Tickets to next summer’s FIFA World Cup games in Vancouver and Toronto continue to be a hot commodity, despite eye-popping resale prices.
Soccer’s international governing body announced last week more than two million tickets have been sold for the tournament’s 104 games, to be played across Canada, the United States and Mexico between June 11 and July 19.
Tickets for the seven games in Vancouver and six in Toronto have sold out almost as quickly as they’ve been released, even though teams for the matchups won’t be announced until after Friday’s final draw.
How much of the ticket inventory has been sold has not been released because organizers are still working their way through ticket requests from participating federations, said Peter Montopoli, Canada’s chief tournament officer.
“What I feel safe in saying is based on the tickets that were put together for the Visa pre-sale and the early ticket draw, we’ve sold 100 per cent of those tickets. So, whatever was available has been sold.”
How many tickets are available next will depend on what tickets participating member associations like Canada Soccer get, he added.
So far, so good, however.
Montopoli, former general secretary of Canada Soccer, said he was “thrilled” at the appetite for tickets.
Montopoli should know. He said his name wasn’t drawn for either of the two draws to date, even though the second draw was weighted for would-be buyers in the co-host countries, something Canada led the push for.
Others in his office also struck out.
“And we know people,” Montopoli said with a laugh.
FIFA said fans from 212 countries and territories have bought tickets so far, with fans from the U.S. snapping up the most, followed by Canada, then Mexico. They’ve also been popular with people in England, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Argentina and France.
To even get a chance to purchase tickets, fans must be picked from a lottery. Afterwards, they are assigned a limited window during which they’ll have an opportunity to buy tickets, based on availability.
FIFA has said tickets for group stage matches will start at $60 US and climb to $6,730 for the most expensive seats at the championship game in East Rutherford, N.J., on July 19.
Prices also balloon for highly coveted matches in Canada, including the country’s first group-stage game in Toronto on June 12. The cost of getting into that matchup started at $500 in the first phase of sales.
A poll released by the Angus Reid Institute last month found that 71 per cent of Canadians surveyed said ticket prices are too expensive for them to attend the World Cup. Among respondents who said they were “very interested” in watching the tournament, 84 per cent said the cost was too high.
FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani has heard the complaints about prices.
“When you’re in a market, the market is what dictates ticket prices,” said Montagliani, a Canadian who also serves as the president of CONCACAF.
“It’s professional sports at the end of the day. We’re just going with what the market is.”
FIFA has a “fiduciary duty” to make money off the World Cup because 85 per cent of those funds go back to the member countries, who use it to support and grow the sport, he added.
“That all comes from one tournament — this one. There is no other tournament that makes this kind of money. Or any money, quite frankly,” Montagliani said. “So, this tournament feeds, for the next four years, 211 countries and everything that happens in there.
“People kind of lose perspective of that. They think it just sits in a bank account. It doesn’t just sit in a bank account. It goes out and it builds stadiums, development programs.”
Soccer fans who haven’t been selected in the ticket lotteries may turn to the secondary market, where costs climb exponentially.
The cheapest ticket for a group match in Vancouver on June 13 — the first game the city will host — was listed for C$798.10 on FIFA’s resale site Tuesday. Getting into Canada’s first game in Toronto on June 12 came with a price tag of at least $1,765.74.
Prices on other resale sites were slightly lower, with StubHub listing seats for the June 13 match in Vancouver for a bargain-basement $481. The game in Toronto remains a luxury ticket at a minimum $1,382.
The Angus Reid survey found most Canadians are willing to cash in on World Cup tickets — 52 per cent of those polled said if they were given two tickets, they would try to sell them to get cash.
Soccer fans who haven’t scooped up their seats yet may still be in luck, whether they want to watch a game themselves or make some money off them.
FIFA’s next phase of ticket sales will begin with a random selection draw, open from Dec. 11 until Jan. 13.
