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By Tony Attwood
It appears that there is a problem for media companies reporting on the World Cup. Fifa, we have seen in recent years, likes to censor commentaries about Fifa, and can get unhappy about journalists who complain about the way Fifa does things. Things such as Fifa taking 15% commission from both the buyer and the seller if anyone tries to resell a ticket for any match at the forthcoming World Cup.
However, it appears that lots of tickets are being sold via other agencies, and it is not clear if Fifa is intending to, or indeed able to do anything about this. On the one hand Fifa likes to have a monopoly on all things; on the other hand it is getting decidedly nervous about TV showing half empty stadia.
Part of the problem, of course, was that Fifa wildly overestimated demand for tickets and so massively jacked up the prices. It has been claimed that the money raised through this will go to help smaller federations develop football in their countries, which might be very noble, but it is not clear that supporters of one country actually want to pay for the improvement of football in another country.
In the past, however, regular agencies that are used to selling tickets locally have not been able to sell tickets for WC matches – it all goes through Fifa, but they seem not to have been handling it at all well, overpricing tickets and underselling seats at games. They have also abandoned their promise made to get the World Cup to North America, that hundreds of thousands of tickets would be sold at $21 per game.
Worse, not only is it now not clear how much money Fifa is making from ticket sales, it is not at all clear where that money is going. Fifa claims it is auditing where the money comes from and goes, but some seem not to be satisfied with this claim.
It is being reported that with the WC just a couple of weeks away, vast numbers of tickets for the games to be played in Canada have not been sold, and hotels have fewer bookings than they normally have for this time of year. However it seems that Fifa is saying that ticket sales are far higher than in previous World Cups. We shall presumably see what the crowds look like when the games start, as long as TV companies are not ordered NOT to show the crowds.
Indeed, there is also talk that in order to avoid the extreme embarrassment of TV cameras showing grounds that are half empty, the US authorities have taken to giving away tickets in the cheaper parts of the stadia for the opening games, although of course this can’t be fully verified. There is also talk that TV companies are being told not to show pictures of the crowds where the grounds are not full, although again, this can’t be verified. It is said that the authorities are investigating.
Attendances have varied across the years at World Cup finals and figures are not always easy to verify, but the most commonly stated attendance figures show that in the United States in 1994 the average attendance at games was 68,991 spectators per match across a 24-team format.
Because the stadia were smaller, this declined in 2006 when the finals were held in Germany, where 52,491 was the average attendance.
Numbers declined again for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where the average was quoted at 49,670, but there was a rise for the Brazil 2014 World Cup to 53,592 fans per match. Russia, however, saw the numbers drop again to 47,371, although the stadia were said to be a bit smaller.
Despite concerns about the heat for the 2022 finals in Qatar, the stadia were reported to be over 96% full throughout the tournament, although verifiable numbers are harder to find.
It is of course, these figures which have convinced the US authorities that they will be putting on the biggest World Cup ever, and that more people will attend than ever, which has led to the much higher prices than fans have previously had to pay. However, it is possible that a level of self-belief in the country’s authorities to handle big events and attract big crowds has led to the significant increase in ticket prices, based on anticipations of numbers who wish to attend – anticipations that may not be fully justified.
We shall, of course, see in a very short while. Although, as before, TV cameras may not be allowed to show any empty seats.
