That's because they bribed us by giving Trump a stupid peace prize so they can do what they want

so I struck out on previous draws...before I go for this last one I'd like to get you folks input to make sure I'm following this correctly

I'm looking at Houston only
As far as I can tell at NRG the level/tier 1 seating is going to be 100 and 300 level seats (lower and club level basically)
level/tier 2 is going to be upper deck sidelines (500 and 600 levels) and lower portion of the "end zones" (500 levels)
level/tier 3 is going to be upper deck end zones
level/tier 4 is going to be the even higher corners of the upper deck end zones

Do I understand the seating correctly?

If so, what I'm seeing is the level 3 seats are all $220 plus if you get them thru FIFA. And level 2 seats are all $400-$500+ depending on the game.

Am I piecing this all together correctly?

Yes, you've got it.

Also, the lowest-priced Category 3 tickets are going to be the hardest to get. They barely exist. I suspect Category 2 will actually have the most availability because FIFA will give lots of good Category 1 seats to corporate sponsors, politicians, warlords, etc.

US Insider draw emails are going out

Is it bad that I got that email and immediately thought that I'd never pay to see the US team play at the current prices.

Yeah, f that.

How bad are they compared to the FIFA rates?

I'm considering selling all my WC tickets and instead going to Chicago to see US vs. Germany in the last WC warmup game. Would let me see my two favorite teams at full WC strength and save me a ton of money.

deadbq03 said:

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Yes, you've got it.

Also, the lowest-priced Category 3 tickets are going to be the hardest to get. They barely exist. I suspect Category 2 will actually have the most availability because FIFA will give lots of good Category 1 seats to corporate sponsors, politicians, warlords, etc.

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thanks.
now I have to figure out what we want to do.
No way am I paying that for level 3 seats. I figure at those prices folks are going to try to go cheap so those will be packed.
Level 2 are better seats but much higher price so not sure that's really worth it
Especially for group stage games. In Houston most of the group games are 1 big name and then 1 scrub. One game is Saudi vs super scrub. The Netherlands game vs Europe team MIGHT be okay.

Plus several are during the week at noon so I'd have to take a day off of work.

I'm leaning towards only trying to get in the draw and get the round of 16 and round of 32.....like everyone else will be doing.....but for those level I'd be willing to fork over for level 2 or higher for round of 16. All other games I'd probably just wait until last minute and see what tickets are going for.

PSA - the random selection draw application window closes tomorrow at 10AM Central.

From what I understand, there will be one more window later in the spring where the remaining tickets will be sold first come first served. These will likely just be the trashiest group matches.

Bump. Less than 2 hours to apply.

Woof. Those prices are…wow.

AGC said:

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Woof. Those prices are…wow.

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agreed

had several family members trying to decide what to do. All in Houston. Not really going to have the time to travel to other cities, even Dallas, with other summer plans. We finally decided that level 3 tickets were not worth it. Level 2 tickets were marginally better but price was significantly higher. We think that's probably the best place for availability. But we thought the value wasn't there. We decided that level 1 would be what we'd pony up for but only for round of 32 and 16. Even though those tickets will likely have less availability due to corporate sponsors, etc.
If we get them and its a premium for them, we are fine with that as they will feature better teams AND b/c we don't have to travel we were fine paying a little more since saving on hotel, transportation, etc.

All the group games here in Houston we're just going to wait and see and maybe buy right before game time.

will be interesting to see if the "demand" that infantino loves to talk about will really be there and there will be full stadiums. There's no reason every game shouldn't be a sell out, except if you price the tickets too high.

Based on remaining tickets in the previous lottery window when I bought, demand is high. There was almost nothing left by the end, and that was largely a domestic-only audience.

Regarding ticket prices - I made the same conclusion as you… Cat 1 for knockout rounds were the best bang for the buck.

But I've stepped back since then due to outside factors (namely my wife wanting to get my kids into an expensive summer camp). I initially bought 3 pairs but decided to resell two pairs. I'll keep the game with the best chance of having teams I want to see (M93 in Dallas).

I'll post soon on the selling experience (which is partial & ongoing), but again, I can say that demand there is real too, and will likely pick up further when this round of official sales are over and lots of folks don't succeed in getting tickets.

Wangus joked about FIFA bribing Trump so they could charge what they want… that's not (directly) true. They bribed him so he'd enable fast-tracked Visa applications for people with WC tickets. This is why they raised prices for this current round which is where the international audience gets active… people from countries that aren't in the waiver program are gonna want to get tickets now to speed up the visa process and ensure they get to come.

makes sense.
To me part of the demand will be tons of folks doing it for speculative reasons and hoping to make easy money. They might...they might not.
Right now, looking at secondary market prices are high. For the exact reason you described, international folks who want to come or have already bought flights, etc are committed and will pay a big premium on tickets.

Once the dust settles there as we get closer to the games will be interesting.

I didn't expect tickets to be cheap...but damn I didn't expect them to be what they are right now.

