Ticket sales for the opening of the World Cup in the USA are not going according to plan, and the numbers have surprised many.
As The Athletic writes, interest in the match between the USA and Paraguay, which will be played on June 12 at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, is noticeably weaker than other matches at the same location.
According to the document distributed to the organizers, by April 10, 40,934 tickets were sold for the American opener, while, for example, more than 50,000 tickets were sold for the Iran-New Zealand match three days later.
The main reason for weaker sales, it seems, lies in the high price. When tickets went on sale, the USA-Paraguay game was the third most expensive of the entire tournament, with prices as high as $2,730, $1,940 and $1,120.
While the prices for most of the other matches subsequently increased due to high demand, for this match they remained the same, which is a clear sign that the interest did not meet expectations, reports Gol.
The Athletic reports that tickets are selling at a slow pace, only a few dozen per day, and thousands are still available on FIFA’s official website. Interestingly, among the rare matches that have a larger number of unsold tickets are the USA and Canada openings, which is even more surprising considering the status of the hosts.
Although FIFA claims that a total of around five million tickets were sold, it also admits that it deliberately withholds part of the tickets in order to release them for sale closer to the start of the tournament. However, the numbers show that, at least for now, the glamorous opening of the World Cup in the USA is not causing the expected frenzy among fans.
(Vijesti.ba)
