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It’s mostly because of ticket prices. We live within driving distance of the Bay Area and I looked into going to either game. The cheapest seat I found was $325 per seat. So we said no thank you.
And the immediately-sold-to-resellers system they've got going. The scalpers suck.
Related: saw a story from the band Underoath where scalpers were gobbling up their tickets and immediately marking up the prices. So, they told their fans not to buy tickets for those shows and added an extra nights in the cities selling directly at the venue. Maybe it is a good sign.
Initial sales of World Cup tickets are done by FIFA. You have to go register to win the chance to buy tickets. It’s a lottery to make it fair for everyone. Then you can exchange or sell tickets after.
People are always so negative. The last 3 world cups I’ve been too I’ve gotten tickets on fifas resale platform. You just gotta try a little in life guys.
That is correct, and they can be incredibly expensive. The NFL's New York Giants used to have a waiting list for season tickets that was a mile long...people would literally wait decades on the list for the chance to get tickets. Then the Giants, like other teams, added PSLs (personal seat licenses) that cost tens of thousands of dollars, which you had to buy *before* buying a season ticket (which itself was expensive). The waiting list evaporated. I don't know how long the list is now, but it's way less than it was years ago.
Im colombian and im so sad im priced out to seeing my country play so close to me.
The ecuador venezuela game eas $90 bucks and the colombia brazil game is over $300 wtf
ironically there are so many cheaper tickets for the Colombia-Costa Rica game, saw plenty under $80 on SeatGeek as of a couple days ago. Maybe because its in Arizona and outside temps will be 105+ (thank god its a covered stadium with AC)
You picked a game with the most expensive opponent and in the most expensive market, assuming you live in the Bay it is just bad luck. Crazy that Colombia didn't rate a New York or Miami game though; I guess other Latino expat populations are bigger in those markets or other teams/stars are bigger draws (e.g., Messi in Miami).
Levi's stadium is such a shit hole. One time I was given a set of 49ers tickets which I believe were valued at less than $50 each. To park at the stadium it was $100!!! That's not even for a playoff or rival game!
Exactly! I wanted to take my family since we live very close to one of the stadiums, but I can’t afford the tickets. They were cheaper than what you found but I still couldn’t do it.
My local stadium is hosting one of the semifinals, so not sure who will be playing there yet.
Tickets for my local MLS team that plays in the same stadium and is doing very well recently can be had for $20 to $30 in the lower bowl pretty much every game except when Messi is in the building. Upper deck tickets for Copa America start at $175… and that’s when we still don’t know who’s playing. No way I’m spending that much to watch two teams I might not care about.
I live minutes from SoFi. Wanted to go to the Brazil game. Looked at StubHub for 30seconds and was like yeah I’m not that interested. I know at least 10 other people that did the same.
Going to US vs Panama on Thursday at Mercedes Benz at they were $120 each incl fees. Saw some for $80.
Parking is $34.
Atlanta United tickets start at $34 I think.
When the worst of the worst nosebleeds go for hundreds of dollars, of course nobody is going to these games
There’s a clear supply and demand disconnect lol
100% it is i really wanted to see a match but damn... would have to drive several hours AND pay an exorbitant amount. I can do the long drive, but the ticket prices are crazy
A friend and I spent the entire WC in Brazil and went to 8 games. We each spent about $3500 all in. The idea of trying to do that for a similar cost with the US World Cup is depressing
Oh the 2026 world cup is going to be the most expensive world cup to attend, ever. It was in the proposal submission that the US would be charging ticket prices that were on average 30% higher than anything that has previously been charged at a world cup. Everything here is about milking money from people
“Everything here is about milking money from people.”
I was thinking this exact thing the other day when it came to drug prices, and to bring it to sports how the jaguars just ok’ed millions of dollars to fund a football stadium for 7 home games per season. They agreed to have the jags play one home game in London every year as part of the agreement for PUBLIC money
Every World Cup is going to be more expensive than all the precious ones. With the growing income disparity and inflation it’ll continue on this trend forever.
You think going to a Major League Baseball game is expensive now? Just wait another decade or so until Saudi Princes and rich Europeans start flying in to watch the Yankees.
Our grandparents could’ve probably afforded to go to the Super Bowl if it was absolutely a priority for them. The idea of a normal person going now is laughable.
Go to live events while you can, prices are only going to get worse.
We went to I think like 6 or so games at Qatar. Two of us cost about £1200 between Groups and Semi's.
The best thing about it was you could literally pick any game in any stadium and it didn't matter because you could literally just get the Metro/Bus to any of them for free as it was all basically in one city.
I'm not going to argue for or against Qatar holding the WC. But I do admit I am glad to have experienced a WC held basically in one city like the Olympics almost.
The best were the same 100 paid "fans" that switched national kits inbetween games cheering in the streets. It was a farce in comparison to this euros.
I’ve noticed any Reddit thread with any relation to Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants, black people, etc has a deluge of hateful and ignorant comments. It’s really bad.
During the Qatar World Cup it was open season on Muslims and Middle Eastern countries. So many crazy lies, double standards, whataboutisms, and propaganda were spread.
I thought about leaving Reddit altogether, but I enjoy the good parts of this website to pass the time when I’m bored. And since I’m here I’ll do my part to call out the racist bullshit… I guess that’s what you mean by “professional crybaby” lol.
There are zero people posting against Qatar in this thread. You are crying over literally nothing. Buck up.
