Virginia Woman Checks Original World Cup Ticket Prices. Now FIFA Is Responding To The ‘Price Gouging’ Accusations

When FIFA announced that the World Cup would be held across Mexico, the United States, and Canada, many reacted with confusion.

Generally speaking, the people of Mexico are big soccer fans. That said, the sport is met with significantly less enthusiasm in the United States. Recent surveys say that only around 12% of Americans describe themselves as avid soccer fans. In contrast, a 2022 survey said that around 20% of Italians claimed to be passionate about the sport.

Not only that, but soccer fans have lodged all sorts of complaints about the World Cup since it launched in North America. Some fans say they were given free tickets and then told they had to pay for them. Others have complained about additional issues with the American-hosted games, such as the price of alcohol and sparsely attended matches.

Now, a user on TikTok is calling out the organization after noticing something strange about the ticket prices.

What’s Going On With FIFA Tickets?

In a video with over 199,000 views, TikTok user Tori Samone Golden (@lifewithtorisamone) explains her issues with the FIFA World Cup.

To start, she notes that the mayor of Chicago previously rejected hosting the World Cup. Why? “He said FIFA wanted them to pay them to come—aka, ‘Yo, we bringing the game, but you gotta foot all the bills,’” Golden summarizes.

Now that the games are here, Golden says that many aspects have been a disaster. To start, she says ticket prices were originally supposed to go from $60 to $6,700.

“There was a caveat…It said ‘subject to change based on demand,’” Golden states. Today, she continues, prices are significantly higher. “FIFA, why is the cheapest ticket $167? Why is the cheapest ticket $167? FIFA, babes, baby, baby—that’s almost a 300% increase!”

Golden likely means a 200% increase, or 300% of the original cost.

The Costs Keep Adding Up

Not only that, but Golden claims that FIFA is making money on both original sales and resales.

“Even the resale tickets that are obscene, FIFA gets 33% of that money, the reselling of the ticket,” she claims. “So, they get the funds for the first ticket—and then, if you resell it, they’re supposed to receive 33% of the generated revenue.”

In response, Golden says people aren’t showing interest in the World Cup. As previously noted, the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as soccer fans is relatively small. Not only that, but Golden claims that, as of the beginning of the games, there were still 180,000 unsold tickets.

“If it’s about cost and demand, FIFA, it don’t sound like the demand is matching the cost that you’re trying to have us pay,” Golden states.

As for why this is happening, Golden speculates that it has to do with the perceived purchasing power of Americans. Specifically, she says that “the rest of the world taxes you because they think all Americans are rich.”

Still, she says she finds that the belief that Americans would pay the same amount for a World Cup game as they would another sport, such as the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals, laughable.

“I hope them tickets don’t sell,” she concludes.

FIFA Responds

A FIFA spokesperson responded to the claims in a lengthy statement to BroBible:

“At FIFA, we are committed to ensuring fair access to the FIFA World Cup™ for both existing and prospective fans and have offered group stage tickets starting from just USD 60 – an extremely competitive price for a once-in-a-lifetime major global sporting event taking place in North America.

FIFA’s pricing strategy spans a broad range of price points and categories, reflecting market demand for each match. Tickets have been released across sales phases, such as Category 4 at the most accessible price point and 130,000 tickets have been made available priced at USD 60 across the tournament via participating teams, including over 1,000 for the final.

These entry tier tickets at USD60 for all 104 matches are specifically allocated to supporters of qualified teams, with the selection and distribution process managed individually by the Participating Member Associations (PMAs). Each PMA can define its own eligibility criteria and application process. They are requested to ensure that these tickets are allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams.

For the FIFA World Cup 2026™, FIFA has established a ticket sales and secondary market model that reflects standard ticket market practices for major sporting and entertainment events across the host countries. FIFA’s Resale Marketplace provides a safe, transparent and secure environment for fans to sell or transfer tickets to other fans. The applicable resale facilitation fees are aligned with industry standards across North American sports and entertainment sectors.

FIFA’s variable pricing ticketing approach aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors where the price is adapted to optimise sales and attendance, ensuring fair market value for events.

Unlike the entities behind profit-driven third-party ticket marketplaces, FIFA is a not-for-profit organisation. Revenue generated from the FIFA World Cup every four years is reinvested to support the development of men’s, women’s and youth football across all 211 FIFA member associations, every day of the year.”

Are Golden’s Claims True?

