Is there a more fair way to sell World Cup tickets?

## Summary
NPR Planet Money LISTEN & FOLLOW NPR App Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music iHeart Radio YouTube Music RSS link Planet Money Is there a more fair way to sell World Cup tickets? But for most fans not wealthy enough to buy VIP ticket packages, catching a glimpse in-person required navigating a complicated and convoluted system just for the chance to pay high prices. The case for high prices What would have happened if FIFA sold every World Cup ticket for just $20? When we asked FIFA about $10 lottery tickets and fan criticism of FIFA's high prices, they pointed to their $60 tickets, and also said, tellingly, "The pricing model adopted for FIFA World Cup 2026 reflects the existing market practice for major entertainment and sporting events within our hosts on a daily basis." FIFA could also offer would-be attendees a real path to earning tickets through effort.

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Is there a more fair way to sell World Cup tickets?
March 17, 2026
6:30 AM ET
Alex Mayyasi
Michael Steele/Getty Images
Last October, I had a decision to make. Did I want to spend around $775 on World Cup tickets? For the first time since 1994, the men's World Cup is being held in the U.S., as well as in Mexico and Canada. I had just hours to decide.
At this point, I also began to question the economic logic of FIFA's approach to World Cup tickets. Was FIFA, as soccer's governing body and the guardian of the beautiful game, bungling the ticket sales?
For millions of soccer fans, buying World Cup tickets has been an ordeal. My friends and I had signed up for updates from soccer's governing body, FIFA, and their emails about how to buy tickets felt a bit like receiving the fine print of an insurance policy in monthly digests.
First there was a presale—but it was sponsored by Visa and only for people with Visa cards, and it was a lottery. Winning the lottery didn't get you a ticket, though. You won the chance to buy a ticket. If you missed the presale, more lotteries followed. Winning one earned you the right to buy tickets. Another involved submitting an application for certain types of matches and then having your credit card charged automatically (how much exactly?) if you won and if your application was accepted. (Accepted?)
You could just browse and buy tickets on the FIFA website, but only expensive "hospitality packages" that included VIP perks. Or you could buy "special digital assets" (
NFTs
? really?) that resembled trading cards and could potentially earn you the right to buy tickets to certain matches.
I had won one of the first lotteries. Huzzah! I could buy tickets. But tickets weren't cheap. A package of three matches for $775 was among the cheapest I saw, and not for Team USA or elite matchups like Brazil vs Morocco. If buying a ticket to a single group-stage game was an option, I didn't see it. Plus I had to coordinate with friends and look up the cost of flights and hotels in cities hosting matches—all before an imminent deadline. I decided not to buy myself a ticket.
The best moments of World Cup soccer bring joy to millions. But for most fans not wealthy enough to buy VIP ticket packages, catching a glimpse in-person required navigating a complicated and convoluted system just for the chance to pay high prices.
Still, I have some sympathy for the challenge FIFA faced. And if I squint, their system almost resembles a smart and fair approach to ticket sales.
That's because I've spent the past two years writing a book about how economic thinking can improve our lives. (It's called
Planet Money: A Guide To The Economic Forces That Shape Your Life
. You can order it now!
) During that time, I talked to economists about when high prices mean that something has gone wrong (perhaps due to a monopoly) vs when high prices are a smart method for allocating scarce resources. And about cases when prices alone fail to achieve fair or efficient outcomes.
Based on these conversations, I suspect that me staying home is a good outcome for society. I could have afforded the World Cup tickets, but I'm a bandwagon fan. So the high price nudged me toward instead spending my time and money on something I'd enjoy more. That's good!
But selling tickets to unique, uber-popular events like the World Cup is a profound economic challenge—it's one of those exceptions to the otherwise incredible ability of prices to coordinate economic activity.
World Cup tickets are incredibly popular and in short supply, so they should be expensive. But World Cup tickets shouldn't just be for rich people, so they should be affordable. How do you square that circle?
We at
Planet Money
have a modest proposal: FIFA should learn from other organizations that have faced this dilemma and triumphed. Among others, the team behind
Hamilton
the musical, the National Park system, and the NYC Marathon have developed clever ways to fairly distribute tickets, hiking permits, and marathon bibs despite overwhelming demand.
The case for high prices
What would have happened if FIFA sold every World Cup ticket for just $20?
In some ways, this would be more "fair" and pro-fan. But low prices can backfire. Instead of tickets going to true fans, they'd get scooped up by scalpers—or by bots and whoever happens to have enough schedule flexibility to buy tickets the second that sales start.
Plus, if tickets were only $20, some people with only mild interest in soccer would buy tickets. You could end up with empty seats at a Brazil–Argentina match because they saw rain in the forecast and skipped the game.
Alternatively, FIFA could sell every ticket for $20, but only to superfans. But how do you identify the superfans? Or the working-class octogenarian whose last wish is to see a World Cup game?
Do you make everyone write a personal essay

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- Still, I have some sympathy for the challenge FIFA faced.
- But selling tickets to unique, uber-popular events like the World Cup is a profound economic challenge—it's one of those exceptions to the otherwise incredible ability of prices to coordinate economic activity.
- Figuring out who most values World Cup tickets, or any scarce resource, is a hard problem, and high prices are often an elegant solution.

### Implications
- My friends and I had signed up for updates from soccer's governing body, FIFA, and their emails about how to buy tickets felt a bit like receiving the fine print of an insurance policy in monthly digests.
- Another involved submitting an application for certain types of matches and then having your credit card charged automatically (how much exactly?) if you won and if your application was accepted. (Accepted?) You could just browse and buy tickets on the FIFA website, but only expensive "hospitality packages" that included VIP perks.
- Or you could buy "special digital assets" ( NFTs ? really?) that resembled trading cards and could potentially earn you the right to buy tickets to certain matches.
- I could have afforded the World Cup tickets, but I'm a bandwagon fan.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers tickets, fifa, world topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 2533.