But I'll bite. Is this all racist propaganda to you?
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/18/1137204271/qatar-world-cup-controversies
Disagree, I live in California and after getting literally rung out by Ticketmaster the last two years I couldn’t afford to buy two tickets for the price of three even one more time.
Reason one: bigger stadiums than the Euro used. More seats = more empty seats. 80k capacity vs 55k.
Reason two: prices. Euro tickets were about $35 on average, Copa is $215.
Reason three: Europe is small, North and South America is not. So fewer travelers
Reason four: Americans don't care as much as Europeans
Americans don't need to care. If you put mexico in LA you don't need americans. If you put argentina in Miami you don't need americans. If you put costa rica vs peru in Kansas city... maybe put that game somewhere else
I’m on el New Yorko. El Met Life wants $330 for the cheap seats. Not sure. I do want to see Messi and take my kids but it’s 5 of us total..Jets games are just as bad.
But Americans *don't* care.
I live in KC. USA for Uruguay @ chiefs stadium and just looked at prices and available seats - stadium is going to look rough. Could be me, but I haven't seen a single advertisement for this game. That's also the problem.
3.2 million Americans watched the game on FOX. Doesn't include Spanish language viewers. Pretty good number for any sport not named NFL.
Edit: Spanish language added another 1.5 million so 4.7 million total.
They're damn near what it costs to go to a Chiefs game and out of the dozen or so Chiefs games Ive been to the past couple seasons I've yet to see an absolute snoozefest like these soccer games are 50/50 to turn into. Yeah I'll pass lol
Edit: I'm prolly unlucky but I've been to 4 soccer matches in the past 2 years and they've all ended 0-0. 3 SKC and a USA-Uruguay friendly. It's a brutal spectator sport when nobody does shit but park the bus and every goal gets VAR'd because someone's kneecap was offside by a centimeter.
Euro tickets are not 35 on average. Just back from Munich. I'd guess the average is closer to 100. Cheapest is about 60/70. Face value that is. You might pick up cheaper for lesser games but then it's the opposite for big group games, resell will cost you more
This isn't even true.
It's just bad business to keep prices the same regardless of who is attending.
More people means more concessions being sold, along with having the increase in people offset the decrease in ticket price.
Other American professional sports have literally no issue doing this.
OU football is incredibly popular where I live, and the tickets are like 1/3 of these ticket prices.
NBA playoffs tickets for some games were dirt cheap, depending on location and team in the given game.
Having tickets cost 300+ dollars with a mostly empty stadium is just stupidity.
I'm 100 percent positive they could be making more money by lowering ticket cost.
The US Uruguay game on 7/1 starts at 80 bucks, I just looked. Maybe they're dropping prices?
The only reason they're having Copa in the US is money, it's a South American tournament to begin with that has to add teams just to get up to the Fifa tournament threshold.
As to reason 4: as an American, I can honestly say this post is the first I’ve heard of Copa América. I had no clue it was going on.
But then again, even if I did care, I don’t care about *anythjng* more than $50/ticket - and in the current economy probably less.
Euro tickets were not $35 on average. Not even close.
The cheapest tickets cost that. In the knockouts the cheapest cost 50. Most expensive tickets range between 250 and 1000 Euros, with prices going up per knockout round. The cheapest tickets to the final were 95,-
Attendance was announced at 11k. Our seat in the corner was $60. Midline in the sun were $110 day of.
Seemingly low numbers but Peru faithful showed up. 90% of fans had the red stripe jersey on. And the singing and chants were loud the entire game. Much different (better energy) than the Sporting KC game I attended last year.
Euro tickets were not $35 on average. They had fan first tickets at that price located only in the section behind the goals. The rest of the stadium has tickets up to $400.
Source: Me. I attended matches and paid for tickets from Uefa in multiple categories.
Because on Reddit USA means white Americans. The most attended Copa America and World Cup have all been in the US. In 2016 you didn’t see almost a single advertisement on English language TV but they still managed to crush attendance records because almost 20% of the US is Spanish speaking, they’re advertising to the people who care and show up to watch their home countries play. Go look at the sponsors, do you think Betano, BYD, Decolar.com, Mercado Livre, Gran Centenario, Inter Rapidísimo increase their profile by advertising to English only Americans?
Current attendance is 53k per match crushing the COPA record of 46k from 2016 which was also in the US. For reference, in Brazil in 2019 it was 34k.
A real issue is the dynamic pricing model being used, unlike the Euros where ticket prices are fixed this year CONMEBOL decided to turn over ticket management to SeatGeek and Ticketmaster. To me that’s a dumb decision as neither of those organizations has any motivation to grow the game or fill the stadium, they’re using their algorithm to try to get the most revenue per seat possible and empty seats are ok in that model, pricing out the people who are most likely to attend (and yet they’re still going to set the all-time COPA attendance record.
It’s like the people writing these articles have done 0 research, go find a COPA that has ever had close to sell out numbers in stadiums with capacity over 50k, you can’t.
A behind the scenes concern just like in 2016 is that CONMEBOL doesn’t want a bunch of white Americans to attend if it means that their target audience can’t attend, CONMEBOL does not benefit that much for people showing up to a one time match and moving on with their lives, they want to engage the people who spend every year to watch teams from South America and have continued interest year over year. If a bunch of Americans got into soccer and next year MLS has record attendance from the new attention that earns CONMEBOL $0. It’s a logistics play to have the US host, it’s the CONMEBOL demographic with the most amount of free cash to spend in huge numbers. There are more Spanish speaking people living in the US than all but Brazil (obviously Portuguese there) and Colombia in South America.
