FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup 2026 - FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw - John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., U.S. - December 5, 2025 Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
President Donald Trump broke with FIFA this week, telling the New York Post he wouldn't pay the sky-high ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup — and hinted that his administration may take a closer look at the pricing.
In a brief phone call with the Post on Wednesday night, Trump expressed surprise at the cost of tickets for the U.S. men's team's opening game against Paraguay on June 12 in Los Angeles, where the cheapest seats are running around $1,000 on Ticketmaster.
"I did not know that number," Trump told the Post, which published its article Thursday. “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you."
Trump, who helped secure the tournament for the United States during his first term, said he was concerned that working-class fans — his political base — were being priced out.
“If people from Queens and Brooklyn and all of the people that love Donald Trump can’t go, I would be disappointed, but, you know, at the same time, it’s an amazing success,” he said. “I would like to be able to have the people that voted for me to be able to go.”
The comments put Trump at odds with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who defended the pricing just a day earlier at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, arguing that market rates in the U.S. justified the costs. Infantino, who earns $6 million a year, even joked about resale tickets for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey being listed for over $2 million — promising to personally deliver "a hot dog and a Coke" to anyone who paid that price.
The average cost of a ticket to the final is nearly $13,000, compared to about $1,600 for the 2022 championship.
The pricing controversy comes as the tournament is already facing headwinds. A survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that nearly 80 percent of hotels in the 11 U.S. host cities are running below initial World Cup projections, with industry officials citing visa delays, high travel costs and geopolitical concerns as key factors slowing foreign demand — issues that have been amplified by calls to boycott the U.S.-hosted tournament over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.