Trump Thinks It's Too Expensive: I Won't Spend $1,000 to Watch the World Cup — Let’s Make Tickets Affordable for MAGA Supporters

This World Cup is even too pricey for Trump.

Lately, Trump told reporters he was deeply surprised by the ticket prices for the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. For example, the cheapest tickets for the opening match between the United States and Paraguay are as high as $1,120—equivalent to RMB 7,622.

Trump told journalists that if he had to buy a ticket to attend the opening match, he wouldn’t spend that much money. This price is far beyond what MAGA supporters can afford. He said he would order an investigation into the matter and hopes everyone who voted for him can actually afford to watch the games.

But in the next breath, Trump highly praised this World Cup, saying ticket sales have been remarkably strong and set a new record—largely due to being hosted in the United States.

FIFA’s official data shows that over 5 million tickets have already been sold. Given the high pricing, FIFA must be making substantial profits. Especially for the final match, the average ticket price has soared to $13,000—equivalent to RMB 89,000.

What does this mean? The cost of a single World Cup final ticket could cover the entire expenses of organizing a “Scottish Premier League”-level event in China. Meanwhile, the average price for the final match at the previous Qatar World Cup was only $1,600—less than one-eighth of this year’s price.

Besides tickets, the exorbitant broadcasting fees for this World Cup have also sparked massive controversy. FIFA initially offered CCTV a price of at least $250 million, but CCTV’s budget cap was no more than $80 million.

Later, FIFA lowered its starting offer to $120 million, yet it still failed to meet CCTV’s expectations. As a result, negotiations remain unresolved, and it’s likely that the World Cup will not be broadcast in mainland China this year.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong secured the broadcasting rights for $25 million—but given Hong Kong’s relatively small size and population, this price is still considered excessively high.

The tournament timing itself was already inconvenient for Chinese viewers, and now FIFA has set such sky-high prices. Since they lack sincerity, we naturally won’t rush to be the ones paying the price.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1864609195492427/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.