Toronto is weeks from hosting the World Cup. But there are still tickets, with fans facing high costs | CBC News

Thousands of tickets remain available for Toronto’s six World Cup matches with two weeks until kick-off. The first match, Canada vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, still has plenty of seats, but the cheapest options are priced at $1,370 and the best remaining seats are just over $3,100. Local fans say they would never pay those amounts for a sporting event, even for once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. FIFA has faced criticism for pricing and for a confusing ticketing process, including complaints that fans paid for premier seats only to see better options later. A sports economist suggests FIFA may prioritize higher revenue per seat rather than selling out at lower prices, since higher pricing can be more profitable even if fewer people can afford tickets.

"With two weeks until kick-off and thousands of tickets still available for the six matches Toronto is hosting, many of the city's soccer fans appear to be giving a definitive answer. As of Wednesday, there were still plenty of tickets available for the first World Cup match in the city, featuring Canada against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The cheapest tickets, for nosebleed seats, were $1,370. The best remaining seats were just over $3,100."

"Locals like Cam Sharpe told CBC News they would never pay those kinds of prices for a sporting event, once-in-a-lifetime or not. I wouldn't even have paid that much for the Blue Jays in the World Series, Game 7 against the Dodgers, where we actually win this time, he said. To get into something like that for such a steep ticket price, it doesn't encourage locals to go."

"FIFA has faced criticism over the prices it set for this World Cup since tickets were first released late last year. But the federation may not be concerned with selling out matches, says Moshe Lander, a sports economist at Concordia University. If FIFA can make money selling seats at a higher price, even if fewer people can afford it and some tickets aren't sold, that might still be more profitable than selling out the stadium at a more reasonable cost to ticketholders, Lander said."

"WATCH | World Cup prices have these fans fuming: With the World Cup coming up fast, some fans are sounding off on what they call FIFA's overly expensive and confusing ticketing process, with some saying they paid top dollar for premier seats only for better ones to be released later. Wouldn't you want to sell out?' Maybe not. Maybe I don't maximize my profit that way."

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