The 2026 World Cup kicked off in Toronto this week, but the scene inside BMO Field wasn’t exactly the packed-house atmosphere FIFA likely envisioned. Canada’s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina played out in front of hundreds of empty seats — and the culprit, according to fans and officials, is a ticket-pricing strategy that feels less like soccer’s showcase and more like a Wall Street auction.
The 44,315-seat venue failed to sell out, even as tickets remained available hours before kickoff. The cost? Category 1 seats ran $2,240, while Category 2 tickets were priced at $1,645. That’s not a typo.
Patches of empty seats were clearly visible on the broadcast side of the stadium, regularly popping into frame during the match. Camera operators didn’t have to look hard. The red seats at BMO Field blended somewhat with the red jerseys worn by Canada supporters, but the absences were unmistakable when the action moved to the far side of the field.
A Pattern Emerging Early
This wasn’t an isolated incident. Just a day earlier, thousands of empty seats dotted the stands for the South Korea vs. Czech Republic match in Guadalajara — only the second game of the entire tournament. Of the 104 matches scheduled, only 29 had sold out before the opening whistle, and tickets for 75 games were still listed on FIFA’s website as recently as Thursday.
Fans online noted the irony: a World Cup co-hosted by three nations, with stadiums that should be buzzing, instead showing off rows of unoccupied plastic seats. The lack of full houses early in the tournament has already raised eyebrows — and opened the door for legal scrutiny.
Legal Heat on FIFA
The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have launched an investigation into FIFA’s ticketing practices, alleging the organization may have artificially inflated prices and misled fans about seat locations. According to reports, FIFA has been subpoenaed to provide information on how tickets were allocated and priced.
Supporters have described being misled about the location of their seats, including the release of more expensive ‘front’ category tickets after initial sales had already closed. Variable pricing — adjusted through multiple phases based on demand — allowed FIFA to raise prices for roughly 90 of the 104 fixtures by an average of 34 percent. The governing body also held back seats, releasing them later to create scarcity and drive up prices even further.
Infantino’s Defense: ‘Compare Us to the NBA’
FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the pricing on the eve of the tournament, pointing to the cost of attending NBA Finals games between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs. He argued that the World Cup is a bigger event and should command premium prices. But the comparison didn’t land well with many fans, especially after U.S. President Donald Trump said last month he personally wouldn’t pay four-figure prices to watch the USA face Paraguay.
Overall, the 2026 World Cup is estimated to be up to five times more expensive than the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Infantino has targeted $13 billion in revenue — an unprecedented sum — and the aggressive pricing strategy appears to be a key lever in reaching that goal.
For now, though, the optics of empty seats in a World Cup host stadium may prove to be a costly image problem that no amount of revenue can fix.
Leave a Comment