Trump rips staggering FIFA World Cup ticket pricing, says he ‘wouldn’t pay it either’

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump never seemed too troubled by soaring oil prices, but it appears the jaw-dropping cost of attending the FIFA World Cup has struck a nerve even he could not ignore.

The 79-year-old President, on Wednesday, May 7, brutally blasted the high ticket prices for FIFA World Cup matches, claiming even he wouldn’t shell out for them.

On StubHub, the cheapest seats for the United States vs Paraguay match at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles on June 12 start at $1,056 (£776), compared to $876 (£643) for England vs Panama and $750 (£551) for France vs Senegal at MetLife Stadium near New York City.

The soaring prices have drawn sharp comparisons to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the most expensive final ticket cost around $1,600 at face value.

However, this time, the price for most premium seats goes up to nearly $11,000.

Trump says he didn’t know about the numbers

The Commander-in-Chief was in an interview with the New York Post when he learned that the soccer fans are being quoted four-figure ticket prices for the cheapest seat at the upcoming tournament.

“I did not know that number,” Trump told the outlet, adding that he would certainly “like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you.”

“I would have to take a look at it,” the president said, before expressing concern that many of his own supporters could end up unable to afford tickets for the month-long tournament, set to take place from June 11 to July 19 across more than a dozen cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

“If people from Queens and Brooklyn and all of the people that love Donald Trump can’t go, I would be disappointed, but, you know, at the same time, it’s an amazing success. I would like to be able to have the people who voted for me to be able to go,” he added.

However, he still marvelled at the tournament’s overwhelming popularity, boasting that five million tickets had already been sold and saying, “They’ve never had anything like it.”

FIFA President defends the soaring ticket prices

In recent weeks, football fans around the globe have voiced growing frustration as staggering ticket prices keep the World Cup matches away from the reach of many hoping to attend the once-every-four-years spectacle.

The criticism of soaring ticket prices has come to a legal point, where football supporters in Europe have filed a lawsuit with the European Commission, accusing FIFA of “excessive ticket prices.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino recently defended the tournament’s sky-high prices, insisting that the costs are simply part of hosting a massive event in the United States.

“We have to look at the market; we are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates,” Infantino said at a conference in Beverly Hills this week.

“In the US, it is permitted to resell tickets as well. So if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price,” he added before pointing out that tickets for sporting events in the US are generally expensive.

Infantino added that many seats have been reserved at more affordable levels, noting that 25 percent of group‑stage tickets are priced below $300.