US venues earned an average of at least $10m more per game
New York/New Jersey made more than double any other World Cup host city from ticket revenue, as revealed by research from CSB.
The research ranked every host city and also the three host countries from the 2026 World Cup on the minimum ticket revenue spent at the stadium based on face value sales and attendances.
What it found was that New York/New Jersey was by some distance the biggest cash cow of the competition, taking an estimated minimum ticket revenue of $478.9m over the course of its eight matches.
That figure is at least $228.3m more than the face value ticket revenue paid to visit any of the other 15 host city stadiums.
- New York/New Jersey brought in more than double any other World Cup host city from ticket revenue
- New York/New Jersey made an estimated minimum ticket revenue of $478.9m over the course of its eight matches
- MetLife Stadium brought in at least an estimated $32m more than any other host city per game
- United States blew Canada and Mexico out of the water in terms of revenue – with American hosting 78 matches out of 104
It is important here to highlight that with MetLife Stadium hosting the final, for which the cheapest tickets available were priced at $2,030, New York/New Jersey was always likely to top the charts here.
But more striking is that the stadium brought in at least an estimated $32m more than at any other host city per game during the World Cup.
That trend also plays out on a national level, with host cities in the United States blowing those in Canada and Mexico out of the water.
With the USA hosting 78 matches out of 104, with 13 each for Canada and Mexico, it is no surprise that the face value ticket revenue was considerably higher there with an estimated minimum of $1.957bn.
In comparison, the minimum in Mexico is estimated to be $193.6m and Canada is estimated at $150.5m. Dividing that game by game shows that the United States brought in at least $10.2m more per game ($25.1m/game) than each of the other two host countries.
Methodology
- Attendance was collected for all 104 matches individually and summed by stadium. The total reconciles exactly to FIFA’s official tournament figure of 6,810,966.
- Ticket revenue per city is estimated based on modelled published inputs from initial face value ticket prices and the category split by stadium.
- Every match sells seats in four price categories. FIFA has not published the 2026 split, so results published split at Qatar 2022: Category 1 36%, Category 2 27%, Category 3 22%, Category 4 12%.
- That split is applied to FIFA’s published 2026 prices for each category at each round, from a Category 1 group seat at $345 up to a Category 1 Final seat at $6,730, giving an average seat price per round.
- Each city’s revenue is its seats filled at each round multiplied by that round’s average price, scaled down 8% as attendance includes complimentary tickets (based on tickets sold vs attendance at the 2018 and 2022 tournaments).
- The estimate assumes tickets sold at face value and that the 2026 category split matches Qatar 2022. FIFA used dynamic pricing in 2026, which pushed prices above face value, so the figures are likely conservative.
Sources
- Stadium capacities (World Cup configuration) — FIFA
- Official tournament attendance — FIFA
- Per-match attendance —FIFA
- Qatar 2022 ticket category split (36/27/22/12)— FIFA Annual Report 2022, p216 and Note 4
- 2026 official ticket price range ($60–$6,730, dynamic pricing, 15% service fee) — AP via NBC News
- 2026 ticket prices by category and round (Phase 1 face values) — The World Cup Guide corroborated at group and final stages by Goal
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