FIFA on Friday blamed the empty seats during the World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara on fans who watched from the concourses.
There were many visible empty spots at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium, with sections in the middle of the stands showing many unoccupied spaces and with other empty seats scattered around the venue. The announced attendance was 44,985 — including FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“Official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present within the stadium footprint, rather than visual assessments of seating occupancy at any given moment during the match,” FIFA said, adding that it works closely with stadium authorities and ticketing teams to ensure all published figures are based on verified operational data.
“Please note that, during last night’s match in Guadalajara, several ticketed fans could be seen standing in concourses rather than staying in their assigned seats throughout the match,” the governing body of world soccer said.
33 Comments
Whitebrow@lemmy.world · 106 pts · 78d
lol.
Priced out the average person from the event, made a fuckton of reservations in hotels that were cancelled forcing a spike in costs for lodging, partly hosting in conjunction with an actively hostile country to immigrants and minorities and refuse to lower prices to fill the stadiums even on the day of the event when the culmination of the whole shitshow comes to roost.
Yeah, suuuuure you had all these people in the concourses.
MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 78d
There were several of them! Several!
Whitebrow@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 78d
Happy cake day
MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 77d
Is it? How time flies...
CannonFodder@lemmy.world · 65 pts · 78d
People should really boycott FIFA.
auzy1@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 78d
Yeah, most countries have their own local league anyway.
They don't give away peace prizes, but they're still as good
LazyWatermelon3623@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 78d
Everyone who doesn't already is a spineless bitch.
NatakuNox@lemmy.world · 55 pts · 78d
And that's in a nation that loves soccer/football. And in a nation that isn't making it impossible to visit. Games in the US will have more empty seats.
Raiderkev@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 78d
They are doing one at Levi's right now. Looks maybe half full.
CombatWombat@feddit.online · 53 pts · 78d
This, but with ticket holders
FrickAndMortar@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 78d
Sure… because after spending $365 a ticket and another $85 in online “convenience fees”, I want to go stand around in the concourse for areas of watching the game.
MartianRecon@lemmus.org · 14 pts · 78d
Cheapest tickets in the nosebleeds I saw for the US game were 1100 dollars pre fees.
Anivia@feddit.org · 6 pts · 78d
Absolutely insane for a 90 minute soccer match. That's about as much as I spent on festival tickets for this year, and I'm going to 7 festivals this year...
MartianRecon@lemmus.org · 1 pts · 77d
Man I was so disappointed. I wanted to just see A group stage game. The cheapest one was like 600 bucks to go. Like... that's for nosebleed seats.
It's bullshit that literally every fucking event is solely catered to the fucking rich now.
gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 78d
Unless they have a way to independently verify this number I would bet it's hugely inflated
Fuck this wimpy both sides writing, wtf is a "significant number"? Does the AP no longer employ anyone who can count a crowd?
I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 78d
It doesn't matter. None of this matters. It's not a fan event any more. It's a sponsor event. They don't make their money from fans, they make it from corporate sponsors and VIP attendees in box seats. This is increasingly the way the world is. Caring exclusively about the top 0.1% because they are the only ones with money and so are the only ones spending money.
gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 78d
YellowParenti@lemmy.wtf · 4 pts · 77d
I just saw a video essay on the same thing in Vegas. City has barely any tourists, every one bitching about losses, all the casinos are courting whales, etc. It ends with MGM and the other big casino company posting record profits.
Seppo@sopuli.xyz · 26 pts · 78d
Currupt trash.
aramis87@fedia.io · 25 pts · 78d
Lol. About half the seats are empty in the picture, yet "several ticketed fans could be seen standing in concourses".
mlg@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 78d
Tbf I think the cheapest matches I saw were around ~$200, but even those were outliers for being cheap.
Etterra@discuss.online · 7 pts · 78d
There it is. The reality that these hyper-greedy corporate vampires can never seem to comprehend.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 77d
I can't help but wonder how many of the tickets were bought by scalpers who've had to end up eating their investment.
bless@lemmy.ml · -7 pts · 78d
What are you talking about? A minimum wage worker can afford any of those
bridgeburner@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 77d
A minimum worker can afford anything if he just saves long enough. Dumb ass comment.
Etterra@discuss.online · 14 pts · 78d
And how much do tickets cost?
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 78d
Because people are boycotting
tb_@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 78d
The insane prices sure don't help either.
drmoose@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 77d
In Mexico? This seems more like a ticketing issue.
roserose56@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 78d
Fuck Fifa, fuck Infantino. https://rebootfifa.com/
Wispy2891@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 78d
He will never be voted out from its leadership because the scam works like this:
Lumidaub@feddit.org · 6 pts · 78d
Wtf are concourses? Not a native speaker, I can only find the term as "a crowd of people" or maybe "a waiting room"?
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 78d
The walkways around the stadium like where'd you'd buy your $43 pint of beer.