The FIFA World Cup should easily be the greatest sporting event on Earth. If only the powers that be who make decisions would stop screwing it up.
North America won its joint bid all the way back in the summer of 2018, which despite a pandemic getting the way, should be plenty of time to iron out fairly simple issues like mass transit, parking, security, etc. We documented Foxborough's plight about securing funds back in February before an agreement was reached in March. All things that should have been taken care of and allocated years ago.
Instead apparently we have to waste our time with negotiating a dome for Soldier Field in Chicago. Yes, FIFA literally wanted that as a provision in Chicago's bid. It was soundly rejected, rightly so, and limited the Windy City to hosting the USMNT's warm up friendly against Germany.
Major sporting events in the United States are basically an excuse to print money and make record profits as everyone takes a bite out of every wallet they can see. The 2026 edition looks to shatter the previous US hosting records for total attendance from 1994 and that was likely going to be the case even if the tournament was still at 32 teams.
You would hope then with seemingly all the profit in the world, that fan and customer well being would take precedence in all major decision making. I know, I'm being funny, this is FIFA we're talking about.
Anyway, here's the three biggest failures of the 2026 FIFA World Cup so far...
TICKETS/PRICES
If ever there was an event to finally crack down on the nonsense that TicketMaster and LiveNation get into on a regular basis, this was it. Instead, FIFA has been allowed to run amok with this variable pricing shenanigans they call a pricing model.
I didn't bother even attempting to get in on any tickets because of my work schedule but there's zero chance I'd want to wade into FIFA's primary market, let alone the secondary market for this tournament.
And the best part is there are still tickets available for the USA's opening match!
Okay it's an incredibly small number on FIFA's site, but given the other litany of issues, including an investigation on price gouging, FIFA potentially changing the layout maps after sales, and their insistence on a handful of fans paying for tickets after a processing error...yeah, if and when this event returns to North America, this is getting fixed and reasonable flat rate pricing for group stage and knockout games should be implemented going forward.
Next, under no circumstances should every stadium be on their own to set concession prices. Atlanta being the well-documented exception, there should be a standard, and reasonably cheap, unified menu across all venues. Nothing ridiculous, usual sports scran fare like burgers, hot dogs, fries, drinks, domestic beer, etc. - all at a consistent price. Maybe a few regional things like poutine or street corn available, but a fan from outside the region should be able to easily find these types of concession stands and know what they're paying for before even getting in line.
Also, if you're having mandatory water breaks in each half for the players, you probably not only want to allow the fans to bring in a water bottle but have lots of areas where they can fill them inside and outside the stadium too. Just a thought.
PARKING/TRANSIT
I absolutely can not wait for the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that is going to feature no on-site parking and rely solely on trains and shuttle buses.
The U.S. is generally not good at mass transit. There are some exceptions and the area around New York City is one of them, but U.S. stadiums in particular are built around cars.
Limiting or banning vehicles and parking at these stadiums is going to put far too much strain on a transit system that likely won't be able to handle it. Add in price gouging for parking just like the regular game tickets and you have a nightmare waiting to happen.
At Gillette Stadium, the trains are running but it's going to cost you; though it will only cost half as much as the parking will be on site and that might not include half of the availability along the adjacent Route 1 area. Tailgating will be allowed on site, a tremendous boon to the stadium experience and a cost-saving measure for many, but even that was going to be banned before FIFA changed course again. I have no issue banning non-ticket holders from venues but limiting vehicle access is just nonsensical without major infrastructure improvements.
Surely if FIFA had shared some of the money with their lovely host cities a lot of upgrades or advancements could have been made for these systems. But it seems like a 48 international team event suddenly snuck up on 16 host cities causing chaos to transit rates
Also, I'm sure someone much smarter than me will explain the stadium renaming stuff to me like I'm five but I will never understand it and 100% of that cost should be on FIFA if it's not already.
REFEREE OMAR ARTAN
For those that missed this yesterday, Omar Artan is the reigning CAF Referee of the Year who recently worked at the most recent AFCON was set to be the first Somalian to referee at a World Cup.
I say was because he was denied entry into the United States upon his arrival in Miami and forced to return to Istanbul, Turkey.
Now, failings of the current U.S. government aside and the difficulties Iran is also having, FIFA having the stones to ask for a domed stadium but not the ability get one if its best young referees into the main host country would normally spell the end of Gianni Infantino's stewardship of FIFA. But this will just be a drop of nothing into another bucket that's probably full of money somewhere.
The proper response from the soccering world for a center referee from a country whose national team is 198th in the world and may or may not have a functioning government depending on the year, should be to get him a job and working visa in a country with a Top 10-15 league in it. MLS and PRO or The FA and the Football League should be among just about everyone bending over backwards to get this 34-year-old better games than the Somali First Division.
The odds of Somalia ever making a World Cup are astronomically small. Up until this year in CAF (Africa) qualification, they had never advanced out of the preliminary round and finished last in their group with 1 draw (a 0-0 affair at Guinea), 9 losses, and a -17 GD. Somalia didn't even enter the Africa Cup of Nations from 1990 through 2021 though they will be for the first time in an AFCON qualifying group after two 0-0 draws and advancing on PKs over Mauritius for 2027.
The difficulties that country has and is facing over the last few decades are enormous enough. For someone, anyone, to rise above all that to the pinnacle of the sport and be denied a chance to appear on the world's biggest stage for anything but injury should be the final straw for how this tournament will be viewed.
Soccer used to be the world's game. The people's game.
But now it belongs to bureaucrats and sponsors who have ruined the pinnacle event in the world and don't have a care in the world for the people and players who have earned the right to represent their countries.
