During the Scotland vs.Morocco match last week, 65-year-old John McNicholas stood outside Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
— one ear tuned into the cheers of fans inside and the other pressed to a phone with StubHub customer service.After spending over $1,200 on two seats, driving four hours from New Jersey to Boston, and hiking two miles from his hotel to the stadium, McNicholas learned that his World Cup tickets fell through.The hardest part was breaking the news to his friend, David Wain, who was visiting from England to be McNicholas' plus-one.The two held out hope up until half-time." We hung around because we thought, well, somebody may be able to solve it at the last minute," he said.
"But nothing occurred."Since the World Cup began about two weeks ago, a growing number of fans who purchased resale game tickets say they were left empty-handed on match day — forcing them to either miss out on a rare opportunity or scramble to find new tickets, often costing twice or triple what they originally paid and for worse seats.Many of the complaints have been aimed at StubHub, one of the biggest platforms for ticket resales, though some fans on social media have reported similar troubles with Vivid Seats and SeatGeek.It's the latest in a flurry of controversies over World Cup tickets, along with sky-high prices and seating chart confusion.In an emailed statement to NPR, StubHub said the issue stems from FIFA's "ticketing infrastructure," including its app – which the vendor claims "has had significant performance issues that have affected transfers across all resale platforms."Meanwhile, FIFA told NPR it can only guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platform.
The soccer governing body, which also runs its own resale marketplace, did not respond to questions regarding StubHub's claim that FIFA was responsible for fans' missing tickets.Brad Michel, from San Antonio, Texas, purchased three seats near center-field on...