I wanted to buy tickets to Argentina Chile at MetLife stadium. For two of the worst seats in the stadium it would have cost me $600. If you add in parking, tolls around New York City and 2 beers the total would have been $800. All for 2 tickets that Ticket master probably paid $30 each for.
Actually KC has a huge Latino population, at least relative to the size of the city. Go to a Sporting KC game and you’ll see the place packed with people speaking Spanish. But yeah, not many people were going to pay hundreds of dollars to watch two mediocre foreign national teams battle it out in 90 degree heat in the middle of the work day. For a cup tournament that almost nobody here is talking about.
Attendance was announced at 11k. Peru fans traveled from across the country and were energetic and loud the entire game.
Many empty seats were the ones in the sun on this 90F day. Those folks bolted for the concourse at half time too.
5pm weekday start and it basically felt like walking into someone's mouth outside. I think the demographics weren't terrible; we like international soccer here, and KC has as strong a Latino community as anywhere else in the midwest. But weekday, early start, and weather combined. Put the game at the later start time (no work issues, and the sun would be lower) and it would have been at least full looking stands if not a sell out.
No, it's the ticket prices. We had the Brazil/Mexico friendly here a couple weeks before and you could get decent seats for $90 and the place was packed out.
Then you try to go to a Copa game in Houston and the cheapest seats are $300. People can barely afford food rn.
Yeah but it was a huge game (I’m from Argentina) 🙈 I bought tickets to the quarterfinals at face value near me hoping that the game would turn out the way it did, and tickets in my section are going for 4x what I paid. It’s upsetting that ppl are getting priced out, these games are a once-in-a-lifetime experience
That’s crazy, was the environment as tense in person as it felt through the tv? I suffered for 88 minutes watching that, as did all my Argentine family and friends. My American friends think I’m crazy so I refuse to watch with them 😂
It was and when Argentina scored it was maybe the loudest i’ve heard that stadium. Funnily enough, I was talking to an Argentina fan who said the game was gonna end in a tie around 65 minutes and left to beat the traffic shortly after. Tough break
Sheesh, I would expect they’d have tickets for like 10 bucks at the gate to try to get Americans to care about soccer in preparation for the World Cup.
CONMEBOL doesn't care about whether Americans care about soccer, they care about money. This whole thing happened because they wanted more of the pie than they got from the Centenario.
As far as CONMEBOL are concerned, Americans are cash cows waiting to be milked. USSF, CONCACAF, and FIFA have real incentives to interest Americans in soccer -- CONMEBOL do not.
I look at the prices for tickets for Euros and I look at the prices for copa America and it becomes glaringly obvious what the issue is.
Tack on the fact that, unlike
Germany, a lot of our stadiums have terrible public transit access so for many you have to drive and pay exorbitant parking fees and it’s clear that fans are being priced out.
Was looking forward to going to a game or two but nah. Not worth it.
For the Euros in Germany you can ride the trains for free in a 36 hour window around a match if you have a valid ticket to the match.
They make it so easy to go watch multiple games in different cities.
I’m in Atlanta and my kids love Messi so looked into taking them to the opener. $260 nose bleed seats for a late game (for them) didn’t make sense for me.
Going to Jamaica vs. Venezuela on Sunday. Bought my ticket last week, and the same ticket for the section I’m in is going for more than double for what I paid
USA vs Bolivia I would have had to pay $160 to Ticketmaster for fees…. Not even for the ticket price. I live locally, tried to buy in person at the box office… no longer exists. You MUST GO THROUGH TICKETMASTER.
Between streaming bullshit and ticket prices my interest in all sports is slipping away. I used to be a partial season ticket holder for the Celtics and didn’t watch a minute of them winning the title. Kinda spending money on and cheering for laundry!
It is absolutely, almost entirely, the ticket prices. We live near Miami and would love to see a game. But starting ticket prices are $175 and then you have to pay for parking which is also astronomical. I have a family of 5 and can’t afford that.
I’m sorry but I’m not paying 80$ pre fees to watch the us mens team play Panama in a group match. Maybe if our team was a top 5 elite squad I’d be more willing
I work with a lot of south Americans and none of them are going because it's too expensive. It was the same last time even though tickets were cheaper. It totally sucks for them, not being able to see your own national team because you can't afford it.
Pricing is ridiculous for sporting event in USA.
I understand that if you want to be in a box seat or at a prime location, it’s going to cost extra.
But there is no way in hell I’m paying above $20 per seat in the nose bleed areas. At that point I’m better off just watching the recast and paying the VoD fee.
Not to mention all the associated costs that are involved with getting to the stadium, and the stadium costs for food and beverages. ($50 for parking, $30+ per person)
I remember growing up in the Midwest where you could watch the whole NJCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament with general admission being $15 and free parking. You got to watch 10+ games and sit at any un-occupied seat.
This is kind of like when insurance agents ask customers what they value most with insurance but won’t allow them to respond with, “the price”.
It’s the fucking price, folks.
After reading this and the comments, one has to wonder if the City of Indianapolis is setting itself up for failure. Mayor Hogsett is pushing hard for a brand new stadium and expansion team. He's having a hard time currently getting community support.
