"I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn't pay it either, to be honest with you." That's Donald Trump, self-described billionaire and current U.S. president, telling the New York Post he's priced out of watching his own country's team at the 2026 World Cup. When the guy hosting the tournament won't buy a ticket, FIFA has a real problem.
The get-in price for the USMNT's opening-round match against Paraguay in Southern California on June 12 sits at around $1,000. The final at MetLife Stadium is reportedly fetching up to $6,000. For a tournament that's supposed to grow the game in America, those numbers are doing the opposite — they're locking the sport's actual fanbase out of the stadium.
Infantino's defence doesn't hold up
FIFA president Gianni Infantino tried to justify the pricing by claiming you can't watch a college football game in the U.S. for under $300. That would be a stronger argument if it were true. Several College Football Playoff games at neutral sites cleared well under $100 at face value, and the priciest of those came in at $219 — not exactly comparable to a four-figure entry fee for a group-stage opener.
Gaslighting fans into accepting inflated prices as normal is a bad strategy, and it's an even worse look when the criticism is coming from the White House.
The tournament's arrival on U.S. soil is genuinely significant — the first time America has hosted since 1994, and a chance to convert a generation of casual followers into committed supporters. But that conversion doesn't happen from a couch in a sports bar because match tickets cost the same as a transatlantic flight.
What it means for the tournament's legacy
The real risk here isn't just bad press. It's empty atmospheres. It's games in 90,000-seat NFL stadiums with clusters of travelling fans and rows of unsold seats because domestic supporters couldn't justify the spend. That image would follow this World Cup for decades.
Anyone pricing USMNT futures or tournament outright markets should note that home support — genuinely one of the most tangible advantages in a World Cup — may be far thinner on the ground than the host nation narrative suggests. A $1,000 barrier doesn't build a home crowd. It builds resentment.
Trump says he's watching from home. Millions of Americans will be joining him.
