The economist who wrote the book on sports finance has a number for FIFA's World Cup haul: $15 billion | Fortune

The World Cup awards top performers with the golden boot and golden gloves. FIFA is also expected to generate large additional ticket revenue. Ticket prices have become so high that even a billionaire ally of FIFA leadership said he would not pay. Concerns focus on pricing out devoted fans. In 2022, best group-stage tickets cost about $220, while some Qatari residents paid around $11, and final tickets were about $1,600. For 2026, dynamic pricing will vary prices across games and over time, with Category 1 starting near $600 but later selling for over $1,000, sometimes above $2,500 for the opening game and above $32,000 for the final. The increased receipts are projected to help FIFA exceed $15 billion in revenue in the current cycle.

"For the 2026 World Cup, dynamic pricing, which deliberately makes pricing opaque and subject to real-time changes, is being used for the first time. It means ticket prices may vary dramatically both across games and even for a given game over time. The initial baseline for Category 1 tickets during World Cup 2026 was about $600 when they first went on sale in the fall of 2025 but now they generally sell for over $1,000 and sometimes much higher."

"The price for Category 1 tickets for the opening game in Mexico City is currently over $2,500, and even Category 3 tickets, the lowest available tier, are over $1,000. For the final, Category 1 tickets initially cost over $6,000 and had exceeded $32,000 by early May."

"Ticket prices are so high that even President Donald Trump, a billionaire ally of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, said he wouldn't pay. The concern is that FIFA is pricing out many of the sport's most devoted fans. In the 2022 Qatar-hosted World Cup, group-stage Category 1 tickets - the best seats - cost about $220, while Qatari residents could purchase tickets for $11 in some group-stage matches."

"I've done some number crunching and predict that increased ticket receipts will help FIFA exceed $15 billion in revenue this world cup cycle - which would be a record-breaker for soccer's governing body and significantly more than its 2022 stated goal of $11 billion. FIFA's ticket pricing approach may be a logical way to capture at least some of the revenue that normally goes to ticket scalpers, but it's also unlikely to find a sympathetic audi"

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