Donald Trump has questioned the value of four-figure World Cup tickets for matches involving the United States, telling the New York Post that “I wouldn’t even pay it, to be honest.”
The comments came in a phone interview with the Post, in which Trump claimed he “didn’t know that number” for the USMNT’s opening match against Paraguay.
In December, FIFA set the base price for Category 3 tickets – the cheapest available to most fans, given the small number of Category 4 seats at the tournament – at $1,120, according to FIFA. parent’s Reporting at that time.
Trump said he did not know how much soccer fans were being charged to watch group-play matches at the World Cup.
“I didn’t know that number,” Trump told The New York Post. “I would definitely love to live there, but honestly I wouldn’t even pay it.”
Earlier this week, FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended seat prices for the World Cup, saying they were in line with prices at major American sporting events.
“We have 25% off group stage tickets that can be purchased for less than $300,” Infantino said. “You can’t go see a college game in America for less than $300, let alone a top professional game at a certain level. And that’s the World Cup.”
As reported, the average price of a ticket for the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19 is $13,000, and for the 2022 final in Qatar it was $1,600.
Trump is concerned that price gouging will deprive working-class Americans from participating in sports.
“If the people of Queens and Brooklyn and all the people who love Donald Trump can’t go, I’ll be disappointed, but, you know, at the same time, it’s an amazing success,” he said of the World Cup that he helped lay the groundwork for the U.S. during his first term as president.
“I would like the people who voted for me to be able to go.”