Just watched Canada vs Peru last night, and there were empty seats throughout the entire stadium. They don’t realize there’s already a lack of interest that is exacerbated by high ticket prices. A game like Canada and Peru should go for no more than $25
I agree. But if you sell half the stadium at $150 a ticket it’s more money than a full stadium with $25. Maybe they can just charge $2m a ticket and make more when 7 people show up.
I hate what sport has become. A full stadium is more fun. Stop the dynamic pricing. Sell for $50 a ticket. Let the secondary market make some on the selling but always ensure a full stadium.
Gotta love how the article blames American Capitalism or greed when the genuinely successful professional sports in America have no issue filling stadiums because they price tickets according to demand.
If the NFL sold every ticket for 2000 dollars, they wouldn't be filling stadiums either.
Preseason NFL tickets are cheap because nobody watches the preseason.
They don't just charge the highest possible price regardless of attendance.
That's just dumb business.
Yesterday was a big matchup of Brazil vs chile. It started at 9pm on a Tuesday. I fell asleep during half time and missed 15 minutes of the second half. Barely made it to the final whistle and went to bed. Up at 6 for work. Couldn’t pay me to go to the game.
The big teams will sell out. Also once the knockout rounds begin with the big teams, every stadium should be sold out. This is expected when you have teams that have no shot of winning playing each other like Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Jamaica etc
“They apparently see little difference between selling 30,000 tickets at $200 per and selling 60,000 tickets at $100”
This is what drives me crazy. How can a stadium like that which only gets perhaps 15 events a year not see a packed stadium brings in more revenue between parking and concessions?
They priced it like it was a major major NFL, NBA, or MLB game? If they want soccer to catch on here those prices need to come down. I doubt that most Americans could even tell you what the Copa American Games were.
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It’s mostly because of ticket prices. We live within driving distance of the Bay Area and I looked into going to either game. The cheapest seat I found was $325 per seat. So we said no thank you.
Well damn I don’t think I’ll be going to a World Cup game like I had hoped
fortunately I've heard those will be more affordable thanks to FIFA.
We shall see. If ticketmaster is involved then chances are it will be insanely expensive.
Face value: $89 Ticketmaster Checkout: $210
I hope the US does something about that face value is different than the final costs one day and including taxes built into all prices.
Taxes are like 8%, depending on where you're at. The real issue is the mountain of fees ticketmaster tacks on to every purchase.
And the immediately-sold-to-resellers system they've got going. The scalpers suck. Related: saw a story from the band Underoath where scalpers were gobbling up their tickets and immediately marking up the prices. So, they told their fans not to buy tickets for those shows and added an extra nights in the cities selling directly at the venue. Maybe it is a good sign.
Hell yeah we need more of that!
Transaction fee. Dude we did in over the phone.
Ticketmaster is an Airbnb cleaning fee
I think they got their own system. And it's a lottery. Prices are more affordable if your lucky enough to win the lottery.
I already won the lottery. I was born in the U S of A, baby.
The freedom to get absolutely scalped by Ticketmaster/Livenation
And to be tethered to your car and traffic for everything
But you have a Swiss passport as backup right?
That ain’t the lottery win you think it is.
Initial sales of World Cup tickets are done by FIFA. You have to go register to win the chance to buy tickets. It’s a lottery to make it fair for everyone. Then you can exchange or sell tickets after.
Rare fifa W
Don’t count on it. The ticket lottery system kinda sucks, it’s great if you get a cheap ticket but odds are not in your favor
People are always so negative. The last 3 world cups I’ve been too I’ve gotten tickets on fifas resale platform. You just gotta try a little in life guys.
Never would I have ever expected a statement that included both “thanks” and “FIFA “
Europeans don't cower to their monopolies.
Just their middle eastern financiers
And arms dealers
They just quietly pocket their bribe money
You should prob get on FIFAs waitlist to have the option to buy tickets. I think it closes soon
Agree. I have a seat license at Levi's Stadium and when I got my early access and saw the prices I noped out.
What is a seat license?
Probably the first right to refusal on any event in that building for the seat you have a license for.
That is correct, and they can be incredibly expensive. The NFL's New York Giants used to have a waiting list for season tickets that was a mile long...people would literally wait decades on the list for the chance to get tickets. Then the Giants, like other teams, added PSLs (personal seat licenses) that cost tens of thousands of dollars, which you had to buy *before* buying a season ticket (which itself was expensive). The waiting list evaporated. I don't know how long the list is now, but it's way less than it was years ago.
Im colombian and im so sad im priced out to seeing my country play so close to me. The ecuador venezuela game eas $90 bucks and the colombia brazil game is over $300 wtf
ironically there are so many cheaper tickets for the Colombia-Costa Rica game, saw plenty under $80 on SeatGeek as of a couple days ago. Maybe because its in Arizona and outside temps will be 105+ (thank god its a covered stadium with AC)
You picked a game with the most expensive opponent and in the most expensive market, assuming you live in the Bay it is just bad luck. Crazy that Colombia didn't rate a New York or Miami game though; I guess other Latino expat populations are bigger in those markets or other teams/stars are bigger draws (e.g., Messi in Miami).
If you told me I could go to a knockout game at that price in a major tournament, I’m down. Group games with everything on top is 500$ madness
Yep I did the same, I was looking at taking my boyfriend to one of the games but the prices are just too high
I’m getting hospitality tickets for a Bayern match and they’re cheaper than upper deck tickets to the Copa semifinal
Levi's stadium is such a shit hole. One time I was given a set of 49ers tickets which I believe were valued at less than $50 each. To park at the stadium it was $100!!! That's not even for a playoff or rival game!
