game—or would you rather spend $1743 for a single Category 4 resale ticket to a World Cup 2026 game (a legit price on the resale platform right now) where you can enjoy $15 crap beer and $12 hot dogs while sweating it out in the mid-summer heat and humidity of NYC or Miami? Kansas City isn’t much better in the summer months. Oh and by the way, if you don’t live in those places, we obviously haven’t even factored in travel costs.
What’s my point? Well, after the sticker shock of World Cup 2026 tickets wore off, I did some research. IT’S CHEAPER TO FLY HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD, EXPLORE A NEW, UNCROWDED COUNTRY WHILE STILL ENJOYING TOP-LEVEL FOOTY, THAN IT IS TO ATTEND JUST ONE WORLD CUP GAME NEXT SUMMER. Just sayin’.
ANOTHER THOUGHT, MINUS THE EXPERIMENT
Maybe you’re saying to yourself (out loud if you talk to yourself the way I do) that the “international trip for a Champions League match” example is contradictory to the overall argument for distancing oneself from the exorbitant costs of top-tier footy these days. In which case, let me ask this…
Is attending a single soccer game for ‘X’ number of dollars, watching from the nosebleeds, baking in the summer sun (assuming it’s an outdoor stadium of course), and paying an entire night out’s cost for processed food and beer in a plastic cup—just so you can say you were there—worth more to you than getting 10 times more value out of ‘X’ number of dollars from a trip that nonetheless includes footy, but is maybe not marketed to you as aggressively as the World Cup?
Or let me ask you this, if being able to say “I was there” actually is important to you, how much is it actually worth? Exactly how much? Put a number on it.
Because being able to tell your grandchildren that you were at the World Cup match where Mbappe or Salah or Lamine Yamal scored an incredible and decisive game winner could be great, but wouldn’t it be just as great to say you were there when a young up-and-coming so-and-so bagged a brace to win his first trophy at the lower leagues, before anyone else even knew who he was… without blowing your grandchildren’s entire lifetime allotment of birthday card money?
And so back to exploring those other ideas…
Yes, FIFA is out-pricing an increasing majority of us and creating a new era of corporate and sterile environments at their major tournaments, but that doesn’t mean we need to feed into the rage economy and only see it as something to stomp our feet about. If we’re smart, all we need to do is ask ourselves, “Is this still worth it?” or “What else is out there?” Odds are, if you do, you’ll recognize that not just as footy fans, but as footy travelers, there’s plenty more beyond the top tier tournaments worth spending our money on. And perhaps even more importantly, the time to explore those options is now, before FIFA gets a stranglehold on them too.
LATE TO THE GAME?
I know I’ve probably stated some things that many people have already realized and come to terms with, but as someone who has had such incredible experiences with the game at the highest level, not just as a fan, but as a traveler experiencing different cultures and getting to meet people from all over the world that I would have never otherwise crossed paths with, the reality of this new normal has taken some getting used to. Maybe I and others like me just needed time to realize that there’s been more to the beautiful game than FIFA and the World Cup all along. What do you think?