The World Cup kicks off Thursday in Mexico City, and fans are paying hefty prices to be a part of the action. FIFA estimates that between 5 million and 6 million fans will attend the six-week tournament, which takes place in 16 cities across North America.
Among the 11 U.S. host cities, in five of them the least expensive tickets for matches are more expensive than the typical monthly mortgage for that market, according to a new analysis from real estate research company PropertyShark.
Fans attending matches in Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Kansas City, and the World Cup Final in New York can expect to pay the equivalent of a monthly mortgage payment or more for the thrill of experiencing the action in person.
The World Cup only takes place once every four years, and draws avid fans from around the globe, which may be why ticket prices for matches tend to soar.
Games are also being held across Canada and Mexico, and the other U.S. host cities are Houston, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle.
Where the World Cup is more than a mortgage payment
East Rutherford’s Met Life Stadium is hosting the Cup final on July 19, where the least expensive tickets are going for $7,256. In New York, the average monthly mortgage payment is $4,096, and the average monthly rent is $4,872, which means that, on average, it’ll cost New York homeowners 1.77 months of mortgage payments and New York renters 1.49 months of rent to attend the game, even in the cheapest seats. And that’s just for one ticket.
While tickets for the final in East Rutherford may be the most expensive, other cities are seeing match prices that either mirror or outpace monthly mortgage and rent averages.
The least expensive tickets for the Dallas semifinal match on July 14 are $2,391, while the city’s average mortgage payment is $2,351, and the average rent is $1,578. Atlanta is hosting another semifinal match on July 15, where the cheapest tickets are going for $2,208. The average mortgage payment in Atlanta is $2,149, and the average rent payment is $1,814.
In Kansas City, which is hosting one of the semifinal matches on July 11, the cheapest seats are going for $1,567, while the average monthly mortgage is $1,477 and the average rent is $1,342. And in Miami, where Colombia is set to take on Portugal in a much-anticipated match on June 27, the least-expensive seats are going for $2,700. That’s about equivalent to the city’s average monthly mortgage payment of $2,731 and its average rent at $2,696.
Keep in mind, too, that these prices are likely to continue rising as the Cup goes on and it becomes clear which countries will advance.
There are some cities, however, where games are relatively more affordable. In San Francisco, for example, the least-expensive tickets for a group-stage match on July 1 are going for $682. Certainly not cheap, but given San Francisco’s relatively high housing prices, where the average monthly mortgage is an astronomical $6,842, and the average monthly rent price is $3,635, it seems like a steal.
More consumers are focusing their spending on the ‘experience economy’
“We’re seeing unprecedented prices for events like the World Cup because of supply and demand, to put it simply,” says Mark Sanaiha of Macallan Capital. “For years, the experience economy has outpaced wage growth, and younger generations aren’t planning to change that trajectory.”
Driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and in part by the sense that bigger purchases, such as homes, are out of reach, younger consumers are choosing to spend on experiences rather than things. A study from Mastercard found that consumer spending on “experiences” grew by 65% between 2019 and 2023, while spending on goods only grew by 12% in the same period.
Sanaiha believes, though, that home ownership and “experiences” aren’t mutually exclusive. He recommends creating a separate brokerage account or high-yield savings account designated specifically for the events you want to save for.
“Once you give it a purpose, you’re more inclined to keep saving,” he says. “Automate it like a bill, saving $X every month until you hit your goal.”
And as Sanaiha points out, tickets to the game are only a part of what you might shell out to attend the World Cup. There are also travel and accommodation expenses.
“Rather than focusing on the ticket price, consider a total cost for your budget, so everything is accounted for. The key is to plan this like it’s another routine expense, but it happens to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he explains.
FIFA’s ticket prices have raised red flags for some U.S. officials
High prices are why many fans have already given up on attending. A survey of 1,008 U.S. soccer fans by LiveSportsonTV found that 52% of them had given up on purchasing tickets to the World Cup because of the exorbitant ticket prices.
Those prices, and their continuous fluctuations, have led attorneys general in Texas, New York, New Jersey, and California to launch probes into the pricing and packaging policies of World Cup tickets.
New York Attorney General Letitia James released a joint statement with New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport in May calling for greater transparency from FIFA regarding its pricing policies.
“Being honest about ticket sales is not complicated,” said Davenport. “But FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices—all at the expense of consumers and hardworking New Jerseyans.”
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