FIFA Club World Cup Ticket Sales TANK After DHS Says Agents Will Be At Stadium
Sales for the FIFA Club World Cup, a series of precursor games ahead of next year’s North American World Cup, were already lackluster when, last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection bragged online about how its agents would be “suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games.”
At about the same time, Immigration and Customs Enforcement told NBC Miami they’d also be at the games providing security, and told the outlet that all non-American citizens should carry proof of their legal status.
CBP spokesperson Alan Regalado told the Miami New Times in a statement that “lawful travelers have nothing to fear from these measures.”
Alistair Kitchen might call bullshit on that. He just got booted from the US for having written pro-Palestinian commentary online rather than committing any actual crime… actually no, obviously he committed a crime, criticising Israel is the worst crime of all, isn’t it…
According to prices tracked by The Athletic, tickets that sold for $349 and up after the matches were announced in December dropped to $69.15 ahead of the Saturday night game, with tens of thousands of tickets still unsold.
The sports outlet also found a deal marketed to local college students where five tickets could be had for $20, dropping the cost per ticket to just $4.
Sources familiar with CBP’s “suited and booted” post told The New York Times it was deleted after senior FIFA personnel told the federal law enforcement agency they weren’t exactly thrilled about it.
Oh I don’t think FIFA gave a shit about the wellbeing of the people at the game at all; they could see that the number of people at the game, and consequently the money they would make from it, would go down as a result and that was what didn’t thrill them.
One man, a 25-year-old bricklayer originally from the northern Mexico state of Monterrey, told Reuters he and his friends originally planned to see CF Monterrey face off against Inter Milan on Tuesday. Now he’s not so sure.
“I’m scared because things have got ugly. But let’s hope that things calm down a bit and let us enjoy the games,” he said. “If things get uglier, we’ll talk about it, after all we have time to decide.”
Another fan, identified only as Rafael, told Yahoo Sports he and his wife originally planned to see PSG vs. Atlético Madrid at the Rose Bowl. But after Trump’s violent crackdown, they sold their tickets, even though he’s a green card holder and in the country legally.
Yeah, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was allowed to stay in the US legally and that never saved him from being dispatched to CECOT. I think it’s safe to say things will only get uglier as long as the current regime remains in place, too. Can’t wait to see how bad the sales wind up being for the World Cup proper next year, cos if this is indicative then FIFA’s going to take quite a bath on it…