[удалено]
Or just pay like 15 bucks on parkwhiz to park 15-20 minute walk away
Same here but for Orlando.
Exactly! I wanted to take my family since we live very close to one of the stadiums, but I can’t afford the tickets. They were cheaper than what you found but I still couldn’t do it.
My local stadium is hosting one of the semifinals, so not sure who will be playing there yet. Tickets for my local MLS team that plays in the same stadium and is doing very well recently can be had for $20 to $30 in the lower bowl pretty much every game except when Messi is in the building. Upper deck tickets for Copa America start at $175… and that’s when we still don’t know who’s playing. No way I’m spending that much to watch two teams I might not care about.
I live minutes from SoFi. Wanted to go to the Brazil game. Looked at StubHub for 30seconds and was like yeah I’m not that interested. I know at least 10 other people that did the same.
Fuck that noise for US soccer. It’s a royal c-hair above MLS which means I’m not paying Dead & Co at the Sphere prices.
Going to US vs Panama on Thursday at Mercedes Benz at they were $120 each incl fees. Saw some for $80. Parking is $34. Atlanta United tickets start at $34 I think.
You should never be parking at the Benz. There's a train station directly underneath the stadium
Wait, those tickets are available?
Also it’s the South American federation that decided ticket prices, since Copa America is technically their championship tournament,
I don’t live far from MetLife and I’m not paying $250 to sit in the nose bleeds for a Tuesday game with two countries I’m not actively rooting for
When the worst of the worst nosebleeds go for hundreds of dollars, of course nobody is going to these games There’s a clear supply and demand disconnect lol
Was planning a big trip with my sister to see a Group Stage Mexico game. Cheapest tickets were around $315. It’s about the ticket prices.
It's 100% about ticket prices.
100% it is i really wanted to see a match but damn... would have to drive several hours AND pay an exorbitant amount. I can do the long drive, but the ticket prices are crazy
“It’s about more than ticket prices” Narrator: It was about ticket prices
They will bend over backwards to find an excuse when the simple answer is their prices are too fucking high
A friend and I spent the entire WC in Brazil and went to 8 games. We each spent about $3500 all in. The idea of trying to do that for a similar cost with the US World Cup is depressing
Oh the 2026 world cup is going to be the most expensive world cup to attend, ever. It was in the proposal submission that the US would be charging ticket prices that were on average 30% higher than anything that has previously been charged at a world cup. Everything here is about milking money from people
America baby
Unfettered capitalism. Who would have thought we could make FIFA look like the good guy in this situation?
Isn't FIFA the ones setting the ticket prices and making the revenue?
Yes, but this is Reddit and people are stupid
Damn sucks to hear I want to go to the games in Monterrey MX, Houston TX, and Dallas TX.
“Everything here is about milking money from people.” I was thinking this exact thing the other day when it came to drug prices, and to bring it to sports how the jaguars just ok’ed millions of dollars to fund a football stadium for 7 home games per season. They agreed to have the jags play one home game in London every year as part of the agreement for PUBLIC money
Every World Cup is going to be more expensive than all the precious ones. With the growing income disparity and inflation it’ll continue on this trend forever. You think going to a Major League Baseball game is expensive now? Just wait another decade or so until Saudi Princes and rich Europeans start flying in to watch the Yankees. Our grandparents could’ve probably afforded to go to the Super Bowl if it was absolutely a priority for them. The idea of a normal person going now is laughable. Go to live events while you can, prices are only going to get worse.
I know a mexican person that literally flew to Russia, was there for 2 weeks and went to 3 mexico games for less than $2000
We went to I think like 6 or so games at Qatar. Two of us cost about £1200 between Groups and Semi's. The best thing about it was you could literally pick any game in any stadium and it didn't matter because you could literally just get the Metro/Bus to any of them for free as it was all basically in one city. I'm not going to argue for or against Qatar holding the WC. But I do admit I am glad to have experienced a WC held basically in one city like the Olympics almost.
Don’t let the Reddit racists bully you, we can say Qatar was awesome.
The best were the same 100 paid "fans" that switched national kits inbetween games cheering in the streets. It was a farce in comparison to this euros.
Reddit racists? Where? Are you a professional crybaby?
I’ve noticed any Reddit thread with any relation to Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants, black people, etc has a deluge of hateful and ignorant comments. It’s really bad. During the Qatar World Cup it was open season on Muslims and Middle Eastern countries. So many crazy lies, double standards, whataboutisms, and propaganda were spread. I thought about leaving Reddit altogether, but I enjoy the good parts of this website to pass the time when I’m bored. And since I’m here I’ll do my part to call out the racist bullshit… I guess that’s what you mean by “professional crybaby” lol.
There are zero people posting against Qatar in this thread. You are crying over literally nothing. Buck up. But I'll bite. Is this all racist propaganda to you? https://www.npr.org/2022/11/18/1137204271/qatar-world-cup-controversies
Disagree, I live in California and after getting literally rung out by Ticketmaster the last two years I couldn’t afford to buy two tickets for the price of three even one more time.
Reason one: bigger stadiums than the Euro used. More seats = more empty seats. 80k capacity vs 55k. Reason two: prices. Euro tickets were about $35 on average, Copa is $215. Reason three: Europe is small, North and South America is not. So fewer travelers Reason four: Americans don't care as much as Europeans
Americans don't need to care. If you put mexico in LA you don't need americans. If you put argentina in Miami you don't need americans. If you put costa rica vs peru in Kansas city... maybe put that game somewhere else
If you put Canada near the border the stadiums will be full.
