Why World Cup Ticket Prices Are Pricing Fans Out

I’m a lifelong football fan.
I live in the U.S.
I live in a city that will host World Cup games.

And lately, I keep asking myself: when did the World Cup become an event for the few?

Growing up, we fell in love with the game for what it is: simple, universal, ours.

As we get older, we understand it’s also a business. But this feels different.

This feels like a full-blown entertainment machine driven by profit, optimized for revenue, and priced beyond the reach of the very fans who built it.

Dynamic pricing.
Corporate allocations.
Tickets that don’t go to supporters, but to the highest bidder.

Where does that leave the fan?

Where is the space for the kid who grew up watching, playing, dreaming of being there one day?
Where is the accessibility in a sport that has always belonged to everyone?

Because at its core, football isn’t just a product.

We are the game.

The fans, the players, the communities...we are the atmosphere, the culture, the reason it all exists.

Without us, there is no spectacle. No business. No World Cup.

And yet, we’re the ones being pushed out.

That’s the part that doesn’t sit right.