FIFA President Gianni Infantino has had an answer when asked about the sky-high ticket prices for this summer's World Cup: They are simply adapting to the North American market.
That's the justification FIFA has used to sharply increase ticket prices for the World Cup taking place in the United States, Mexico and Canada this summer compared to previous tournaments.
But those increases could come with some serious consequences: The New York and New Jersey attorneys general said on Wednesday they have launched a probe into FIFA over ticket practices.
And it's not just the ticket prices. New York Atty Gen. Letitia James and New Jersey Atty Gen. Jennifer Davenport are also looking at FIFA's sales process, including the way it has allocated tickets to fans and whether the organization's sales tactics have contributed to "soaring prices."
Here's what to know about how FIFA sells tickets — and why it has become such a flash point with just two weeks to go before the start of the tournament.
FIFA's prices draw condemnation
Ticket prices for this tournament aren't just much higher than previous World Cups. For the first time, FIFA has introduced dynamic pricing, leading to sharply higher prices for many World Cup games.
A clear example is for the final match, set to take place in New Jersey on July 19. FIFA initially sold the most expensive tickets at $6,730 — already much higher than the about $1,600 price for the most expensive tickets for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
By its latest sales windows starting in April, the same category of tickets cost $10,990.
The prices have sparked widespread outrage — and drawn wide scrutiny on FIFA. Even President Trump, who has established a close relationship with Infantino, told the New York Post
he wouldn't pay the roughly $1,000 for nosebleed seats for the U.S. opening game against Paraguay next month.
Compounding the problem, FIFA back in April also unveiled an entirely new category of tickets called "Front Category" seats, offering front row seats across the stadium, that were priced even more expensively.
A front row seat in the lower bowl for the final costs more than $30,000.
FIFA's sales tactics also under scrutiny
One looming legal question is whether FIFA acted as a monopoly and unfairly used its status to sell tickets, attorneys and ticketing experts told NPR.
Derek Howard, an attorney who also teaches at the University of San Francisco, said
FIFA has closely guarded information about how it's pricing tickets, how many tickets are left to sell and when it decides to adjust prices. That's kept ticket buyers in the dark, and FIFA holding all the cards.
"FIFA has been using what we might call scare tactics to create a demand for a ticket and telling people that they have to pay the high prices because if they don't, they're going to miss out on this once in a lifetime event," Howard says. "The problem behind that is that the consumers have no way of knowing whether or not that's true."
Even in the current "last-minute sales" window, FIFA releases tickets across games at periodic times — while encouraging fans to act now. That means someone logging in any given day has no way to know if the tickets being offered are the last remaining or whether more will be available later and at what price.
"Being honest about ticket sales is not complicated. But FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices — all at the expense of consumers and hardworking New Jerseyans," Davenport said in her statement.
FIFA has wide discretion in assigning seat locations
One of the big peculiarities of World Cup ticket sales is that fans are not able to pick a specific seat until much later in the process.
Initially, fans can only pick between four broad ticket categories; later they are assigned specific seats by FIFA. That's not typical in the U.S., where fans are accustomed to picking the seat they want at the time of purchase.
Seating maps for most stadiums like the one in New Jersey indicated that Category 1 tickets — or the most expensive ones — cover large parts of the lower bowl of a stadium. By glancing at those stadium maps, fans could assume they had a good shot at getting a prime sideline view. What FIFA doesn't clearly spell out is that a number of those sideline seats are reserved for premium tickets and other categories of ticket holders such as corporate sponsors.
There's no way of knowing how many seats are left in any of the sections — and many fans who bought those expensive Category 1 tickets have complained they got stuck in less desirable seats, such as behind corners.
This World Cup is not the first time FIFA has used this blind ticketing system, but it is the first time it's charged such high prices, sparking outrage among fans who feel they've been overcharged.
FIFA can also change seating charts
Like most sports, FIFA divvies up the stadium seating map into different categories with different prices. Lower sideline seats are more expensive than those in the high up, "nosebleed section," for example.
But FIFA reserves the right to adjust seating charts as it wants. That means, FIFA could increase the number of seats considered Category 1, so a fan who thought they were buying in a top-tier section could end up in a previously lower-category seat.
FIFA has traditionally sold tickets this way. But James took issue with that.
"No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive," she said in the statement announcing the probe.
FIFA does state that "visual representations of Ticket Categories on the Ticketing Website, such as Stadium maps and illustrations, are for guidance purposes only and may not reflect the actual layout and boundaries of a particular Stadium."
But Howard says that doesn't give FIFA complete immunity from legal action. He said shifting categories after a fan has bought a ticket could be considered a "bait and switch."
So what now?
FIFA had not replied to an NPR request for comment by the time of publication.
But with the start of the World Cup only two weeks away, legal experts concede it would be hard — if not impossible — for FIFA to revamp its sales processes before the tournament.
But FIFA could be liable in the U.S. long after the World Cup ends in mid-July, they say.
FIFA could face class action lawsuits from aggrieved fans. Several Democratic lawmakers have also written to FIFA seeking answers about its ticket practices. And other attorneys general could probe FIFA. California Atty Gen. Rob Bonta said last month the state sent a letter to FIFA "raising concerns about reports of potentially misleading ticketing practices."
FIFA continues to justify its ticket prices saying it is adapting to the American market. That's been lucrative for FIFA. Infantino said the World Cup could earn it more than $11 billion, including broadcast deals.
But those FIFA ticket prices have sparked outrage among fans — and a potential legal mess.
