Going to North America '26: tickets, accommodations, etc. (non-politics)

So I'm starting this thread since I couldn't see one yet up by the mods. Its prob still 1 year too early but at least we know the venues now. Anyone want to speculate on dates, attendance , etc ? I am particularly worried on how difficult it will be to get tickets vs prior WCs, particularly for USA matches. The over subscription for match tickets taking place in major cities will reach unheard levels, don't you agree ? Anyway, lets get this started for the road for 2026!

I'd love to get a scientific estimate of this. This is what I came back with courtesy of AI: World CupYear Total Aggregate Ticket Applications Average Total Aggregate Demand Russia2018 Approx. 10 million 3.572 million Brazil2014 Approx. 12 million 3.429 million South Africa2010 Approx. 10 million 3.178 million Germany2006 Approx. 8 million 3.359 million Korea & Japan 2002 Approx. 7 million 2.705 million France1998 Approx. 5 million 2.785 million "Total Aggregate Ticket Applications" column is based on anecdotal evidence, forum discussions, news reporting, and historical trends. Actual figures may vary, and for precise data, consulting official sources such as FIFA.com or other reputable sources providing historical World Cup data is recommended." From GPT 3.5Sadly none of those matter because prior to 2022, FIFA required a credit card to put in a ticket application. For Qatar, they did not and you saw a balloon to 23.5 million applications for a very low demand World Cup. With 23.5 applications we calculated that applications had a 2-5% chance of being successful for standard games. I cannot imagine there will be anything less than 10x as many applications. So that would drop to .2 - .5% chance per application or even worse.

I wonder how they'll do visas for this. Definitely some scrutiny will be put in place.I work in US immigration. FIFA is not getting any special treatment for visas. If you come from a non-esta country be prepared to apply sooner rather than later.

Sadly none of those matter because prior to 2022, FIFA required a credit card to put in a ticket application. For Qatar, they did not and you saw a balloon to 23.5 million applications for a very low demand World Cup. With 23.5 applications we calculated that applications had a 2-5% chance of being successful for standard games. I cannot imagine there will be anything less than 10x as many applications. So that would drop to .2 - .5% chance per application or even worse.130M (Mex) + 330M (US) + 40M (CAN) = 500M Now analyze your premise 23.5 x 10x = 235M application Lets make the big assumption that each local applicant applies 4 times. I think its less than that actually (passport restriction). That would mean that 235/4 = 58M or 12% of the entire NA pop. That includes all ages and women. in non crazy football countries like US and CAN Anyway, the 58/4 = 15M locals . I don't think you will have 12% (men + women!) of locals interested in tickets except maybe in MEX. And you have to assume they can afford at least 1 ticket. It will be massive, but not that level of applications. I'd guess 25M tops (3 passports) for 10M applicants 10M is already exceeding the level of interest in all world cups , particularly in football crazy countries AND also geographically convenient like EU , plust it does not include foreigners!!). Now add foreigners. I'm not sure how many visitors to expect, but I think QAR received like 3M, with easy visas. US and CAN are not Qatar. They are also, frankly, far more visited and less interested than an exotic country like JAP, SA, RUS, or QAR. But let's assume you 3x qatar, and assuming that visitors are wealthy, older, and not likely to play app games, so let's take their appts to 3 per foreigner, so 3 x 3 x 3 = 27M additional apps. So that means 27M (foreign) + 25M (local) for 48 games with avg stadium capacity 65,000, then you your chances are 3,120,000 / 52,000,000 = 6%. Naturally, some games will be far less popular, so most of the time you are hitting >10% probability of success or more, which is not to write home about, but that's per app. Doesn't look hellish, except for finals/semis.

@Dragonlord I think you are spot on for number of applicants for the world cup. but you can cut the number of tickets available in half, sponsors, fifa, and hospitality will take up half at least. I am guessing about just around 3 million tickets available for us normal folks. But each successful app won't just be for 1 ticket, it will be a bunch. remember, fifa ranks applications, not individual game requests. so each app is very, very, very, likely to either be all successful or all unsuccessful. So lets say each successful app gets 16 tickets each on average. In previous WCs you could apply for as many as 12 games at 4 or even 6 (Qatar) tickets per game. That means there's just room for just over 200000 winning applications. That would equal 0.4% chance of a winning ticket if there is 53 million applications. Add in the elephant in the room. Touts. Ask people who bought on the secondary market for FIFA Qatar, what name was on the ticket? Had a lot of Indian and Chinese surnames who bought solely for the secondary market which will be stupid in 2026.... With full digital tickets and a population willing to overpay, I cannot imagine tout demand will be anything but stupid.

And yet... For Qatar I didn't pay a single tout/reseller/scalper for a ticket and I attended more games than in the previous 4 WCs I had attended, at 13 quite a lot in my book , though meager by the standards of some addicts in this forum, and elsewhere. And according to the data quoted above, Qatar had more applications than any WC before it. I am not yet sold on the difficulty of obtaining tickets directly from FIFA. Yes, some teams are going to see crazy demand, but many minnows will likely see much less demand than is being guessed at here.

I work in US immigration. FIFA is not getting any special treatment for visas.So you're the one who decimated Violette last year! I kid, There’s a rumor that the schedule was released this early because ticket sales will start soon.Makes sense - it's in FIFA's best interest to sell group-stage tickets sight unseen, before we know our Belgium-Senegal from our Bahrain-Scotland

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/united-2026-news-analysis.2084612/

Lets make the big assumption that each local applicant applies 4 times. I think its less than that actually (passport restriction). That would mean that 235/4 = 58M or 12% of the entire NA pop. That includes all ages and women. in non crazy football countries like US and CANThere are no passport restrictions for applications. In Qatar a lot of Indians applied and resold or tried to resell; first the ticket allocations they had been awarded. Then the actual tickets accounts. It's going to a be crazy trying to get tickets.

I wonder how they'll do visas for this. Definitely some scrutiny will be put in place.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/united-2026-news-analysis.2084612/Please update the title, United 2026 is way too generic. Just my 2cents but l'd include the words WC2026 general discussion.

Exactly! I have family in Central America waiting on 3 years for a visa… there’s a long line folks.3 years for a tourist visa!? Getting a B1/B2 visa should not difficult for anyone with the means of being able to afford travel +WC. As bad as they may sound, people who don't fit the profile of a visa approval probably should be prioritizing on more important things before spending thousands of dollars on a sports tournament.

United 2026 is way too generic.I don't necessarily disagree... but you'll have to take that up with the host nations

We need a dedicated tickets thread so that we can discuss plans. I think you will only need about 1000 applications to have a good shot at tickets.I'll one up you and create 1001 apps . This is gonna be resellers paradise, touts will out in full force. Scary part is Americans are already conditioned to pay 1000% over market. Jut look at the MLS prices for Messi games.

Way ahead of you, partner Now this is worthy of its own thread; if you want to go that route, I'll update the title accordingly. Otherwise, we can stick with the general WC2026 thread for now...I'm OK with sticking with the general WC26 thread, but dare i say, where is it ?

Let's see how deep into 2024 we can keep this thread on the first page of this forum, despite the almost certain fact that no information will be released on ticket prices, ticket selling phases or anything we discuss in here that's on topic until this date in 2025 at the earliest.