Soccer, or football for everyone else, is often called the beautiful game. But finding the money to attend its most prestigious tournament can get downright ugly.
Between match tickets, transportation, food and other basic expenses, the price for just one person to attend a World Cup match in their home city can quickly run hundreds of dollars.
If a couple or the whole family plans on going, or if you need a flight or hotel, prepare to measure the costs in the thousands.
FIFA — soccer’s worldwide governing body and the World Cup’s organizer — has faced mounting criticism for the sky-high costs of tournament tickets and for its opaque (some have said deceptive) ticketing process.
To grasp the full price tag for attending the World Cup, MassLive tallied the expenses one might incur to take in a match at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, which will host seven during the tournament.
But with an estimated 75% of ticketholders arriving from outside New England, many fans will spend far more on travel, lodging and associated expenses. The costs can quickly snowball.
Tickets can cost hundreds of dollars
No other expense matters if you can’t get in the door.
Fans who won a lottery to select tickets could purchase them at face value. That didn’t necessarily mean they got a fair chance at affordable seats.
For the World Cup, FIFA sold tickets at multiple price tiers, rather than the method many fans in the United States are used to, in which teams sell tickets to specific seats. FIFA also used dynamic pricing, or variable pricing, allowing it to adjust ticket prices in response to demand.
Before the teams were set for a June 26 match in Guadalajara, Mexico, prices ranged from $120 to $345 for different tiers of seats, according to The Athletic.
After the draw was announced — a marquee matchup between Spain and Uruguay — prices soared. Lower-tier seats reached $315. Upper-tier seats hit $780.
For the five group stage matches at Gillette Stadium, tickets cost $410 at face value for the entire inner bowl and much of the second level.
On the second-level corners and third-level sidelines, tickets went for $310, according to ticket prices tracked by The World Cup Guide, a fan-run tournament information website.
In the highest corner seats in the stadium, tickets cost $140. Seats in two distant corner sections, small enough to miss on the stadium map, were originally released at $60 to $70 — though resellers now list them online for hundreds more.
For the stadium’s June 29 knockout stage match, face value tickets went as high as $440, according to prices tracked by The World Cup Guide. For the July 9 quarterfinal match: $1,125.
But many fans missed out on the chance to purchase tickets at face value. They can try their luck on the resale market. On Thursday, a single seat to the June 13 matchup between Haiti and Scotland — tucked into an upper-level corner — was listed on StubHub for $612. Seats in the lower bowl ranged from $800 to $1,200.
The prices, set by the seller, vary considerably. SeatGeek lists a $273 ticket for the June 16 match between Norway and Iraq, in a seat so high above the field that the occupant can probably see the borders of both Norway and Iraq.
To see top-ranked France play Norway on June 26, the cheapest seat listed on StubHub on Thursday was $773. Seats close to the field ranged from about $1,000 to more than $6,000.
Those prices all reflect single tickets. For couples or families, the costs only increase.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended the ticket pricing as fair for an event of the World Cup’s caliber.
“We have to look at the market,” he said earlier this month.
Getting to Foxborough
Don’t put that credit card away quite yet.
There are several options to reach the stadium.
Authorities have urged fans to take the MBTA commuter rail, which will run express from South Station in Boston to Foxboro Station, adjacent to the stadium.
The MBTA is preparing to transport 20,000 fans to each match via train. Tickets are $80 round trip, four times the cost of commuter rail tickets to a regular New England Patriots game.
But the tickets, the T said, will cover travel across the entire commuter rail network on matchday. That means a person in, say, Worcester or Lowell, can travel to South Station, then to Foxborough, then back home with one ticket.
The official bus service is $95 roundtrip. The Scottish fan base, however, pooled money to charter school buses at a lower per-fan cost.
Reaching the stadium by car carries its own costs, both financial and mental.
Parking for any of the five group stage matches costs $175 ($700 for an oversized vehicle, such as an RV).
After that, prices jump — to $220 for the first knockout stage match in Foxborough, and $270 for the quarterfinal.
Parking at private lots or Foxborough homes renting out spots will vary.
A ride via Uber or Lyft may not be much less expensive. On Thursday afternoon, a month ahead of the tournament, rides from Boston to Gillette Stadium cost $85 to $125. Surge pricing could push that rate even higher.
Driving also carries its own hidden toll, one paid in mental anguish during what will likely be multiple hours behind the wheel in stadium traffic.
The first match at Gillette Stadium is scheduled for a Saturday night. The other six are on weekday afternoons and evenings, putting soccer fans on the roads alongside regular commuters.
“Those weekday ones, especially on the Tuesdays and Fridays, are going to be difficult,” Massachusetts highway administrator Jonathan Gulliver said earlier this month. “The guarantee is that there’s going to be a lot of extra traffic.”
The costs continue
Additional costs can be difficult to estimate. Some fans may hail a ride to South Station to catch the commuter rail to Foxborough, while others may park and take the subway into the city.
Add in the price of food, drinks, apparel, merchandise and more.
All told, attending a World Cup match can quickly escape an average soccer fan’s budget.
According to Boston’s World Cup host committee, three in every four ticketholders for the Foxborough matches are expected to come from outside New England. More than half of those travelers are international.
On the weekend of Gillette Stadium’s first World Cup match, round-trip flights from New York City to Boston cost about $170 to $200. An Amtrak train costs at least $80 each way.
A hotel or other lodging may cost several hundred dollars per night.
Out-of-town visitors also face the additional food and general expenses associated with any getaway.
Tally it up. The lucky fans scored $140 nosebleeds for a group stage match.
Other fans decided to shell out for the $310 or $410 seats. Many were shut out of the original ticket release entirely and turned to the resale market, where the farthest seats from action still cost hundreds of dollars.
Add in an $80 train ticket, or a $175 parking pass. Factor in a meal before the match and food and drinks at the stadium. If necessary, pile on airfare and a hotel room.
Ideally, it adds up to a wonderful, unforgettable experience.
Did we miss anything? Reach out at wkatcher@masslive.com.
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