Investigation · 2026 World Cup 2026 — Dynamic Pricing and the $11,000 Ticket

For the 2026 World Cup (US/Canada/Mexico), FIFA under Gianni Infantino introduced full algorithmic "dynamic pricing" for the first time in the tournament's history — calling it "variable pricing," though it amounts to the same thing: prices climb as demand rises. A Congressional letter documented price rises on ~90 of 104 matches — averaging 34%+ in six months — with top final seats climbing from about $6,700 to nearly $11,000, a ~588% jump over Qatar 2022's top face value. FIFA also became the scalper of its own tickets: on its first-ever in-house resale platform it took a cut from both sides of every transaction — about 15% from the seller and 15% from the buyer, ~30% in total — listing some final tickets above $2 million while "Front Category" final seats topped $30,000. The New York and New Jersey attorneys general opened an investigation into manufactured scarcity and seat-relocation complaints. After global backlash FIFA added $60 tickets for participating nations' fans. Infantino's response to a reported $2M+ ticket: a joke offer to personally deliver a hot dog. For contrast, the cheapest group-stage tickets in Qatar 2022 were a flat $11.