Correct. Secondary market issue.
Because the recent world cups in these countries have been poor - Qatar, Russia, South Africa - the fans, players and media have all been negative about them. After the last final the pitch was covered in celebrities. They were awarded due to strange financial deals, thousands died building the stadiums in Qatar, the US president demanded a peace giving prize etc. etc. None of these things have happened in European world cups.
I was at a sold out local derby in Edinburgh at the weekend - the atmosphere was above anything that will be experienced in the US. If I knew how to link a video I would - look up Hibs v Hearts Sunshine on Leith on youtube.
I don’t have a downer on the US - I just don’t think it should be hosting another world cup - I think it would be much better if it was held elsewhere. And Canada??? It’s not progress - it’s just about making money for a few people.
I am going to the round of 16 game in Houston. We did teir 1 tickets and are paying above $2,000 per ticket. I’ve never seen that before for a sporting event from the primary market.
I sat in the second row on the pool deck at the 30M mark in the Olympics in Paris. It wasn’t close to that price and it was one of the 100 best seats in the house.
at 1:18. on the race clock ,above british flags, second row gray shirt with arms up.
Anybody remembers buying tickets in person? Been to few games and concerts in Yugoslavia, long time ago. There were a dozen or so ticket booths, kilometres long lineup, hours long standing…part of the experience. The sale would start a week or so before the event, people would camp out overnight and some folks made a business out of it holding the place in the line for others. Letting somebody in in front of you was an offence punishable by mob lynching 
. Number of tickets you can buy was limited so resale was often not worth it. Of course, the lineups were for the proletariat, VIPs would have tickets delivered to them with a letter of invitation to grace the event with their presence.
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Where are you getting these numbers from? I note a post or two later you’re citing a figure of 70%. Regardless, I’d be surprised if even 50% of the population even had enough mobility and cardio capacity to play ANY sport.
It seemed high to me too. I did a couple searches and both were similar. One from wiki showed a 2023 stat of 240mm people in America play.
That was my source.I understand it’s not the highest quality source.
According to Soccer and Society, in a 2019 study by Ryan Kirk and Anthony Weaver 230 million Americans have ever play soccer. “Footballers, migrants and scholars: the globalization of US men’s college soccer” (paid) 69.5% of 2020 census
But it’s very few people’s favourite Football Retains Dominant Position as Favorite U.S. Sport
I question the validity of the survey. I mean there’s a big difference between ‘have you ever played soccer’ - which could be interpreted as have you kicked a ball to your kid at a family gathering - and ‘do you or have you ever regularly played soccer as a sport?’
I’d call BS on that number if the intent is the latter.
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I agree. 230,000,000 is an absurd number!
Sure, we could assume every foreign born american has played soccer, but that’s 50 million at most.
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Yea ultimately more people play soccer than football in America. Yet viewership for football is higher. Tackle football participation is declining while youth soccer participation is climbing and international soccer viewership is also climbing.
I would hope the survey would have been vetted and the question specified “organized” soccer. Thought its reality that not all surveys are legitimate.
England have not been able to sell their full allocation of semi final and final tickets to members of the official travel club. Unheard of.
In general though, what the hell is the WC going to be like with all this ICE BS going on? Bunch of out of country folks that ain’t white walking around town with foreign soccer jerseys and foreign flags.
I have some sad concerns about how it will go down.
I do not have those concerns as Trump wants this to be a spectacular event with the best soccer final the world has ever seen and without any question as to its place in history.
I think he may have less presence at those venues especially since the crowds at and around those games will far out number the ICE agents.
Trickle up(?) effect of prices is spreading to AirBnB costs…
Yea hotels are out of control as well. Not surprised. I can’t think of any restaurant examples where they use supply and demand pricing. On Valentine’s Day I don’t believe prices of a restaurant’s dish goes up and then back down on the 15th.
Am I missing an obvious COMMON food example of supply/demand pricing?
Edit: I guess prix fixe menus for some. But aside from NYE I don’t often see that. And often I’ve seen the option of the prix fixe or regular ordering.