Infantino defends World Cup ticket prices, says 'we don't control everything' after US visa denials

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended World Cup ticket prices, telling a press conference on the eve of the tournament that “if we are doing something wrong, everyone in North America is doing something wrong.”

FIFA priced tickets starting at $140 for the 48-nation, 104-game tournament that starts Thursday and priced regular seats up to $8,680 for the July 19 final in New Jersey. It raised prices for the final to $10,990 and then $32,970.

After criticism, FIFA offered a small amount of $60 tickets to national federations for their regular supporters.

Infantino said on Wednesday that the average ticket price was under $500 for the tournament and was comparable to other US sports during their playoffs, a claim that while true for resale prices does not appear to be accurate for list prices.

He said he was unconcerned about investigations by attorneys general in California, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

Infantino said that the secondary ticket market is beyond his organisation’s control when it comes to the large prices fans are seeing for World Cup games.

He pointed to the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs as an example of how other major American sporting events are experiencing a similar surge in prices.

“We are very relaxed about it because before starting to sell 6.5 million or 7 million tickets we check what we do with the best lawyers,” he said. “We welcome every investigation.”

Infantino also admitted FIFA was powerless to get the US to admit entry to Somali referee Omar Artan and said people “should chill.”