Back in 2018, Business Insider reported that cities like Vancouver and Chicago would not attempt to become World Cup host cities. In Chicago’s case, the reasons for rejection, per Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, were “the uncertainty for taxpayers, coupled with FIFA’s inflexibility and unwillingness to negotiate.”

This “inflexibility” included alleged requests that host cities provide FIFA with certain allowances. At the time, these allowances, per Business Insider, included tax exemptions, carveouts from local labor laws, and for host governments to assume full responsibility for the World Cup and related events, including cost.

Initially, FIFA said its cheapest ticket would be sold for $60, with prices reaching up to $6,730. However, when tickets actually went on sale, some found the cheapest ticket price was actually $167. FIFA later claimed that it offered a small number of $60 tickets.

While FIFA President Gianni Infantino claims that demand for tickets has exceeded ​expectations by “a factor of 10 or more,” fans are finding that many games have more empty seats than they would have imagined. As of June 10, there were still around 180,000 unsold tickets for the games on resale markets.

What About Resale?

Regarding resale, Golden overstated how much is taken by FIFA—but only slightly.

According to the Guardian, FIFA charges sellers a 15% fee for resold tickets. FIFA also charges buyers a 15% fee when they purchase resold tickets—meaning the organization takes 30% of resales. This means that for every $1,000 traded via FIFA resales, the organization pockets $300.

As for whether FIFA is deliberately price-gouging fans, there’s no way to say that definitively—nor is there any way to prove that was their motivation for hosting some of the games in the United States. Still, many fans’ frustrations are both real and palpable.

Commenters Are Angry

In the comments section, users voiced their FIFA frustrations.

“Do I like soccer? No. Do I live in a host city and would I certainly have gone to MULTIPLE games had the tickets been $60, absolutely,” wrote a user.

“Girl the starting price tickets in Seattle is $2500 last I saw. Never looked back to check what it is now,” declared another.

“Only FIFA we buying is the video game,” shared a third.

What If Prices Were More Reasonable?

In an email, Golden confirmed that she had not personally attempted to buy tickets. Still, she says she’s heard plenty of stories from fans who have.

“Since posting the video highlighting ticket prices many fans have informed me of their experience with ticket prices,” she wrote. “One fan in Seattle stated that the starting price for those tickets is $2500 when she last checked. Another fan checked and stated 2 days ago the lowest ticket she saw was $1531.”

“Overall, there is a general consensus in the comments of my video that yes, U.S. citizens do not prioritize soccer like many other nations around the world,” she continued. “However, had the prices been more reasonable, they were willing to travel and watch a match or two.”

As for how this situation could be improved, Golden had a few thoughts. The first was with regards to pricing, which she says should be made “reasonable.”

“Reports show that the contracts FIFA offered US cities outlined that most if not ALL (100% of) revenue from ticketing, broadcasting, concessions and parking would go to FIFA — with projections of $11 billion in revenue,” she wrote. “Considering that FIFA is the entity that set the pricing guaranteeing the lowest price would be approximately $60 and the highest being around $6500, also admitting that demand could change these prices, it would seem that the prices that are being requested for the games are the result of FIFA’s independent choosing. This is further supported by the Head of FIFA being interviewed and defending these concerning prices by saying ‘people don’t complain when they pay similar prices for US sporting events.’”

Second, she said that cities should make an effort to control costs on their end—or opt out of hosting entirely.

“Reports indicate cities would generally receive no revenue while also bearing the financial burden to host such an event,” she claimed. A recent article in the Nation notes that research shows host cities tend to lose more money from hosting than they bring in.

“Some of FIFA’s requirements included cities paying for public transportation, police and fire staffing costs, medical bills, VIP escorts for teams and personnel as well as potential modifications to venues like the one requested of Chicago for Soldier Field potentially adding a roof,” she noted.

“The decision to decline hosting, though unfortunate, is the best option when the decision to host would be detrimental to the economic stability of the host city and the impact of businesses,” Golden continued. “The goal of those who govern should be to do what is best for the city and the citizens of that city, not a business entity. This is why Chicago’s decision to decline hosting a game has great public support. Especially when the projected operating cost of the games is 2.7 billion dollars.”

There’s also space for the government to act, she said.

“Being a public servant is not easy, but the citizens that elect government officials do so expecting them to do what is in the best interest of the citizens. Regardless of the honor to host, there is an obligation to govern above all,” she concluded.

BroBible reached out to Golden via email and to FIFA via email and website contact form.