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The World Cup's New Luxury Package: Football, Dreams and a Second Mortgage

MEXICO CITY — On the eve of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino stood before reporters and delivered what may ultimately become one of the tournament's most memorable moments — not because of a stunning goal prediction or a bold sporting vision, but because he calmly declared that World Cup ticket prices are "reasonable."

Reasonable.

It's a fascinating word. Somewhere in the world, "reasonable" means finding a good lunch special. Somewhere else, it means getting a hotel room that doesn't require selling a kidney. In World Cup 2026 terminology, however, reasonable apparently means spending hundreds — and in many cases thousands — of dollars to watch 22 people chase a ball across a field.

To be fair, Infantino arrived armed with statistics. FIFA's starting ticket price was reportedly around $60, and more than six million tickets had been sold. The average price, he explained, remained below $500. Compared with playoff tickets in major American sports, FIFA believes the World Cup is actually a bargain.

And perhaps that is true if your frame of reference is courtside seats at the NBA Finals or a luxury suite at the Super Bowl.

For everyone else, there is mathematics.

A family of four attending a World Cup match may discover that the ticket is merely the opening ceremony for their credit card statement. Add airfare, hotels, transportation, meals, souvenirs, and the mandatory purchase of at least one overpriced beverage, and suddenly that "once-in-a-lifetime experience" begins resembling a down payment on a compact car.

Yet FIFA's argument has its own peculiar logic.

After all, this is not simply football. This is The World Cup™. The largest sporting event on Earth. Thirty-nine days of global drama spread across three nations. The world's greatest players. Historic stadiums. National anthems. Emotional tears. Last-minute winners. Collective joy and heartbreak.

How do you place a price on that?

Apparently, very carefully — with the assistance of numerous experts.

Throughout his press conference, Infantino repeatedly returned to the idea that football should unite people and create memories that transport fans back to childhood. It was an admirable sentiment, even if many supporters listening from outside the stadium gates were probably wondering whether childhood memories now required financing options.

The irony is that demand appears to support FIFA's confidence. Millions of tickets have sold despite widespread complaints. Secondary market prices continue to soar. Stadiums are expected to be packed. Fans from every corner of the globe are arriving in North America.

Perhaps FIFA has correctly identified a modern truth: people will complain about ticket prices right up until the moment they buy the ticket.

The World Cup has become something bigger than a sporting event. It is part festival, part pilgrimage, part bucket-list achievement. For many supporters, missing it feels worse than paying for it.

And so the queues continue, the stadiums fill, and the credit cards quietly absorb another historic moment.

As the tournament begins, football fans everywhere may find themselves united by a universal chant:

"That price is outrageous."

Followed immediately by:

"I'll take two."