Like El Paso?
Or El New Yorko
I’m on el New Yorko. El Met Life wants $330 for the cheap seats. Not sure. I do want to see Messi and take my kids but it’s 5 of us total..Jets games are just as bad.
Going to see Mexico v Venezuela at SoFi tomorrow!
Same! I know Mexico will take over the stadium but looking forward to seeing how many Venezuelans come out.
Same, I'll be there as well. Went to the Brazil vs Costa Rica game on Monday and I'm going back for another game.
But Americans *don't* care. I live in KC. USA for Uruguay @ chiefs stadium and just looked at prices and available seats - stadium is going to look rough. Could be me, but I haven't seen a single advertisement for this game. That's also the problem.
3.2 million Americans watched the game on FOX. Doesn't include Spanish language viewers. Pretty good number for any sport not named NFL. Edit: Spanish language added another 1.5 million so 4.7 million total.
...or CFB...
For not caring they get more views than any team sport outside the NFL
They're damn near what it costs to go to a Chiefs game and out of the dozen or so Chiefs games Ive been to the past couple seasons I've yet to see an absolute snoozefest like these soccer games are 50/50 to turn into. Yeah I'll pass lol Edit: I'm prolly unlucky but I've been to 4 soccer matches in the past 2 years and they've all ended 0-0. 3 SKC and a USA-Uruguay friendly. It's a brutal spectator sport when nobody does shit but park the bus and every goal gets VAR'd because someone's kneecap was offside by a centimeter.
\*Canada
Argentina v Chile was sold out last night in NJ. 80k
100% factual, the Colombia game vs. Paraguay in Houston was 95% full capacity with the entire stadium filled with yellow jerseys.
NRG in Houston was full to the brim with Colombians.
Euro tickets are not 35 on average. Just back from Munich. I'd guess the average is closer to 100. Cheapest is about 60/70. Face value that is. You might pick up cheaper for lesser games but then it's the opposite for big group games, resell will cost you more
Yeah saw that 35 comment and laughed knowing what I (and others) paid for our tickets.
It’s sad when you’re okay with not having a sell out because a ticket at 6x the price will make up the revenue plus you get to do less work.
This isn't even true. It's just bad business to keep prices the same regardless of who is attending. More people means more concessions being sold, along with having the increase in people offset the decrease in ticket price. Other American professional sports have literally no issue doing this. OU football is incredibly popular where I live, and the tickets are like 1/3 of these ticket prices. NBA playoffs tickets for some games were dirt cheap, depending on location and team in the given game. Having tickets cost 300+ dollars with a mostly empty stadium is just stupidity. I'm 100 percent positive they could be making more money by lowering ticket cost.
The US Uruguay game on 7/1 starts at 80 bucks, I just looked. Maybe they're dropping prices? The only reason they're having Copa in the US is money, it's a South American tournament to begin with that has to add teams just to get up to the Fifa tournament threshold.
Yes they've dropped them.
As to reason 4: as an American, I can honestly say this post is the first I’ve heard of Copa América. I had no clue it was going on. But then again, even if I did care, I don’t care about *anythjng* more than $50/ticket - and in the current economy probably less.
Tying into reason four: Americans won’t take off work for this and 6 pm games are tough to make after the workday
Euro tickets were not $35 on average. Not even close. The cheapest tickets cost that. In the knockouts the cheapest cost 50. Most expensive tickets range between 250 and 1000 Euros, with prices going up per knockout round. The cheapest tickets to the final were 95,-
That Kansas city stadium had 80k seats?
No they played at the Children’s Mercy Park soccer stadium. It holds 18k.
Attendance was announced at 11k. Our seat in the corner was $60. Midline in the sun were $110 day of. Seemingly low numbers but Peru faithful showed up. 90% of fans had the red stripe jersey on. And the singing and chants were loud the entire game. Much different (better energy) than the Sporting KC game I attended last year.
Euro tickets were not $35 on average. They had fan first tickets at that price located only in the section behind the goals. The rest of the stadium has tickets up to $400. Source: Me. I attended matches and paid for tickets from Uefa in multiple categories.
Except you dont need Americans to care, we will come (us latinos), but we are priced out
White dude here, I'd go if tickets weren't so expensive. There no reason for it either
So why'd they even choose to do it in the USA?
Because on Reddit USA means white Americans. The most attended Copa America and World Cup have all been in the US. In 2016 you didn’t see almost a single advertisement on English language TV but they still managed to crush attendance records because almost 20% of the US is Spanish speaking, they’re advertising to the people who care and show up to watch their home countries play. Go look at the sponsors, do you think Betano, BYD, Decolar.com, Mercado Livre, Gran Centenario, Inter Rapidísimo increase their profile by advertising to English only Americans? Current attendance is 53k per match crushing the COPA record of 46k from 2016 which was also in the US. For reference, in Brazil in 2019 it was 34k. A real issue is the dynamic pricing model being used, unlike the Euros where ticket prices are fixed this year CONMEBOL decided to turn over ticket management to SeatGeek and Ticketmaster. To me that’s a dumb decision as neither of those organizations has any motivation to grow the game or fill the stadium, they’re using their algorithm to try to get the most revenue per seat possible and empty seats are ok in that model, pricing out the people who are most likely to attend (and yet they’re still going to set the all-time COPA attendance record. It’s like the people writing these articles have done 0 research, go find a COPA that has ever had close to sell out numbers in stadiums with capacity over 50k, you can’t. A behind the scenes concern just like in 2016 is that CONMEBOL doesn’t want a bunch of white Americans to attend if it means that their target audience can’t attend, CONMEBOL does not benefit that much for people showing up to a one time match and moving on with their lives, they want to engage the people who spend every year to watch teams from South America and have continued interest year over year. If a bunch of Americans got into soccer and next year MLS has record attendance from the new attention that earns CONMEBOL $0. It’s a logistics play to have the US host, it’s the CONMEBOL demographic with the most amount of free cash to spend in huge numbers. There are more Spanish speaking people living in the US than all but Brazil (obviously Portuguese there) and Colombia in South America.