I've successfully sold all my tickets now on FIFA's resale marketplace, so I can in good faith describe the process and give some notes/observations on the process for those interested in buying or selling there.

1) I highly recommend buyers use FIFA's Marketplace.

• Biggest reason is that Stubhub (and probably all others) will not require sellers to transfer the ticket vouchers immediately. Subhub doesn't require sellers to transfer anything until they get assigned seats and get real tickets. Some sellers will get on the FIFA platform and use their transfer system to let you get it immediately, but most will not.
• This games the system to the advantage of scalpers and Stubhub. If your seller gets lucky and gets good seats, they can pull the rug on your tickets, resell them for a higher price, and they'll will only owe Stubhub the price of the cheapest and worst seats for your category. That's also all you'll get... the cheapest/worst seats for your category.
• The FIFA Marketplace is an instant transaction... you get the voucher now. You'll still be subject to whatever process FIFA uses to assign actual seats later, but at least now if you get lucky, those good seats will be yours... not get farmed out again by the seller.

2) The buying process on the FIFA Marketplace is surprisingly easy from a technological standpoint, but it is a very different experience because of the Category system.

• Buyers will see a price range for the category they want - and that means that at least 1 ticket is on sale for the lowest price in the range.
• Once the buyer selects the number of seats they want, they will get the lowest available prices for their category... but that means it's highly likely that your tickets will cost different amounts. You don't actually see this until you go to the Cart.

3) Similar to the above, selling on the marketplace is different. The first ticket of mine that sold, was sold as a single. I was really frustrated that this happened because I had listed a pair, and I assumed that it was now going to be harder for my last single to sell. I didn't understand the process above. In reality, having just a single left is meaningless because FIFA is just bundling whatever the cheapest seats are for each category for a buyer's request. So when my single sold, it meant that someone had ordered X number of tickets and at the time of purchase, there were X-1 cheaper than mine, so only one of mine made their batch. That's it. So as a seller, if you keep your price near the cheapest, it will move.

• If you're looking to make the most money, I suspect another platform is better to sell on (for reasons I've mentioned and for the fees I discuss below).
• For me, it was worth the convenience of having FIFA do the transaction immediately rather than me figure it out later.

4) FIFA is making a killing on this. Both the buyer and seller get charged a 15% resale fee.

• The resale fee is reflected on the prices the buyer sees (bottom of price range is cheapest ticket + fee)
• The fee is NOT reflected on the price the seller sees when they list. I didn't like this as a seller.

5) I still made a decent profit despite these fees. Demand is absolutely nuts, and still rising... I had my very best pair of tickets listed ambitiously (because I kinda wanted to go still) and after weeks listed at that price, they just sold last night.

I wonder what I could sell my England-Croatia tickets for. Not that I would.

Still gonna try and get some more tickets day of matches and hope the scalpers get desperate with selling.

Yeah I'm hoping for desperation later so I can potentially still go (for much cheaper). When my last pair sold, it was kinda bittersweet.

I think most tickets will be cheaper once actual seats get assigned. (And some will be more expensive) But honestly, demand/pricing has done nothing but defy my expectations to this point so I expect to be wrong here too.

I agree. I've been impressed and proven wrong with demand.

I believe they're going to start letting people know for the last lottery on Thursday.

So I take it from the silence that no one on here got any?

Its unclear if they actually notified everyone who was selected already or not. It just says begin notifying

Ahh. Ok. Well best of luck to all who applied. And yeah, until they send the "sorry bout your luck" email everyone still has a chance.

They've pulled their resale site down like they did during the last lottery window. I probably should've waited to sell mine till after all emails are sent.

Just got an email. USA semifinal tickets…if they get that far.

Idk if the random draw is still ongoing or what. I was really hoping for Japan-Netherlands in Dallas.

It's still going, I got an email with my notification a couple hours ago

Got three games… Japan vs Netherlands + round of 32 and 16 in Houston (cat 1). I was just hoping for one but they are going to hit my card Monday for all three.

We put in for quantity 2 tier 1 tickets out of 3 tiers for Houston for round of 32 and 16 and got them

If demand holds, you'll have no problem selling whichever ones you don't want.

Agree! I am hoping Netherlands/Japan will work with my daughter's soccer club playoff schedule (also in Dallas) and then we will likely pick only one of the two knockout-round games.

Tried for 4 to Croatia/England but was denied. Got my email on Friday.

I ended up with two tickets for Ecuador v Curacao and two tickets for Algeria v Austria. All category 3 group stage.


I had really been trying for Scotland tickets and lost out on those.

I'm thinking about only going to one game but can't decide which would be a better match.

If deadbq is right on how resale has gone...I'd sell both those games and put all that money towards one

That's the downside of expanding the tournament.....soooooo many crappy games

Put in for every Houston game , got 0

Texaggie7nine said:

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Put in for every Houston game , got 0

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What quantity did you request?
And what tier?

Mostly tier 2 and 2 tix for each

Seems the key to this draw may have been to be in for Cat 1 tickets.