Been waiting a long time for this ...
But who is the World Cup for, at $9,000 a ticket?
I regret one thing about the 1994 World Cup in the U.S.: I didn’t go to a single game.
I was young, broke—and honestly not much of a soccer fan yet.
That changed. Living in D.C., I got hooked on early D.C. United games at RFK. I started playing rec league, got cut from teams, and eventually started my own in the old Washington International Soccer League.
I recruited a few JAG Corps guys, one legit former college goalkeeper, and a lot of enthusiasm.
By the 2002 World Cup, I was living in Koreatown in L.A., and both the U.S. and South Korea made runs. It was electric. The 2006 and 2010 tournaments were fun, too.
This became the one global sporting event I actually plan my life around—more than March Madness, more than the Stanley Cup.
Then NBC started carrying Premier League games, complete with early Ted Lasso commercials. I started watching Saturday and Sunday mornings. A couple of years ago, in London, I picked a game for our family trip—the only one I could actually get tickets for—West Ham United vs. Everton—and that was it.
Now I’m a West Ham fan in New Jersey, which is its own special kind of pain; as I write this, I’m about to turn on their Monday match against Crystal Palace to see if they can keep from slipping toward relegation.
These days, it’s even more local. We go to New York Red Bulls games and Gotham FC matches.
And honestly, as much as I love watching, I probably get even more out of coaching my daughter’s team. She’s the youngest kid out there, plays center back, and she’s pretty great—last week she nearly scored from midfield.
When her team finally did score, they all broke into the Macarena right there on the field.
All of which is why the 2026 World Cup, coming to the U.S., should feel like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Instead, it feels like something else.
I used to joke that we had to stay in New Jersey because I was definitely going to the final at MetLife Stadium. Then I looked at prices. Roughly $9,000 a ticket.
I entered the lottery for other games and lost. I did manage to get tickets for a Round of 32 game near my sister’s house in Foxborough.
At the time, I felt like I overpaid, but since then, prices have more than tripled. The cheapest resale ticket is now over $800, including FIFA’s $210 “resale facilitation fee.”
Ah, FIFA. The soccer overlords expect to generate about $11 billion from this tournament—what its president has compared to hosting 104 Super Bowls, and prices reflect that ambition.
And then there’s the part that really pushes this over the top: the cost of getting to the game.
In New Jersey, FIFA’s security rules mean almost no parking at the stadium, pushing tens of thousands onto NJ Transit trains. At the same time, regular commuters won’t be allowed to use New York’s Penn Station for roughly seven hours total before and after the games, some of which fall in the middle of rush hour.
NJ Transit says it will cost roughly $48 million to run these operations. Rather than raise taxes or shift the burden to commuters, the state is passing the cost directly to fans, resulting in a $150 round-trip train ticket.
Even if I’d rather fans (like me) pay for this than taxpayers or commuters who can’t afford the games, we’re past the point of asking, “Is it worth it?”
Who is this actually for?
And yet—here’s the part I can’t shake—I still check the resale market every day. The cheapest game at MetLife right now is Norway vs. Senegal, with tickets going for about $500 each.
I keep wondering if prices will drop. If reality will set in. If scalpers will blink.
It’s still the World Cup. It’s still one of the few sporting events that can stop everything and make you feel like you’re part of something rare.
But that only works if people can actually be there.
Other things worth knowing …
The New York Times: FBI director Kash Patel is suing The Atlantic for defamation over an article that claimed that his excessive drinking and unexplained absences were putting his job in jeopardy.
The Washington Post: Students are speeding through their online degrees in weeks, alarming educators.
USA Today: The penny is already dead. Could the nickel be next to go?
The New York Times: AI-generated fake influencers have surged on social media in advance of the November elections. Although the quality of some of the accounts edges toward slop … researchers said the comments on the posts suggest that many users believe that the avatars are real people: “Flooding the zone here with tons and tons of videos seems geared to give a false sense of a majority opinion.”
The Washington Post: We calculated how much Nick Fuentes earns from live-streaming hate: The far-right provocateur has pocketed roughly $900,000 from “fanatical” donors since the start of 2025. Some superfans see him as part of their families.
The Hill: Senate Republicans who fear their three-seat majority could be in danger in this year’s midterm election are hoping for the retirement of conservative Justice Samuel Alito as an “October surprise” that could change their political fortunes. “If we did have a Supreme Court vacancy obviously that would be a galvanizing issue for Republicans,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is up for reelection.
Reddit: I tracked every FIFA World Cup 2026 resale listing for a few days. Here’s what’s actually going on.
Thanks for reading. Photo by Alex Engelman on Unsplash. See you in the comments.
Your daughter and her team breaking into the Macarena - priceless! And smile producing - thank you, Bill!
Sports are ridiculous. I can't believe people give a crap about watching them anymore. Find a new or better pastime. I workout more, walk more, visit the parks and lakes more. Ever since I quit watching football. I guess it's a social thing but sure takes all the fun out of it when you can't afford to go watch a live event.