When Seattle was first named a World Cup 2026 host city, most local soccer fans seemed absolutely joyous. The world’s biggest sporting event was about to be played in our backyard and local organizers eagerly pointed out that it would be the rough equivalent of hosting six Super Bowls in the span of a couple of weeks.
Turns out, they may have been talking about ticket prices.
Over the last few days, FIFA has started notifying fans who entered the Visa presale lottery if they were selected, and those lucky individuals have been met with a bit of sticker shock.
Although tickets theoretically start at $60 for “Category 4”, by Monday no such tickets were available for any of the six Seattle matches. In fact, there aren’t even any Category 3 tickets available, nor are any seats at all available for the United States’ group stage game that’s scheduled for June 19. It was not immediately clear if that’s because those tickets sold out or because FIFA is holding them back for a later release. What are available are Category 1 and 2 tickets which range in price from $310-$410 for the three non-USMNT group stage games. Only Category 2 tickets are available for the Round of 32, which costs $440, while tickets for the Round of 16 match range from $485-$660.
While those ticket prices might not be totally outrageous for a major sporting event by today’s standard, what’s different about these is that fans are buying them blind to both who will be playing and where they’ll be seated. Category 1, for instance, is the entire lower bowl, while Category 2 is the entire 300 section between the corner flags.
Whether or not these tickets prove to be a “good” deal likely depends on the draw. FIFA has announced that they’ll be using “dynamic” pricing, which theoretically means prices could go up or down depending on demand. They used a similar scheme for the Club World Cup and ended up almost giving tickets away for some games, while charging a premium for others. But there’s at least one more round of sales before the draw even takes place. If you’re hoping to attend World Cup games with your family without spending thousands of dollars, you’re going to have to be patient.
