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If the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup has become prohibitively expensive – with tickets fetching prices at more than $2m for the final – blame dynamic pricing, along with greed, says longtime gaming and sports executive Peter Moore.
“Dynamic pricing doesn’t belong in the World Cup and football,” Moore told Al Jazeera in a recent interview from his home in Santa Barbara, California.
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“It works with music, but for the World Cup, there are hundreds of thousands of people booking trips in advance. They’re asking themselves, ‘Do we want to visit and pay $2,000 for a third-tier game, Saudi Arabia versus whomever?’ And FIFA taking a 30 percent cut of dynamic pricing is outrageous”.
The 71-year-old former chief executive of Liverpool FC from 2017-20 is calling out FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, in interviews and on social media.
“Gianni Infantino misread the situation and thought he could get away with it,” Moore said.
“Now, tickets are in the hands of bots and speculators, who don’t intend to go to games. They are harvesting tickets and hoping they can sell them in the next six to eight weeks, and I don’t see that happening.”
He added: “I just hope enough people are there to add to the atmosphere of the game”.
Certainly, there’s a gloomy feeling hanging over this World Cup – at some US venues, anyway; from high prices for tickets and transportation, to the luck of the draw on getting a visa (hopefully you haven’t visited Cuba lately).
When you arrive, there’s the spectre of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents targeting fans. Finally, you get through the turnstiles and you could be greeted by lots of empty seats.
How FIFA is rolling things out also raises questions about who the World Cup is for.
The demographic could be more corporate, less diverse socio-economically, with fewer authentic fans attending than in previous tournaments.
Under travel bans imposed by Trump in an executive order, fans from four participating countries – Ivory Coast, Haiti, Iran and Senegal – cannot enter the country unless they already have valid visas.
“It’s the world’s game, but who is this World Cup for if the world can’t get in?” Moore said.
“FIFA is taking advantage of the unique commercial opportunities in the US, dynamic pricing and the secondary market being legal here, to make money – Infantino has said [he expects FIFA revenues from the World Cup to exceed] $11bn. Why not make it more reasonable and accessible and make, maybe, $8bn?
“FIFA is a nonprofit, built to serve players and fans of the world. That’s its remit, not to be like a commercial organisation and maximise the opportunity to make as much money as possible.”
FIFA expects to gross $3bn on ticketing and hospitality sales alone.
Moore, right, with legendary Liverpool striker Ian Rush in 2019 [Eric Gaillard/Reuters]Infantino has defended high ticket prices, saying that the tournament held every four years is FIFA’s only source of income and that it reinvests the revenue to develop football in all 211 member nations.
MLS commissioner Don Garber recently called FIFA’s dynamic pricing policy “a good idea”, adding that Infantino compared the World Cup to “dozens and dozens” of NFL Super Bowls, which feature some dynamic ticketing. And, Garber added, US fans are accustomed to paying high prices for “premium” events.
But the Super Bowl’s appeal is based on the contest being held once a year, not dozens of times. One way to devalue the Super Bowl would be to schedule several of them a year.
As for supporters from the other 47 countries taking part? They thought they were going to a World Cup, not a Super Bowl. And they are probably not used to dynamic pricing or legal profiting from ticket resales.
In the US, though, above-value ticket resale is legal, and FIFA being involved in reselling “changes everything,” Moore noted. “It means: tickets are no longer just for fans. They’re tradable assets.” Which brings in speculators, who conduct business “like traders, not supporters”.
Maybe it was inevitable that the spirit of the World Cup would be hijacked by savage capitalism. But it doesn’t seem everyone is ready for that, just yet. The World Cup is not only a sporting competition, but a universal gathering. Or so we thought. Perhaps it is just another “premium event”, like so many Taylor Swift concerts – but with worse dance moves.
Welcome then to the first soulless World Cup?
“It’s dystopian, and it’s an existential threat to the game,” Moore said, referring to both the ticketing situation and broader problems of the World Cup.
“Ultimately, is this going to be the first of every World Cup where FIFA maximises profit, rather than allow as many as possible to come and support their country?”
Moore said he is reluctant to attend the World Cup, though he could zip down the Pacific Coast Highway to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
“For me, I look every day, on StubHub, SeatGeek, TicketMaster,” Moore said. “I’m used to it with live music. We can stand outside Allegiant [Stadium, in Las Vegas] and watch our phones for when ticket prices go down, when touts need to unload tickets for the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Shakira. But the international fan can’t do that for the World Cup, fly to America and book hotels, and hope prices will go down”.
If you are planning on being there, Moore advises checking the resale market close to game times.
“I’d just watch, and as the weeks go on, if tickets aren’t moving, the secondary market will come down,” Moore said.
“But to a reasonable price? I don’t know. It’s the regular fans that create the excitement at the World Cup, from Brazil, Colombia, Africa. How are they going to afford to travel and come to games when it’s $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 [per ticket]. Who’s got that kind of money?”
For the fans who do get through the turnstiles, maybe the power of football will overcome everything and they’ll experience what we think of as the eternal World Cup vibe. But a part of them might also feel like they just got fleeced by FIFA.
