FIFA Under Joint Probe by New York and New Jersey AGs Over Soaring 2026 World Cup Ticket Prices

If you've been dreaming of catching a World Cup match this summer — or you already dropped serious cash on tickets — this story is very much your business.

The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have launched a joint investigation into FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, over its ticketing practices for the 2026 World Cup. New York AG Letitia James and New Jersey AG Jennifer Davenport have subpoenaed FIFA for documents detailing pricing for matches, with a focus on the eight contests at MetLife Stadium — temporarily renamed New York-New Jersey Stadium for the tournament.

So what exactly set this off?

Two things: sky-high prices and a bait-and-switch seating situation.

On the price side, the numbers are genuinely staggering. FIFA initially sold the most expensive tickets at $6,730 — already much higher than the roughly $1,600 price for the priciest seats at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. By its latest sales windows starting in April, those same tickets jumped to $10,990. And if you wanted front-row seats? A front row seat in the lower bowl for the final costs more than $30,000. Tickets for the eight games at MetLife are selling for $2,790 on average — 118% higher than the 16-city average of $1,279.

This is the first World Cup in which FIFA has used dynamic pricing — adjusting ticket prices based on demand — and fans have not taken it well. FIFA raised the price of tickets for most of the 104 World Cup matches between October and April, with prices for the three main ticket categories rising on average by 34%.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino's response? He's said FIFA is simply adapting to the North American market — that's the justification used to sharply increase ticket prices compared to previous tournaments. The organization has contended FIFA doesn't set prices, demand does.

Now here's the other piece: the seat map mess.

One big quirk of World Cup ticket sales is that fans can't pick a specific seat until much later in the process — initially, fans can only pick between four broad ticket categories and are later assigned specific seats by FIFA. That's not typical in the U.S., where fans are accustomed to picking their seat at the time of purchase.

It gets worse. During initial ticket sales, FIFA's seat maps divided stadiums into four zones, Category 1 through 4, with Category 1 in the most desirable spots. But FIFA then created new zones after many fans had already bought tickets. Those new zones — labeled "Front Categories" — included the most desirable seats and cost significantly more. Fans who bought tickets before these new zones were created were excluded from those seats and instead assigned less desirable seats, including areas far from the field or behind the goals.

Legal experts are calling this a potential "bait and switch." With the World Cup only weeks away, they concede it would be hard — if not impossible — for FIFA to revamp its sales processes before the tournament starts. But FIFA could face liability in the U.S. long after the World Cup ends in mid-July.

And it's not just New York and New Jersey paying attention. California AG Rob Bonta also requested information from FIFA "to assess whether California law may have been violated" during the sales process.

Even President Trump weighed in — he told the New York Post he wouldn't pay the roughly $1,000 for nosebleed seats for the U.S. opening game against Paraguay. That's a rare moment of common ground with frustrated fans everywhere.

FIFA had not replied to an NPR request for comment by the time of publication.

Bottom line: if you bought World Cup tickets near New York and feel like you got a worse seat than expected, you're not alone — and the government is now asking questions on your behalf. Just don't expect anything to change before kickoff.