Ticket Sales Falling Short

Ticket sales for next month’s World Cup were already lower than expected before a series of glitches crashed the sales system. Now a new host of ticketing issues have compounded organizers’ problems less than two weeks before the tournament kicks off. FIFA, soccer's world governing body, has apologized profusely to fans for ticketing delays, particularly within South Africa where queues stretched on for hours and scuffles broke out among the fans. Concerns over the high cost and relative danger of traveling to South Africa meant that as of Thursday 160,000 tickets were still available, including 800 for the final—numbers that leave FIFA below its projections of a nearly sold-out tournament. Many airlines have more than doubled their airfare for South Africa since January and some hotel rates are three or four times what they would normally be.