Dynamic pricing is coming to next year's USA World Cup and 'Y'all are going to hate it'
When Inter Miami played away at Sporting Kansas City in January, the home team switched the game from their 16,000-capacity Children's Mercy Park to the 76,000 Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL's Chiefs. They sold more than 72,000 tickets, the fourth-highest crowd of all-time for an MLS regular-season game. In April, Chicago Fire, who play at the NFL Bears' Soldier Field, drew a record attendance of 62,358 for the visit of Messi. Parts of the stadium usually closed off were sold.
But dynamic pricing also embodies the kind of cynical ticketing policies that would cause outright revolt at some Premier League clubs. Even in the US there is some concern. Franchises have sought to address that by excluding some sections of the ground from dynamic pricing, or by preventing certain tickets from being available for resale. It has been suggested that Conor McGregor's biggest UFC fights in Las Vegas at the height of his fame were ticketed in such a way as to make sure they were affordable to some of his Irish fanbase. The noise and colour they brought was considered to be a vital part of the show.
But generally speaking, those who have seen the operation close-up say that Americans have a greater acceptance that venues and franchises will squeeze the last cent out of hot ticket events. 'There is a kind of forgiveness that the man is going to screw me,' says one source. 'Dynamic pricing is definitely more franchise-friendly than fan-friendly.'
Curiously, the view is that there will be no problems selling tickets for Gianni Infantino's 48-team 2026 World Cup finals, part of a new sporting era in the US. The Los Angeles summer Olympics follow in 2028 and then the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2034. 'The brand of the World Cup is a lot stronger than the Club World Cup,' a source says. Sales will also start much sooner than they did for the Club World Cup, with the draw for the finals in December.
The City fans who had bought quarter-final tickets for Orlando on Friday may have to take a loss on the resale – if they can sell them at all. In Philadelphia, where Chelsea played Palmeiras at the 76,000 capacity Lincoln Financial Field, there was competition across the road at the home of the city's Major League Baseball team, the Phillies, who were playing Cincinnati Reds on an early afternoon start. On this occasion the ticketing algorithm seemed to be working in favour of the football fan. They will doubtless come to learn that dynamic pricing is designed so that, most of the time, it is the house that wins.
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