SFA want to talk up on the grotesque World Cup ticket rip-off – whether or not it is an train in futility or not
Just when you thought FIFA’s evil empire couldn’t sink any lower, the reality set in about ticket prices — and sales strategy — for the World Cup.
The buzz around Scotland reaching the finals for the first time in almost three decades was overwhelming around the time of that incredible 4-2 win over Denmark and should have sustained us through these cold winter months.
Already, though, it’s being spoiled by ridiculous costs, appalling conditions of sale and the US threatening to demand everything from iris scans, DNA samples and the handing-over of your first-born to even let you into the country to watch a game.
The heinous scheme of making people pay for tickets to follow their team all the way to the final, holding onto the cash and then returning it with an admin fee taken off when your nation is knocked out is just the final insult on top of stratospheric prices and ridiculous rates for hotel rooms in participating cities.
Punters who had dreamed of going for the duration are now having to pick and choose which games they attend. Many are just giving up on the idea altogether. What should have been a generational event has just been spoiled by greed and avarice.
Of course, top-level football, as a whole, has slowly been spoiled by greed and avarice over a period of time now. We have been on the slow creep to this point for years. It’s just that the scale of rampant money-making unleashed by this tournament in North America feels like it has pushed things way beyond anything even remotely tolerable.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has allowed World Cup ticket pricing to get out of hand
Steve Clarke and SFA chief Ian Maxwell attend the draw before ticket prices were revealed
Scotland fans hoping to see their team face Brazil in Miami will have to fork out at least £200
Angry fans’ groups are right to be making demands and firing out statements.
It’s all futile, of course. The market is the market and the tickets are going to sell. No one realistically expects any kind of U-turn.
However, that’s not to say the Scottish FA and other national associations should not take up the cudgels on behalf of their supporters and make some kind of stand.
Their silence has been deafening up to this point and, yet, there are so many valid questions to ask of FIFA and the tournament’s organising committee.
The initial bid document, released in 2018, talked of ticket prices starting from a base of under £20. What happened to that along the way?
National governing bodies have a duty to try and get some answers for punters left feeling completely betrayed. Whether there is a way to find solutions, perhaps by subsidising travel or ticket costs for registered fans, is something else to be considered.
Sunderland
V
Newcastle United
*18+, excludes NI. Terms and conditions apply
Scotland’s return to the global stage has already turned sour for many fans hoping to attend
The SFA are there to promote the good of the game. Market economy or not, the money people are being asked to pay to go to North America is the antithesis of that. It’s going to turn people off completely.
And if World Cup 2026 is a sign of things to come, it sets a dangerous precedent for the sport.
Core fans have largely accepted the commodification of the national game, the fact they are looked upon as cash cows. They understand big wages for players are related to their season-ticket costs and merchandising buys.
Alienate them by pricing them out of big events completely, though, the way those running the World Cup are, and football is going to pay the biggest price of all in time.
Those inside the SFA and other football federations have got to see that. And it’s incumbent upon them to speak up and make it clear this particular cashgrab has gone too far.
