Ticket prices for the 2026 North and Central America World Cup final are skyrocketing. On the resale market, the match is on track to become the most expensive World Cup final in history.
Thursday, Korean Standard Time, according to beIN Sports and other foreign media, ticket prices have surged as football fans around the world scramble for seats to the Argentina vs. Spain final at MetLife Stadium in New York and New Jersey, set for Monday.
According to data from ticket resale platform SeatPick, the average resale price for a final ticket stands at around $13,700 (about 20.3 million won). That is roughly eight times the most expensive official ticket price at the 2022 Qatar World Cup final, which was about $1,600.
On German resale platform Ticombo, final ticket prices range from 12 million won to between 60 million and 70 million won. Tickets for Section 114 — a lower-level seat close to the pitch and directly behind the players' bench, offering one of the best views in the stadium — have surpassed 110 million won.
The prospect of paying tens of millions of won to watch a 90-minute match has drawn sharp criticism online. "Selling your house to go isn't a joke anymore," one user wrote, while another said, "You'd be better off buying Bitcoin."
![Section 114 tickets have exceeded 110 million won. [Ticombo screenshot]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/16/news-p.v1.20260716.69f6065f532f485cad900d02c91f9b05_P1.jpg)
Forbes, citing data from ticket resale platform TickPick, reported that the World Cup final is expected to be the most expensive resale sporting event ever held in the United States.
The average resale price for an Argentina-Spain final ticket has already surpassed those of the Super Bowl and the NBA Finals — two of the most prestigious sporting events in the country. The previous record was set at the 2024 Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, where the average ticket price was $9,411 (about 13.95 million won).
Experts point to the tournament's heavy concentration of matches in the United States as a key driver of the price surge. With 78 of the tournament's 104 matches held on American soil, analysts say the strong purchasing power of local fans has pushed prices higher.
Simon Chadwick, a professor at Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, said the United States was chosen as a World Cup host in large part for its revenue-generating potential. "American consumers tend to spend freely on live sports, which often leads to premium pricing," he said.
FIFA's "dynamic pricing" model, introduced for the first time at this tournament, has also contributed to steep price increases for high-demand matches. Like airline tickets and hotel rooms, prices fluctuate with demand — the more attention a match draws, the higher the price climbs.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in New York and New Jersey issued a statement in May saying they would investigate multiple concerns raised over FIFA's World Cup ticket sales process. New York Attorney General Letitia James said no one should be forced to pay inflated prices and that fans must be able to trust that the tickets they purchase correspond to actual seats.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport also weighed in, saying FIFA had turned the World Cup ticket-buying process into "an ordeal of confusion, artificial scarcity and outrageously high prices," and vowed to conduct a thorough investigation into FIFA's conduct.
bbo@heraldcorp.com
