Exorbitant World Cup ticket prices creating sticker shock for soccer fans

CBS Evening News Exorbitant World Cup ticket prices creating sticker shock for soccer fans .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-evening-news.jpg'); } By Adam Yamaguchi, Adam Yamaguchi Correspondent Adam Yamaguchi is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles. Read Full Bio Adam Yamaguchi, Amanda Arden May 16, 2026 / 9:25 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Inglewood, California — FIFA is facing backlash for sky-high prices and fees for the upcoming World Cup, causing consternation among fans and providing fuel to critics who accuse soccer's world governing body of greed. This World Cup will be the biggest ever after it was expanded from 32 to 48 teams, with 104 matches across the U.S., Canada and Mexico that are projected to generate a record $10.9 billion in revenue, according to FIFA. FIFA's official resale marketplace has shown staggering prices, with the sport's governing body pocketing a 15% fee from both the seller and the buyer for each sale."If some people put on a secondary, on the resale market, some tickets for the final at $2 million, Number one, it doesn't mean that the tickets cost $2 million," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in an interview earlier this month. "Number two, it doesn't mean that somebody will buy these tickets." Infantino joked that if someone does pay $2 million, "I will personally bring him a hot dog and a Coke to make sure that he has a great experience."Last week, FIFA on its ticketing platform tripled the price for the top seats to the July 19 World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to $33,970, the Associated Press reported. According to the ticket analytics firm TicketData, the average price for the cheapest tickets on resale markets across all World Cup group stage games as of Friday was $553. The cheapest available ticket for the final was $7,734. President Trump, when asked last week about World Cup pricing, said even he personally wouldn't pay $1,000...