When Fifa announced that the United States would host the 2026 World Cup, everyone knew that the tournament would turn into a money-drenched political spectacle. But back in 2017, when the “United 2026 bid” advanced by the US, Mexico, and Canada was promising that “UNITED AS ONE” it would “bring the game to all,” it was hard to imagine the intensity of the capitalist hellscape and political mayhem to come. Nine years later, Donald Trump has threatened the US’s co-hosts: he has discussed making Canada the 51st state and sending US soldiers to Mexico to attack drug cartels. Meanwhile, Fifa’s avarice has been on full display in prices for tickets, parking, and demands upon cities. And it’s giving aspiring grifters a license to fleece.
The “United 2026 bid” feels like a document yanked from an archaeological dig. Its introduction states that “Canada, Mexico, and the United States have joined together to deliver a United Bid that offers Fifa the power of unity, the promise of certainty, and the potential of extraordinary opportunity”. The three countries promised to showcase “the power of football to meaningfully impact the world through a shared commitment to human rights.” Those were the days of rainbows, unicorns, and a notably less unhinged Trump, then midway through his first term, and whose presence was not anticipated to be a factor by the time the tournament rolled around.
In Fifa’s Guide to the Bidding Process for the 2026 tournament, Team Infantino insisted that “Fifa needs full legal and administrative support in relation to the sale and use of match tickets in order to make available as many tickets as possible to football fans at affordable prices” (emphasis mine).
Today, we’re witnessing a bait-and-switch in extremis. A single ticket to the World Cup final can cost a whopping $10,990, up from $1,600 at the Qatar World Cup in 2022. The United Bid book listed the most expensive ticket at only $1,550. After a fan backlash, Fifa made available a smattering of $60 tickets, comprising approximately 1.6% of a stadium’s sellable capacity. Fifa has instituted dynamic pricing, which is a nice way of saying that it will deploy technology to extract the absolute maximum out of each ticket buyer, not unlike a ride-share provider charging more during rush hour.
Then there’s the secondary resale market. Mexico had the good sense to limit the ticket touting, capping resale prices at the ticket’s face value, but in the United States and Canada, ticket prices have no ceiling, and Fifa takes a 15% cut from the seller and the buyer.
Fifa is also charging exorbitant prices for parking. In February the average price for a World Cup parking spot at US stadiums was $175. Today, parking spots in Los Angeles are going for $300 apiece. For matches at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, it’ll cost up to $225 to park at a nearby mall. Parking is being limited due to the extension of a security perimeter around stadiums that will have the additional impact of limiting tailgating, and thus dampening the festiveness.
Want to sidestep steep parking prices and take mass transit instead? Sorry, sucker. Despite the fact that the “Unity” bid promised that “Spectators will have complimentary public transportation to and from the stadiums on match days,” you’re going to pay through the nose thanks to local authorities.
Fifa, as it turns out, does not set public transport prices, but that doesn’t mean fans will get a discount from local authorities. In New Jersey, NJ Transit will charge $150 for round-trip rail tickets from New York’s Penn Station to MetLife Stadium, a journey that usually costs $12.90. This follows a decision by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to charge $80 for round-trip tickets from central Boston to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough (it usually only costs $20 for trips to NFL games at the same venue). Mass transit at the Qatar 2022 and Russia 2018 World Cups was free with your match ticket.
Fifa is also hoovering up vital personal data. Alex Shephard revealed in Golden Goal that Fifa is stipulating that workers at World Cup stadiums must hand over extraordinary amounts of personal information, supposedly for security reasons. But Fifa indicated that it could also share this information with “law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies and other departments of the host cities and international partner agencies,” including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In Los Angeles, UNITE Here Local 11 – the union that represents about 2,000 service workers – is concerned that the data will be handed over to ICE.
It’s as if Fifa is deliberately draining the joy from the game. The Guardian’s Jonathan Liew calls this “a Fifa premium,” which he says is “the hallmark of a financial model in which football’s governing body siphons off virtually all the tangible profit while loading host cities with virtually all the tangible costs.” Liew adds, “Fifa takes all the ticket revenue. Fifa takes all the broadcast revenue. Fifa takes the merchandising and concession revenue. Fifa even takes the parking money. Meanwhile, the hosts bear all the additional infrastructure costs, from the fan parks to the heightened security measures to the police escorts for the referees.”
New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill would surely agree. She placed the blame for her state’s high transportation prices squarely on Fifa. “Our administration inherited an agreement where Fifa is providing $0 for transportation to the World Cup. Zero,” she said. “At the same time, Fifa is making $11bn off of this World Cup …Fifa should pay for the rides, but if they don’t, I’m not going to let New Jersey commuters get taken for one.”
New Jersey is not the only host pushing back after getting “taken for one.” In Los Angeles, UNITE Here Local 11 is embroiled in a contract dispute with SoFi Stadium’s operator, Legends Global. The union’s co-president, Kurt Petersen, says the possibility of a strike is on the table. “The contract has expired,” he stated, “so we have the ability to do whatever we want, including striking.”
The gap between the rosy “United 2026 bid” and the rip-off reality of 2026 is an affront, and one that must be confronted by those who want fairness. Sherrill and Unite Here Local 11 have the right idea. And the fightback is only getting started.