Gabriele MarcottiDec 18, 2025, 03:30 PM ETCloseGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti.Follow on X
FIFA did something earlier this month that’s not just foolish, greedy and morally dubious (been there, done that), but also hugely counterproductive to its own interests — milking the cash cow otherwise known as the Men’s FIFA World Cup. So much so that they frantically tried to remedy things earlier this week with the sort of baby step that makes minimal impact and goes nowhere near far enough.
The good news though is that it may empower fans to get off their backsides, realize they have leverage and dial up the resistance.
Is this a victory for fans raising their voices at not being fleeced? Hardly. More like FIFA realizing, in their desire to squeeze dollars out of fans, that they were doing something profoundly damaging … to themselves, above all.
Those 16% of fans who get their tickets from PMAs aren’t just random supporters. They are an integral backdrop to the giant, month-long plus reality TV show otherwise known as the World Cup. They’re the ones who bring the noise and the color. They’re the ones who sing and gyrate. They’re the ones who get interviewed outside grounds. They’re the ones cameras linger on when there’s a break in play.
Counting those I attended as a fan, this will be my ninth World Cup. And, increasingly, starting with Russia 2018 and continuing through Qatar 2022, they’ve felt like celebrity blowouts aimed at some amorphous global elite of rich folks. Pricing out fans with PMA tickets would be an act of absurd self-harm because it would cheapen and damage the main product FIFA is selling here: the global broadcast rights.
Those of us who are a little more pragmatic (or cynical) understand the system. The Men’s World Cup is still the only competition that actually makes money for FIFA. It bankrolls all the other competitions, from women to youth to futsal. FIFA also heavily subsidizes — directly and indirectly — the majority of its 211 member nations, and these nations are the ones who get to vote on who becomes president of FIFA (or whether the current president sticks around when his term is up in 2027).
So yes, it’s in FIFA’s interest to milk 2026 for all it’s worth. Their argument that lower ticket prices — instead of “dynamic pricing” — would simply lead to bots vacuuming up tickets and then reselling them for a profit on StubHub or SeatGeek also has merit. As does the fact that fans in North America, especially in the U.S., are accustomed to paying very high prices for sporting events.
I get that, and I view it as a necessary evil. But don’t mess with the actual fans who have shown their loyalty by following their national team on far-flung away trips for European qualifiers or meaningless CONMEBOL ties. Don’t mistake their loyalty for stupidity.
FIFA have turned the World Cup into a television-first event, with the stadiums as glitzy studios. Fine. But they still need enough of the hardcore fans “on set” for it to work. Otherwise, the corporate floaters will go back to floating and the wealthy day-trippers will move on to the next “experience,” taking sponsors and viewing audiences with them.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with any of them, and I’m not suggesting you can’t be a passionate, die-hard fan, and also very rich, and/or a guest of some corporation — just that it’s a different feel. It’s a bit like the difference between going to an NFL conference championship game versus the Super Bowl. If you’ve had the privilege of going to both at some point, you’ll know what I mean. If you’re a neutral, the Super Bowl is bigger, but the conference championship game is better because there is a majority of real, live fans there making a racket.
If there is a silver lining here, it’s that this passionate slice of fans — encouraged by FIFA’s mini-climbdown — surely realize they have leverage. If not directly over FIFA, then indirectly via their national federations who rely on them for support, ticket sales and organised travel. These same federations are the ones who supply the superstars who power the World Cup, drawing in the casual audience, titillating the sponsors and making the headlines. They caved on 1.6% of the tickets: who’s to say it can’t be more?
CloseGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti.Follow on X
These are the last people who ought to be squeezed, especially when — thanks to dynamic pricing, by which companies set flexible prices that change due to market demand — the costs associated with a North American World Cup and the incessant hype machine, it’s highly likely that a majority of the other folks you’ll find in stadiums will be corporate guests, one-percenters or curious civilians who just want to be part of the show — or some combination of the three.
Craig Burley slams FIFA over World Cup ticket prices and ‘The Best’ awards. (2:10)
Burley: I don’t like anything about FIFA right now (2:10)Craig Burley slams FIFA over World Cup ticket prices and ‘The Best’ awards. (2:10)