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Ought To Be A Law

StubHub Is Screwing People On World Cup Tickets

The idea of StubHub and other ticketing sites is great. I remember going to Wrigley Field in my 20’s without tickets and there being a guy holding what looked like 100 tickets selling them outside a ticket broker’s office. Buying them was the ultimate low information activity and felt a little sketchy.

Buying on resell sites feels better because you can compare prices, know what seats you are getting and never have to talk to the seller. That sounds great even if at times you end up having to spend way more than you want to in order to get in to the event.

The World Cup is here and FIFA is charging insane prices for these games. It appears a lot of people bought tickets with the hope of selling them for more money and they were right. There are rumors that FIFA actually gave a lot of their inventory to re-sell sites too. Getting into the US game this Friday will cost you more than a Final Four or World Series ticket. Yay capitalism.

The problem with the World Cup is that the only place to get guaranteed tickets is from the FIFA re-sale site. Their site sucks. It is not user friendly at all and you have to pay a 15% fee whether you are buying or selling.

So a lot of people are going to sites like Stubhub for tickets. Many of them do it because they promote a “fan guarantee” that if your seller does not deliver tickets they will get you comparable or better tickets. The problem with that is it never seems to happen and their fine print allows them to simply just refund you. Of course that does not happen usually until the last minute. This happened to me last year when trying to purchase tickets for a concert. I could not get a refund until an hour before the event started.

But the problem with the World Cup sounds insane. Here is a sample of complaints I’ve seen lately.

And here is one where a buyer had to get on a flight without tickets being delivered. Do you want to go to Houston in June without being there for an event? Neither do I.

There are hundreds of other horror stories with Stubhub and it’s not unique to the World Cup. A good friend had hockey playoff tickets until he did not. No replacement tickets given. And there’s this one below from the NCAA tournament.

So What Can You Do About Stubhub Screwing You Over?

What is your recourse if this happens to you. This person has an idea that will never happen.

I’m beyond sympathetic, but the reality is that when you sign up for Stubhub or these other ticketing sites, you agree to their terms of service. As part of that, you agree, whether you realize or not, to resolve all disputes via arbitration and waive your right to be a part of a class action lawsuit.

This is gross, but not unique to them. In fact, most companies you deal with have these clauses. Plainly speaking, suing as a consumer on a class action basis is often impossible.

There ought to be a law that prevents these clauses, but the truth is that the republicans in the Bush administration made it happen and democrats haven’t done anything about it when they have gotten power. It is the number one way that companies get away with nonsense. And it prevents them from fixing problems or actually having a real “fan protect” guarantee.

So if you are looking for tickets, it is buyer beware! And that includes any thought about suing Stubhub if things go sideways.

FIFA Is Screwing People With The World Cup

First off, I do not remember who was Mayor when Chicago said thanks, but no thanks, to hosting the World Cup, but whoever that was made the right call.

I am the biggest soccer fan I know. I played it (poorly) for about 20 years. I have coached it on and off for over 30 years. I have been a referee for almost a decade. I have been a MLS season ticket holder. I have seen the USMNT play in around 20 matches. I watch EPL religously even if my club (Tottenham) is a disaster.

I have been looking forward to the 2026 World Cup since it was announced. I graduated college in 1994 and drove around the country seeing matches. I planned on doing the same this year with my wife and kids.

I knew tickets would be expensive, but did not anticipate how much FIFA would try to gouge fans. But that is not all they have done to screw people over. Let us count the ways that FIFA and others are taking advantage of people.