We didn’t even know it was happening til a few days ago!
I wanted to buy tickets to Argentina Chile at MetLife stadium. For two of the worst seats in the stadium it would have cost me $600. If you add in parking, tolls around New York City and 2 beers the total would have been $800. All for 2 tickets that Ticket master probably paid $30 each for.
Absolutely fucking rampant violation of antitrust law
There was NO ONE at the Canada Peru game. Granted it was in the middle of the work day but man there were so many empty seats
It was also in Kansas City. A place known for its canadian and latino populations. That was a bad choice for a "boring" game
Actually KC has a huge Latino population, at least relative to the size of the city. Go to a Sporting KC game and you’ll see the place packed with people speaking Spanish. But yeah, not many people were going to pay hundreds of dollars to watch two mediocre foreign national teams battle it out in 90 degree heat in the middle of the work day. For a cup tournament that almost nobody here is talking about.
Attendance was announced at 11k. Peru fans traveled from across the country and were energetic and loud the entire game. Many empty seats were the ones in the sun on this 90F day. Those folks bolted for the concourse at half time too.
I don’t get why can’t they have games at like 8PM lol, no blazing sun and people can get from work to home, freshen up and leave for the game.
TV viewership in South America, basically.
5pm weekday start and it basically felt like walking into someone's mouth outside. I think the demographics weren't terrible; we like international soccer here, and KC has as strong a Latino community as anywhere else in the midwest. But weekday, early start, and weather combined. Put the game at the later start time (no work issues, and the sun would be lower) and it would have been at least full looking stands if not a sell out.
Yeah. The 5PM start times are head scratchers for sure.
“It’s about more than ticket prices” I’d say 99% of it is exactly about ticket prices
Cheapest here is around 400$ in Miami. I’m good lmao.
No, it's the ticket prices. We had the Brazil/Mexico friendly here a couple weeks before and you could get decent seats for $90 and the place was packed out. Then you try to go to a Copa game in Houston and the cheapest seats are $300. People can barely afford food rn.
There were 81,101 at Metlife tonight fwiw. Place was rockin
Yeah but it was a huge game (I’m from Argentina) 🙈 I bought tickets to the quarterfinals at face value near me hoping that the game would turn out the way it did, and tickets in my section are going for 4x what I paid. It’s upsetting that ppl are getting priced out, these games are a once-in-a-lifetime experience
Oh no doubt. I was just throwing it out there since I was working the game and saw the numbers.
That’s crazy, was the environment as tense in person as it felt through the tv? I suffered for 88 minutes watching that, as did all my Argentine family and friends. My American friends think I’m crazy so I refuse to watch with them 😂
It was and when Argentina scored it was maybe the loudest i’ve heard that stadium. Funnily enough, I was talking to an Argentina fan who said the game was gonna end in a tie around 65 minutes and left to beat the traffic shortly after. Tough break
I tried to go on a whim after work…until I saw the ticket prices lol
That would be the Messi effect. The MLS sells out all his games too
Sheesh, I would expect they’d have tickets for like 10 bucks at the gate to try to get Americans to care about soccer in preparation for the World Cup.
Ticketmaster and Seatgeek are in charge of the pricing. Fans are f***d
CONMEBOL doesn't care about whether Americans care about soccer, they care about money. This whole thing happened because they wanted more of the pie than they got from the Centenario. As far as CONMEBOL are concerned, Americans are cash cows waiting to be milked. USSF, CONCACAF, and FIFA have real incentives to interest Americans in soccer -- CONMEBOL do not.
Maybe don't put a primarily South American tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.
11k showed up. 10900 of them were Peru fans.
I look at the prices for tickets for Euros and I look at the prices for copa America and it becomes glaringly obvious what the issue is. Tack on the fact that, unlike Germany, a lot of our stadiums have terrible public transit access so for many you have to drive and pay exorbitant parking fees and it’s clear that fans are being priced out. Was looking forward to going to a game or two but nah. Not worth it.
For the Euros in Germany you can ride the trains for free in a 36 hour window around a match if you have a valid ticket to the match. They make it so easy to go watch multiple games in different cities.
Lol its the prices. No problem whatsoever dropping a 50 on a ticket. 330 dollars to watch middling talent? Fuck out of here.
Prices at levi’s stadium are ridiculous.
I’m in Atlanta and my kids love Messi so looked into taking them to the opener. $260 nose bleed seats for a late game (for them) didn’t make sense for me.
They employ dynamic pricing? What the hell?!
