FIFA makes more World Cup tickets available, but soccer fans criticize lack of transparency

domain transfuse fans apply FIFA a red river card over expensive, confusing ticket process

FIFA's release of a new tranche of World Cup tickets has left some fans fuming about a perceived lack of transparency in how seats are being sold, given that premium seating options now on offer were not available previously.

"I think they have overplayed their hand," said Adam Zakhar, a soccer fan from California who bought World Cup tickets at an earlier point and believes he would have a shot at "way better seats" if he'd waited and been privy to what FIFA is offering now.

The World Cup is being jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, with the first games taking place on June 11 and the final being held on July 19. Thirteen games will be held in Canada — six in Toronto and seven in Vancouver.

FIFA began selling tickets to the World Cup games last fall, with several tiers of options — the highest price seats being called "Category 1" and located closest to the action. Categories 2, 3 and 4 are further from the pitch.

At 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, fresh tickets for categories 1, 2 and 3 went on sale on a first-come, first-served basis for all of the tournament's 104 matches.

"At this point, it feels like they're just making [ticket-buying] stages up as we go along," said Aizaz Sheikh, a Toronto soccer fan who has obtained tickets for two World Cup games taking place in the city — Canada versus Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Senegal versus Iraq.

Tickets were also offered Wednesday for the recently added "front category" of pricing — something that irked some fans who bought earlier and thus did not have a chance at these premium seats.

Zakhar, for instance, has ended with seats "stuck in a corner" and resents being denied a chance to select something better from the latest release of seats.

He's now started a website called the Seat Transparency Project that is tracking where FIFA placed early ticket buyers, and he's found many people have had similar experiences to his.

"I think that they [FIFA] were thinking that their artificial demand is going to create this kind of frenzy that, you know, gets people to kind of act on emotion, rather than logic," he said.

FIFA did not respond to an emailed request for comment regarding the new ticket release and criticism of its offerings.

Vijay Setlur, a marketing instructor at Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, said fans' issues with FIFA's perceived lack of transparency over ticket availability are adding to other frustrations over how the World Cup is rolling out.

Given FIFA has already faced criticism over the prices of tickets, the costs that host cities are incurring and other issues, Setlur said a cloud "seems to be building on top of this tournament" ahead of its start.

The newly available premium World Cup seats come with premium prices: The Associated Press reported FIFA was asking up to $4,105 US ($5,625) per ticket for a front category 1 seat for a June 12 match between the U.S. And Paraguay. That was up from $2,735 US ($3,750) per ticket for the same match before the front category pricing was added.

AP also reported that a front category 1 seat for the June 12 Canada and Bosnia-Herzegovina game have been priced at $3,360 US ($4,605).

Danny Clarke, a U.K. Soccer fan who's been involved with the sport at the grassroots level, believes well-heeled fans won't balk at sky-high prices if it gets them a seat to a World Cup game.

"When it comes to the World Cup, there will be people — and enough people — who will pay any price there is," and particularly for the most sought-after matches, Clarke said.

Setlur, who has attended World Cup games in the past, was familiar with the way in which FIFA handles ticket sales for its marquee tournament.

But he said a lot of people found the ticketing process for this World Cup to be "very convoluted and confusing," given that it has involved multiple stages and the use of lotteries.

Will the FIFA World Cup bring lasting benefits to Vancouver restaurants?

That was the case for Tim Hirschel-Burns, a self-declared "World Cup nerd" who found the ticket-buying process "totally opaque and infuriating."

He'd been trying to land a ticket to a World Cup game since last fall, and managed on Wednesday to get a seat for a June 25 match between Curaçao and Ivory Coast for $140 US ($190).

Hirschel-Burns said the process, from login to purchase, took more than six hours.

"I really have been spending months and months scouting this out," he said, referring to his efforts to monitor ticket offerings, including those available from resellers.

The Curaçao-Ivory Coast game is being held in Philadelphia, a driveable distance from where Hirschel-Burns lives in Washington, D.C.

He suspects the attendance at that game could end up being depressed by a combination of high ticket prices and the involvement of one participant with a small population (Curaçao) and another whose citizens are currently barred from visiting the U.S. (Ivory Coast).

While Hirschel-Burns is glad he'll get to see a World Cup game, he says his government has made it "essentially impossible" for anyone from Ivory Coast to do the same.

While FIFA has stated that more than five million World Cup tickets had been purchased prior to the newest offerings, there are reports that some games are far from sold out.

The Athletic has reported local organizers were told earlier this month that the June 12 U.S.-Paraguay game has sold fewer than 41,000 tickets in a venue FIFA believes can host more than 69,000 fans.

---

---