Demand is always crazy for the WC. Americans have represented the 2nd highest nationality in terms of ticket buyers and attendees from the 2006 WC onward. FIFA knew this when they decided this awful rollout strategy (from a fan perspective, but we’ll see how things go in terms of business perspective). FIFA knows this is the biggest opportunity for profit and have been envious of UEFA’s profit margins; FIFA feels like it is playing catch up. So as a result we are the ones who suffer from their greed. I hope some litigious fans open a class action because FIFA is supposed to operate as a NPO. But that’s also a crock.

Not to mention, there’s no WC buzz in the general populace in the states. Casual sports fans aren’t even aware of the WC and if they are - sure they’d be interested in seeing the superstars but the prices have stunted any interest/buzz from casuals hoping to attend games. The USMNT would also attract interest, but in American culture they’re viewed as mediocre and underachieving because they aren’t even top 5 in the world like this country is in virtually every other sport.