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Tickets to next summer’s FIFA World Cup matches in Vancouver and Toronto remain a hot commodity, despite exorbitant resale prices.
Soccer’s international governing body announced last week that more than two million tickets have been sold for the 104 matches of the tournament, which will be played in Canada, the United States and Mexico between June 11 and July 19.
Tickets for the seven games in Vancouver and six in Toronto sold out almost as quickly as they were released, although the teams for the matchups won’t be announced until after Friday’s final draw.
It has not been disclosed how much of the ticket inventory has been sold because organizers are still working through ticket requests from participating federations, said Peter Montopoli, Canada’s tournament director.
“What I feel confident in saying is that based on the tickets that were gathered for the Visa presale and the early ticket drawing, we have sold 100 percent of those tickets. So, everything that was available was sold.”
The number of tickets available next will depend on tickets obtained by participating member associations such as Canada Soccer, he added.
So far, so good, though.
Montopoli, former Canada Soccer general secretary, said he was “delighted” by the appetite for tickets.
Montopoli should know. He said his name has not appeared in either of the two draws to date, even though the second draw was weighted for potential buyers in the co-host countries, something for which Canada led the charge.
Canadian fans rank second in ticket sales
Others in his office also struck out.
“And we know people,” Montopoli said, laughing.
FIFA said fans from 212 countries and territories have purchased tickets so far, with fans in the United States buying the most, followed by Canada and then Mexico. They have also been popular with people in England, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Argentina and France.
To even have a chance to buy tickets, fans must be chosen through a lottery. They are then assigned a limited window during which they will have the opportunity to purchase tickets, based on availability.
FIFA has said tickets for group stage matches will start at $60 and rise to $6,730 for the most expensive seats at the championship game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19.
Prices are also skyrocketing for highly coveted matches in Canada, including the country’s first group game in Toronto on June 12. The cost of participating in that matchup started at $500 in the first phase of sales.
A survey released by the Angus Reid Institute last month found that 71 per cent of Canadians surveyed said ticket prices are too expensive to attend the World Cup. Among respondents who said they were “very interested” in watching the tournament, 84 percent said the cost was too high.
FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani heard the complaints about prices.
“When you’re in a market, the market dictates ticket prices,” said Montagliani, a Canadian who also serves as president of CONCACAF.
“At the end of the day, it’s professional sports. We just go by what the market is.”
Profits to help build stadiums and development programs
FIFA has a “fiduciary duty” to make money from the World Cup because 85 percent of those funds return to member countries, who use them to support and grow the sport, he added.
“All of that comes from one tournament: this one. There’s no other tournament that generates this amount of money. Or any money, frankly,” Montagliani said. “So this tournament feeds, over the next four years, 211 countries and everything that happens there.
“People lose perspective on that. They think it’s just in a bank account. It’s not just in a bank account. You go out and build stadiums and development programs.”
Football fans who have not been selected in ticket lotteries can turn to the secondary market, where costs increase exponentially.
The cheapest ticket to a group match in Vancouver on June 13 (the first match the city will host) was listed at C$798.10 on FIFA’s resale site on Tuesday. Getting into Canada’s first game in Toronto on June 12 cost at least $1,765.74.
Prices on other resale sites were slightly lower, with StubHub listing seats for the June 13 game in Vancouver for a bargain $481. The game in Toronto remains a luxury ticket with a minimum of $1,382.
Angus Reid’s survey found that most Canadians are willing to cash in on World Cup tickets: 52 per cent of respondents said that if they were given two tickets, they would try to sell them for cash.
Football fans who haven’t booked their seats yet may still be in luck, whether they want to watch a match themselves or win some money off of it.
The next phase of FIFA ticket sales will begin with a random draw, open from December 11 to January 13.