  1. The prices are ridiculous. A single game ticket for some of the matches costs more than a season ticket for most clubs, including some of the biggest ones in Europe. Even for undesirable games, the get in price for a decent seat is over $400. For a US game, a seat behind the goal, which isn’t a great view, can run over $2,000. If you want to go to the final as a family of four, it will cost you more than a year of college tuition.
  2. You do not even know where you are sitting. FIFA broke down tickets to four categories, with category 1 being the most expensive and category 4 the “cheapest.” Category 4 tickets are very limited and are the worst seats at the venue. Category 3 tickets are not much better. Category 1 tickets are theoretically the best, but could be at midfield, behind the goal, in the corner, etc. You do not get to pick out your seats. Can you imagine spending over $1,000 for a ticket and not knowing if you have a good seat or not? Insane.
  3. You might not get the Category you paid for. People are reporting that they bought category two tickets, but got placed in seats that were on the category three map when they committed to them.
  4. They have been holding back tickets so they can charge even more. FIFA held a lottery for tickets. The goal was not to sell all of them, but instead to see how much interest there was. This resulted in people who want to buy tickets being shut out, only for new lotteries to happen with higher prices. In some cases that is hundreds or thousands of dollars more.
  5. Want to drive to a game? Parking prices are insane. Most of the venues for the World Cup are not as public transit friendly as Chicago would be. Somehow FIFA has secured parking lots not just at the stadiums, but in surrounding areas. Parking your car in Los Angeles could cost you $250 or more and it might be a mile walk to the stadium. Parking in Houston will be around $175. It is similar for Miami and prices are expected to go up.
  6. Want to take a train? Hopefully not in Boston. Apparently there is a special train to get to games at Foxboro Stadium which is in the Boston suburbs. For Patriots games, they charge $20. For a World Cup game it is $80 a person! That is $320 for a family of four. New Jersey is charging people $100 reportedly to take the train back to NYC’s Penn Station. That is a ticket that normally costs $12.90.
  7. They sold tickets for your favorite team where you only pay if your team makes the match with a hidden catch. If you are a fan of the US, England, Argentina, Spain or anyone else, you can buy tickets for their games in later rounds and only pay if the game happens. So you can take a crap shoot that the US makes the final for example. The problem is that the fine print says two things that promotional material did not make clear. First, they charged your credit card which means you are basically giving FIFA an interest free loan for six months. Two, you do not get a full refund, but instead they hold back a $50 processing fee. So most people who do this are paying $50 for nothing. And how much do you want to bet that refunds are not timely processed.
  8. Traveling for the World Cup. I hope you have a friend to stay with. I really wanted to go to Seattle to see the US play Australia. I started looking for hotels last summer. Rooms were not being released to the public like normal. Months went by and when I finally found rooms released, they were double or triple normal prices at almost every place. For the finals, some Hilton hotel rooms are asking thousands per night. The good news is that I have heard/read that many of these hotels are struggling to get reservations.
  9. Even if you do not care about soccer, this World Cup is screwing you. In Canada, matches are expected to cost tax payers over CDN $1 Billion. These costs have gone from an estimated $45 million for Toronto to now an estimated $380 million. The US is hosting way more matches and FIFA is not giving that ticket money to cover the costs of operating their event. FEMA has distributed $625 million so far to help fray security costs. Again, thank you to whoever in Chicago decided against taking part in this.
  10. Looking to buy on resale? Good luck! FIFA is running their own version of StubHub and have created a resale market. It would not surprise me if they have listed some of the tickets themselves instead of offering them to the public. They are also charging buyers and sellers a 15% fee. Capitalism baby!
  11. They just created a new tier of seats. When you bought seats originally, they certainly gave the impression that tier 1 seats could be the first few rows. They just announced a new Category 1 front seat option. Those seats that cost over $2,700 to see the first US game in LA are now over $4,100 if you want to sit in one of the first few rows! Of course people who paid the already insane prices back in the fall thought that they had a chance at those prime seats. It was all a big scam.
  12. They appear to be selling data. I applied for tickets in Seattle. Next thing I know, I’m getting emails from the Seattle Kraken about buying hockey tickets from them.

There Ought To Be A Law

When FIFA awarded the World Cup to North America, FIFA stated that tickets would be around $60 and affordable for most fans. Instead they are gorging people and expect to reap around $11 billion in revenue. And for context, costs for the World Cup in 2018 and 2022 were nowhere near this much and it is expected to be way cheaper to attend in 2030 when it is mostly in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

There ought to be a law that protects consumers when these events are awarded. Organizations need to commit to pricing levels for match attendance, parking and other items. If you say it will be affordable for the average fan, it has to be that way.

And when it comes to the resale market, it is illegal in Mexico to charge more than face value on the ticket. How about if you are using our tax payer funded money for security and tax payer funded stadiums, that there is a law that you can not host a resale site that charges more than face value for the ticket? My guess is a lot of these tickets have been bought up by scalpers. That would not happen if they could not sell on the FIFA site for profit.

This World Cup has created so many bad feelings and pissed off so many people. I will be enjoying it from my living room and taking my money and enthusiasm to Europe in 2030. I am willing to bet that all in it will still be cheaper and I won’t have to pay 80 Euros to use public transit.

And when it comes to dynamic pricing, why is that a thing? There at least should be full disclosure as to how many seats are being sold at a time and what inventory is available. Most if not all of these games are being played in publicly funded stadiums. The public has a right to know these things.

Gene Auriemma Vs. Dawn Staley, There Ought To Be A Law

The women’s college basketball Final Four was this past weekend in Phoenix. The highlight was South Carolina defeating defending champion Connecticut on Friday night. That ended a 54 game winning streak. It was a physical game and much closer than the final score.

The lowlight was that as the game was ending and the teams walked to midcourt to shake hands, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma lost his shit and instead of shaking SC coach Dawn Staley’s hand and moving on, yelled at her. We later learned that he was mad because he felt she slighted her by not shaking his hand for a second time before the game started.

Let’s give Geno the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is correct and was slighted. Apparently it is tradition at the Final Four for coaches to shake hands after lineups are announced. That had shook hands before that, but not after the lineups. Geno said he waited for three minutes.

Even if he is correct, his response AFTER the game was over and he lost was terrible.

There Ought To Be A Law

The seemingly obvious truth here is that Geno was pissed that they lost. He was mad at the refs. He was mad at Coach Staley for “working” the refs. He said so during an in game interview. He was apparently mad that he did not get his hand shook a second time.

There is no way that he reacts this way after the game if his team had won. Do you think he would care enough about the “slight” to make it the focal point after a victory? Hell no! And he had no right to distract from the great SC victory.

There ought to be a law that governs post game handshakes. Say good game or something positive or just shake and keep walking. But if you start something, you are suspended and fined.

I have been a coach. One rule the powers that be always teach us is to tell parents and players that if they are unhappy about something from the game, give it 24 hours and if it still bothers you then, then we can talk. Here, Geno did not even wait until the game was technically over and he was complaining about nonsense. And he was making himself the story.

It is the job of these professionals to model appropriate behavior for the younger generations and those who are watching at home. We are not asking anyone to best friends. Just take your L, say good game, and move on. And if you can not do that, the NCAA (in this case) should suspend you.

And to show that it really matters and to prevent fights that have occurred in other games like the one below, if you step out of line or cause a disruption, it is a minimum five game suspension and a fine.

Let’s get the focus back on to the players. Save your gripes for the press conference or preferably just keep it to yourself. Otherwise you look like a big baby.

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