Something unusual is happening with only a few days remaining before the U.S.men's national team opens its World Cup campaign against Paraguay: Tickets for the match are not sold out.Although numbers fluctuate regularly, FIFA's ticketing website still shows 132 tickets left to sell for a game that's set to take place in Los Angeles on Friday.
Meanwhile, resale platforms such as StubHub and SeatGeek — and FIFA's own marketplace — also show thousands of tickets on sale.The number is even higher for Canada's opening match against Bosnia Herzegovina in Toronto on the same day, with 226 tickets left in FIFA's website and a high number of tickets available in resale markets.That's unusual for high-profile events such as the opening matches of the World Cup — traditionally among the hardest to get tickets in the tournament.
This year will feature three hosts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico — but so far only Mexico's opening match against South Africa on Thursday looks to be virtually sold out.Ticketing experts widely agree on the reason: the prices.FIFA dramatically jacked them up for the tournament — especially for high profile games.
The most expensive regular seats for the U.S.opener against Paraguay are priced at $2,735 — more than the final cost for the 2022 World Cup final — while the cheapest are $1,120.
Even President Trump said he wouldn't pay those prices."I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn't pay it either, to be honest with you," Trump told the New York Post in a recent interview.The other two remaining games for the U.S.national have far fewer tickets available, given that prices are well below the ones for the opening match.There are not only plenty of tickets left to sell — a number of them are also available below FIFA's face value.
According to Ticketdata, which tracks prices across the resale platforms, the cheapest pair of tickets for the opening match for the U.S.and Canada was $951 as of Monday morning, while in FIFA's...