World Cup 2026: What lessons can be learnt from the Club World Cup?

“At Trump Tower, the new home of FIFA in Manhattan, Gianni Infantino hailed the Club World Cup a ‘huge, huge, huge success’ on Saturday. The president of soccer’s world governing body later posted on Instagram that the tournament had ‘taken over the United States and united people in joy’. FIFA has been on a victory lap since Chelsea’s 3-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s final in front of an 81,118 crowd at MetLife Stadium, a few miles to the west in New Jersey. … Dynamic pricing and empty seats. FIFA adopted a dynamic pricing approach to tickets, where prices fluctuate according to supply and demand. For high-interest sports and music events, this can lead to prices skyrocketing in value but during the Club World Cup, where not a single game was a complete sellout, these costs often tumbled instead due to a lack of demand. … Similar deals emerged with different universities during the tournament as FIFA scrambled to avoid tens of thousands of empty seats becoming a regular occurrence. The group-stage games recorded an average of 35,000 spectators, but the size of the venues chosen — largely NFL stadiums with capacities of more than 60,000 — left big gaps in the stands. The dynamic-pricing market made for some absurd fluctuations. Standard admission pricing for the semi-final between Chelsea and Brazil’s Fluminense at MetLife was reduced to just $13.40 on the weekend before last Tuesday’s match, having been priced at $473.90 less than 72 hours earlier. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
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Empty seats were an issue at Club World Cup games