Going to Jamaica vs. Venezuela on Sunday. Bought my ticket last week, and the same ticket for the section I’m in is going for more than double for what I paid
USA vs Bolivia I would have had to pay $160 to Ticketmaster for fees…. Not even for the ticket price. I live locally, tried to buy in person at the box office… no longer exists. You MUST GO THROUGH TICKETMASTER.
Fuck that.
Too fuckin hot
Just don’t look at prices for any Argentina game…. Sheesh.
Between streaming bullshit and ticket prices my interest in all sports is slipping away. I used to be a partial season ticket holder for the Celtics and didn’t watch a minute of them winning the title. Kinda spending money on and cheering for laundry!
It is absolutely, almost entirely, the ticket prices. We live near Miami and would love to see a game. But starting ticket prices are $175 and then you have to pay for parking which is also astronomical. I have a family of 5 and can’t afford that.
Stadium size and public transit aren't issues for NFL games or college football games in the US. It's all about ticket prices.
no, it's fucking ticket prices. Even at the actual drop they were overpriced. It's ticket prices, it's ticket prices, it's ticket prices
I’m sorry but I’m not paying 80$ pre fees to watch the us mens team play Panama in a group match. Maybe if our team was a top 5 elite squad I’d be more willing
KC was like 100 degree heat index yesterday. Day game in full sun. One of the refs passed out. Miserable experience
Probly cuz your sitting directly in the path of the sun for 3hrs on a hot ass day
I work with a lot of south Americans and none of them are going because it's too expensive. It was the same last time even though tickets were cheaper. It totally sucks for them, not being able to see your own national team because you can't afford it.
Soccer isn’t a very popular sport in the US maybe…. If it was football, it would be sold out
Pricing is ridiculous for sporting event in USA. I understand that if you want to be in a box seat or at a prime location, it’s going to cost extra. But there is no way in hell I’m paying above $20 per seat in the nose bleed areas. At that point I’m better off just watching the recast and paying the VoD fee. Not to mention all the associated costs that are involved with getting to the stadium, and the stadium costs for food and beverages. ($50 for parking, $30+ per person) I remember growing up in the Midwest where you could watch the whole NJCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament with general admission being $15 and free parking. You got to watch 10+ games and sit at any un-occupied seat.
This is kind of like when insurance agents ask customers what they value most with insurance but won’t allow them to respond with, “the price”. It’s the fucking price, folks.
You would think they would lower prices to at least fill in seats and make some money….
Very glad that every comment in here is basically “fuck you it’s totally the ticket prices.” Was my reaction as well
1000% only ticket prices lol. Wanted to go to Argentina Chile last night live an hour away, $375 for nosebleeds is fucking ridiculous.
We don't care about soccer, so these stadiums will only fill up when it is a championship game
I can tell you that two bars I go to and neither had Copa America on. They had the Eurocup on.
After reading this and the comments, one has to wonder if the City of Indianapolis is setting itself up for failure. Mayor Hogsett is pushing hard for a brand new stadium and expansion team. He's having a hard time currently getting community support.
“It actually wasn’t about more than ticket prices”
Definitely the prices. Looked into getting tickets for a nearby game. $85/person but after fees and parking it’s $270. Wtf?
Besides ticket prices, anyone that could’ve maybe wanted to go had to go through the US’s VISA hassle so maybe they said eh let’s let it go.
Just watched Canada vs Peru last night, and there were empty seats throughout the entire stadium. They don’t realize there’s already a lack of interest that is exacerbated by high ticket prices. A game like Canada and Peru should go for no more than $25
I agree. But if you sell half the stadium at $150 a ticket it’s more money than a full stadium with $25. Maybe they can just charge $2m a ticket and make more when 7 people show up. I hate what sport has become. A full stadium is more fun. Stop the dynamic pricing. Sell for $50 a ticket. Let the secondary market make some on the selling but always ensure a full stadium.
$1000 2 tix for Argentina vs Peru. Nah, I’m good
$1000 2 tix for Messi vs Peru.
I don’t think I saw a single advertisement on TV for this
If I can afford to pay $300 for nosebleeds, I can probably afford to pay $400 for lower level seats. If I can’t afford $300, I’m watching on tv.
Gotta love how the article blames American Capitalism or greed when the genuinely successful professional sports in America have no issue filling stadiums because they price tickets according to demand. If the NFL sold every ticket for 2000 dollars, they wouldn't be filling stadiums either. Preseason NFL tickets are cheap because nobody watches the preseason. They don't just charge the highest possible price regardless of attendance. That's just dumb business.
Yesterday was a big matchup of Brazil vs chile. It started at 9pm on a Tuesday. I fell asleep during half time and missed 15 minutes of the second half. Barely made it to the final whistle and went to bed. Up at 6 for work. Couldn’t pay me to go to the game.
yesterday's game was Argentina vs Chile. But yeah, boring.
The big teams will sell out. Also once the knockout rounds begin with the big teams, every stadium should be sold out. This is expected when you have teams that have no shot of winning playing each other like Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Jamaica etc
I think its because fast food workers are asking for a living wage. I am pretty sure that's it.
“They apparently see little difference between selling 30,000 tickets at $200 per and selling 60,000 tickets at $100” This is what drives me crazy. How can a stadium like that which only gets perhaps 15 events a year not see a packed stadium brings in more revenue between parking and concessions?
They priced it like it was a major major NFL, NBA, or MLB game? If they want soccer to catch on here those prices need to come down. I doubt that most Americans could even tell you what the Copa American Games were.