4 Reasons USMNT World Cup Ticket Sales Could Be Lagging

However, if The Athletic’s reporting does reflect an accurate assessment of demand for USMNT games staged in Los Angeles, it would not necessarily be surprising to those who follow American soccer closely.

Here are five reasons the Yanks might be struggling to lure ticket buyers for two of the biggest matches in American soccer history.

The Price (Duh)

This is Captain Obvious territory. But as The Athletic notes, prices for the June 12 match at the 70,000-capacity venue were the third-highest of all tournament games (behind the final and one semifinal) when ticket sales launched in September.

While the prices of other matches have climbed under FIFA’s variable pricing model, the cost for the June 12 USMNT opener remains at $2,730 for Category 1 tickets, $1,940 for Category 2 and $1,120 for Category 3. (General public ticket applications for all World Cup matches are split into three price categories.)

That’s in line with face value for “lower end” Super Bowl tickets (although secondary market prices typically exceed $5,000 for America’s biggest annual sporting event.) And given the fact that the United States will play twice in the same market in the space of two weeks, and that the real tournament opener will come the day before in Mexico City, it’s understandable that fans might not be convinced to make a Super Bowl-sized investment.

Lingering 2018 Resentment

The United States Soccer Federation is not tasked with pricing the USMNT’s games at the World Cup. But it has also come under criticism in recent years for making USMNT games less accessible while the product on the field hasn’t improved.

The average cost of watching the United States play in person nearly quadrupled between the 2002 and 2018 World Cup cycles, according to a 2025 story in The Athletic. That was well above the cumulative inflation of just under 40% between 2002 and 2018, according to the Consumer Price Index. And the 2018 cycle ended in the Americans’ failure to reach a World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Fast forward to 2025, and there are signs of a fanbase that is still sour. Four of the 10 home friendlies marketed by U.S. Soccer in 2025 drew under 20,000 fans, and only one crowd exceeded 30,000. Crowds at the Gold Cup – which is priced and marketed by Concacaf – were also own for matches featuring the American team, particularly in group stage games against poor draws like Trinidad and Tobago, and Saudi Arabia.

The news was much better last month, when the Americans played in front of two crowds greater than 60,000 in Atlanta against Belgium and Portugal. But the relationship between fans and the USMNT has been tenuous ever since the failure of 2018, a sentiment that FIFA’s price practices risk enflamming.

SoCal Market Demographics

INGLEWOOD, CA - JUNE 14: Fans celebrate during 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Tournament between Mexico and Dominican Republic at SoFi Stadium on June 14, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Edwin So/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

ISI Photos via Getty Images

Los Angeles is the nation’s second-largest metropolitan area. But it is not exactly known as a USMNT hotbed.

Given the city’s large Latin American diaspora, the Mexico national team is likely the most popular international side in Los Angeles, and Central American nations like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala also have considerable followings. As far as other competitors in the 2026 World Cup, there are also significant Iranian and South Korean fanbases in Southern California. (Iran will also play two matches in Los Angeles.)

That’s one reason U.S. Soccer and Concacaf rarely schedule matches in Southern California where the American team is the main draw, instead opting for Midwestern or Southeastern locales.

In the 2022 World Cup cycle, the Americans’ home games were contained to five states: Texas, Tennessee, Minnesota, Ohio and Florida. In the 2023 and 2025 Gold Cups, Concacaf scheduled one United States group stage game in Northern California (San Jose), scattering the other five between Texas, Missouri, Illinois and North Carolina.

The World Cup has a far higher level of visibility. And the Americans were able to draw pro-USA crowds to the Rose Bowl in nearby Pasadena twice in 1994. But that was at a far lower price.

Concacaf Soccer Saturation

A last part of the equation is that,no nation on earth has more chances to watch their national team play in meaningful matches than the United States.

Because of its unparalleled ticket buying power in the region, the United States has hosted every major international Concacaf men’s international event since 2005. That adds up to 11 editions of the Gold Cup and four editions of the Concacaf Nations league, including 12 continental finals with the USMNT competing.

In its own pursuit of American consumers, CONMEBOL also staged the Copa America in the United States twice in the last 10 years, in 2016 and 2024.

Yes, the World Cup is more important than all of those games. But American fans balking at World Cup ticket prices can very reasonably expect there will be other relatively less expensive chances to see the USMNT in action in meaningful games in the near future beyond 2026.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com