Donald Trump’s World Cup chief was forced to defend the event’s sky-high ticket prices after the president himself said he wouldn’t pay that much to attend a match.
Trump, 79, told The New York Post this week that he was surprised to learn that tickets for Team USA’s opening match on June 12 were going for at least $1,000 each.
“I did not know that number,” he told the Post. “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you.”
A day later, the head of Trump’s White House World Cup task force, Andrew Giuliani—son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani—tried to defend FIFA, soccer’s governing body, against a global pricing backlash.
“We look to FIFA as a private entity here,” he told the Financial Times. “We don’t really believe in price controls. That’s kind of like what dynamic pricing can do.”
FIFA has used dynamic pricing, in which algorithms determine prices based on demand, to set ticket costs, leading to anger from fans and scrutiny from regulators.
The tournament is being held in cities across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and Toronto’s regional government has banned reselling event tickets above face value, the FT reported.
In the U.S., however, “the market will dictate the price,” Giuliani told the paper.
More than 5 million tickets had been sold for U.S. matches as of late April, he said, though it’s not clear what percentage of total tickets that number represents.
Last month, FIFA began canceling tens of thousands of reserved rooms in World Cup host cities across the country, with hotel operators saying anti-U.S. sentiment over Trump’s immigration crackdown and war with Iran were partly to blame.
Speaking to the Post on Wednesday, Trump focused on local fans, saying he would be “disappointed” if his voters couldn’t attend matches.
FIFA’s multimillionaire president Gianni Infantino, who is a friend of Trump’s and awarded the president the inaugural “FIFA Peace Prize,” had previously said he had no qualms about astronomic resale prices.
Last week, FIFA’s official resale website advertised four tickets for the tournament’s final match, scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for $2.3 million, The Guardian reported.
FIFA doesn’t control the site’s asking prices, but it does take a 30 percent commission on all sales.
“If some people put on the resale market some tickets for the final at $2 million, number one, it doesn’t mean that the tickets cost $2 million,” Infantino, 56, said on Tuesday. “And number two, it doesn’t mean that somebody will buy these tickets.”
But, he added, “If somebody buys a ticket for the final for $2 million, I will personally bring him a hot dog and a Coke to make sure that he has a great experience.”
Like Giuliani, he blamed the U.S. market for the absurdly high prices.
