SerpApi.Org
The World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico was framed by FIFA as a once-in-a-generation revenue opportunity.
After the tournament reached its crescendo with Spain’s victory over Argentina in New Jersey on Sunday, it is safe to say that they were not wrong.
As well as planting more seeds in the American market, which pays more and is less resistant to the commercialisation of sport than any other demographic, FIFA also ‘went native’ with its approach to monetising the tournament.
The World Cup had its own in-house resale platform, for example, where scalpers were free to behave with impunity as long as FIFA got its 30 per cent commission. Then, there was the pitchside corporate hospitality lounges which went for seven-figure sums. There have even been attempts by the likes of MLB to capture soccer audiences while fans have been Stateside.
For many fans, being relentlessly squeezed makes them feel nauseous and alienated from the beautiful game. But for FIFA’s head honcho, Donald Trump acolyte Gianni Infantino, the tournament was a wildly lucrative success which virtually guarantees him re-election at the top of soccer’s global governing body.
However, how sustainable is the 2026 format for future editions of the World Cup? The latest data might give us an idea.
FIFA ticketing and hospitality income to nosedive at 2030 World Cup
FIFA is projecting revenues of $15bn for its current four-year cycle, which effectively ends once the business of the 2026 World Cup is finalised.
That is $2bn higher than initial projections. Where has the uptick come from? Well, given that media rights and sponsorship contracts are locked in, it seems likely that the vast majority of the excess has come from ticketing and hospitality sales.
Originally, FIFA said it would make a little over $3bn from this revenue stream, roughly triple what it did in Qatar three-and-a-half years earlier. Infantino and his peers in the boardroom, however, are yet to give any specifics about the final take through the turnstiles.
However, a previous FIFA report does outline the revenues it expects from the 2027-2030 cycle, which encompasses the World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with support from Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.
That paperwork says that they expect ticketing revenue to fall by $938m – and that figure was arrived at before FIFA outperformed its expectations in the same vertical at the World Cup this summer.
It remains to be seen whether FIFA carries over its strategy towards, among other things, dynamic pricing and the secondary ticketing market in 2030.
But Infantino is an expansionist and, as evidenced by the fact that he wants a 64-team World Cup next time around, nothing would surprise the footballing public in the Infantino era.
Read more:
・La Liga boss says how Donald Trump-Flo Balogun World Cup scandal could’ve ‘cost Infantino his job’
・How MLB exploited World Cup fever in the US as FIFA pact revealed
・Lionel Messi’s World Cup campaign earns comparison to LeBron James and 2018 Cleveland Cavaliers
