— The White House paid tribute to this historical figure. We really did rewind the clock back to 2016…
Off the Pitch
Is the Cost of FIFA Tickets Criminal?
What’s going on: World Cup tickets are expensive — so expensive that New York and New Jersey are now investigating whether FIFA violated consumer protection law. On Wednesday, the two states’ attorneys general subpoenaed the organization over ticket practices for matches at MetLife Stadium in NJ. Specifically, they’re launching an inquiry into whether FIFA is artificially driving up prices and misleading fans about seat location. Tickets average over $1K and some go for over $30K for prime seats at the final, which is either the deal of a lifetime or roughly the price of a car. As New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport put it: “FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices.”
Let’s tackle this: Soccer — sorry, football — fans have been booing the World Cup rollout for months. This is the first time FIFA has used dynamic pricing, which, as anyone who tried to go to the Eras or Cowboy Carter tours knows, is a high-stress way to go into credit card debt for the nosebleeds. Watching from the couch is starting to look like the real VIP experience. Amid the backlash, FIFA and local officials have tried to soften the blow by offering lower-priced tickets (so scarce they triggered an EU consumer complaint) and cutting the $150 NJ Transit round-trip fare to $98 (still exponentially more than the usual $12.90). Some tourists have vowed to walk along the highway to MetLife Stadium... a whole other sport in itself.
