FIFA has once again slashed ticket prices for the Club World Cup’s opening night fixture, with concerns mounting that the launch game starring Inter Miami and Lionel Messi will be overshadowed by masses of empty seats at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in Florida.
According to sources briefed on FIFA’s attempts to sell tickets for the tournament, all of whom wished to remain anonymous when disclosing commercially sensitive information, tens of thousands of seats remain unsold for the fixture between MLS side Inter Miami and Egyptian team Al-Ahly at 8pm (ET) on Saturday, June 14. Hard Rock Stadium has a capacity of 65,326. The sources added that FIFA has been concerned in recent weeks that the opening game of the tournament has not been selling as well as they had expected. It was even suggested that tickets sold for the opening game are at less than 20,000 — but FIFA insists this is false, saying the figure is “much higher” but it did not specify numbers.
FIFA said in a statement: “We are introducing many new, successful clubs from all over the world to the world through this tournament being staged in the 11 cities across the United States. Overall, we anticipate great attendances throughout the competition for this first-ever edition – a tournament that we believe will grow edition-on-edition.”
FIFA had hoped for a big launch night turnout after involving MLS team Miami, whose star player Messi is marketed as the face of soccer in the United States, while they also expected this to be enhanced by playing the game in the team’s home market.
However, FIFA has sold general sale tickets for the revamped 32-team Club World Cup under a dynamic pricing model, a system whereby prices fluctuate based on demand, and the tumbling prices for certain games are indicative of FIFA’s struggles to penetrate the market.
As of Tuesday night, Inter Miami’s game against Al-Ahly had dropped to only $55, according to prices on Ticketmaster, the portal FIFA are using to sell tickets for the tournament. This is half of what they were available for in May, while tickets were $230 for the cheapest seat in January and $349 after the draw in December. FIFA is now hoping that the reduced prices draw people in during a publicity blitz in the final week before the tournament.
Additionally, some sources have questioned whether it may have been wiser to take Inter Miami out of their home market where their star names would be more of a novelty, particularly if attempting to sell games at higher prices than Inter Miami home fans usually pay at a different venue to their normal home field at Chase Stadium. Others counter that FIFA were reasonable to hope that Inter Miami fans would rally behind their team in a home market.
FIFA is holding prices at a higher price point for later in the group stage in the hope that interest picks up in the tournament as it progresses. For example, Inter Miami’s third and final game of the group phase against the Brazilian side Palmeiras has tickets starting at $113. However, their second game of the group against Portuguese team Porto in Atlanta has tickets available for $58, in a game that kicks off at 3pm ET on the afternoon of Thursday, June 19.
Among the highest selling group games in the tournament so far involve Real Madrid, with no tickets available for less than the $132 lowest entry for the Spanish club’s game against Mexican side Pachuca (in Charlotte) while prices start at $310 against Saudi Arabian team Al Hilal (in Miami) and $253 against the Austrian team RB Salzburg (in Philadelphia). These prices appear to have increased since Madrid confirmed the involvement of new coach Xabi Alonso and summer signing Trent Alexander-Arnold in the tournament. The match involving Argentine team Boca Juniors against Bayern Munich is also trending particularly well, boosted by the substantial Argentine population in Miami, with the cheapest seat currently showing at $136.
FIFA said: “It is accurate that matches involving Boca and Real have high demand from fans. But they are not the only clubs to feature in such a list and, in fact, the highest selling match features other clubs for this first-ever edition. The strong international appeal has seen supporters from more than 130 countries book their ticket to the competition. The top 10 countries per ticket sales are the United States, followed by club fans from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, France, Japan and Spain.”
Clubs competing in the tournament have a $1bn pot to fight for, with the winner in line to win as much as $125m.
Alonso has returned to Real Madrid as their head coach on a three-year deal (Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
Alonso has returned to Real Madrid as their head coach on a three-year deal (Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
Other ticket prices elsewhere have dropped dramatically. The lowest-priced ticket appears to be the match between Argentine side River Plate and Japanese team Urawa Red Diamonds, which is selling for as low as $24 for the match at Lumen Field in Seattle at 3pm ET on June 17.
Other games including new European champions Paris Saint-Germain against Brazilian side Botafogo are available for $33 at the 90,000-capacity Rose Bowl in Pasadena while there are also concerns for huge swathes of empty seats for games including Benfica vs. Auckland (in Orlando), Palmeiras vs. Al-Ahly (in New Jersey), Ulsan vs. Mamelodi Sundowns (in Orlando) and Mamelodi vs. Fluminense (in Miami), all of which are now selling for prices between $26 and $40.
Speaking in April, the FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has been the biggest proponent of the tournament, insisted he was “not worried at all about ticket sales.”
He said: “When I see some of the stadiums in the United States filling itself when some teams are coming to play some friendly games, exhibition games, then I’m not worried at all to fill a stadium when teams are coming to play a World Cup, to play for, you know, something, something real.”
Inter Miami have been approached for comment.
