Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina are set to kick off the World Cup’s Group B matches at 3pm local time (8pm BST) today at Toronto Stadium, but the tournament remains mired in controversy after hundreds, if not thousands, of empty seats scarred the opening matches.
Large patches of empty seats could be seen at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara during Thursday’s Group A game between South Korea and Czechia — a humiliating sight for FIFA, which has been under fire for a contentious approach to its ticketing prices. The organisation adopted variable pricing for the first time in World Cup history, making the event too expensive for legions of fans after game prices were driven up by an average of 34 percent in October last year.
“Thousands of empty seats at World Cup opening matches as FIFA faces backlash over sky-high ticket prices averaging $5,785”
The move meant that the cheapest standard finals tickets were $5,785 (£4,315), with some tickets hitting resale pages for close to $33,000 (£24,621). Earlier this month, prices were reduced in an under-the-radar move across all 104 scheduled matches, and 70 percent of bulk-reserved hotel rooms were released. However, as of the eve of the tournament, around 180,000 tickets were still listed across official FIFA resale platforms, while a staggering 15,000 group-stage tickets were available directly through its site.
While millions of people around the world are expected to tune in for Canada’s first home match, the visible lack of attendees at the opening games has cast a shadow over FIFA’s first World Cup across three host nations. The controversy over sky-high ticket prices has left legions of fans priced out, and the reduced prices have so far failed to shift the remaining inventory.