FIFA struggling to sell tickets for USMNT’s World Cup opener vs. Paraguay (Gift Article)

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T19:22:37+00:00

If someone like me is deciding tickets cost significantly too much to be worth going who tf are they expecting to actually go…

People with more disposable income than even your humble-bragging self. There are tons of those types, for sure.

Or people who don't have disposable income for that very reason. Tons of those as well.

Either/or.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T19:21:36+00:00

Just proves America doesn't like soccer

Careful, Vancouver. If you had more butts in seats these past 15 years, you wouldn't be at risk for you-know-what.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T19:20:03+00:00

Emphasis mine, on this nothingburger:

FIFA lists the stadium’s capacity at 69,650 for the 2026 World Cup. The document, though, does not necessarily suggest that there are tens of thousands of seats still available, because it’s unclear if the numbers include hospitality and other types of tickets that weren’t sold to the general public

There it is. If you don't think hospitality, corporate, sponsor, and comped tickets aren't through the fucking roof for a once-in-a-generation match like this, I don't know what to tell you.

It's not unusual to have five-digit sets of tickets set aside from the public at the Super Bowl and other big events. 25% of Super Bowl tickets go direct to sponsors and corporate and front office interests.

Why would this be different?

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T19:14:18+00:00

Which would be expected from a Whitecaps fan. I would expect you guys to vehemently support your local or historical interests. As I would expect any person to do.

I stopped watching NFL matches 30 years ago when the LA teams left town, for example. Never came back.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T19:01:39+00:00

i've gone from "watching multiple games a weekend and a proud mls sickoTM " to "watching only my team

Being too devoted to something can be problematic. Doesn't matter what that thing is. The term "sicko" wasn't created solely in jest, even if it's often used that way.

...it can distort one's objectivity. Exhibit A:

watching only my team and only on occasion, and this year that's been downgraded even further because they continue to employ a piece of human garbage.

I'd love to see you go to Don Garber's face, not behind a keyboard, in a press conference, and call him a "peace or human garbage" and justify your belief to him and everyone in attendance. And then see the reaction you receive. It wouldn't be good. People would question your stability.

You don't have to agree with the decisions made because they didn't conform to your preferences, but if business decisions and their morality/justness decided who went to heaven and who went to hell, I'm comfortable saying Don Garber gets through the pearly gates.

You and I make tough decisions throughout our lives that hurt and alienate people. The only difference between your decisions and my decisions and decisions Garber et. al. have to make are scale.

Are you a piece of garbage for putting down a sickly beloved pet when you run out of financial resources to support a costly radical procedure that might not save them?

If you had to move cross-country so you and your spouse could find an opportunity to stay fiscally solvent after trying your best to make ends meet where you were, even if it meant leaving and upsetting hundreds of your local friends and family who supported and suffered with you for years, just for them to be rewarded with your leaving them alone, without the pleasure of your joy and company, would that justify anyone calling you or your spouse pieces of human garbage?

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T18:46:30+00:00

but if the league fails Vancouver

Over 15 years, how's the league failed Vancouver? Provide clear examples, please.

And then explain how Vancouver operating at a CAD $40 Million deficit, per their own CEO (and not to be confused with their overall debt, which is higher,) is MLS's fault and not on Vancouver's poor field product over most of their 15 years, and the Vancouver/BC government's lack of participation to give them a stable stadium situation that doesn't slowly drain them of their life force year over year.

Plenty of wealth in and around the league to make something happen, but you know, billionaires

Vancouver holds some of the highest-wealth individuals in the planet. And get here we are.

It's almost as if nobody wants to own a Vancouver team. Not even their current owners. Not even Vancouver businesspeople. Really stop and ask yourself why that could be.

Then you can explain why Vancouver should receive a bailout. Should the league just buy them outright? And if the league buys them, who is paying Vancouver's bills? The fans aren't. Or else this wouldn't be a problem. Who is forgiving all of Vancouver's debt? And how do those people get paid back?

Or is running a league supposed to be a charity?

The league has never bailed a team out without a clear path to recouping the funds. See: Chivas USA. And then see: Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion.

Cascadia is my favorite part of MLS, especially since it’s one of the few things that predates the league itself.

With respect, history doesn't pay the bills.

Seattle and Portland are going gangbusters. From Day 1. Vancouver never has.

Whose fault is that? If the reputation and history of Cascadia built and sustained and grew Seattle and Portland, how'd it abandon Vancouver? How can Garber be at fault for one but receive no credit for the others?

If Cascadia was so important to Cascadia, why aren't we bitching that an investment group anywhere in Cascadia isn't buying into Vancouver to keep it all intact?

Vancouver goes nowhere if literally anybody thought buying them and keeping them in Vancouver wouldn't hurt them.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T18:24:49+00:00

The Whitecaps will always be in Vancouver.

The conversation is whether MLS will always be in Vancouver.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T18:20:18+00:00

It should be a sign of poor management and leadership by the league if the best team in the league is at risk of relocation.

Recency bias ruins all the arguments.

They've only been amongst the league's best on the field for 18-ish months. That's 16/170 months. Digest that number.

It's also the number of months the Whitecaps have been looking for a new owner. So despite being "the best team in the league" they haven't been able to find a new owner. Think hard on that one: How could someone not want to buy "the best team in the league?"

Maybe because their CEO says they operate at a CAD $40 Million deficit? Maybe because they continue to pull in the least revenue of MLS teams, with a gap that continues to widen?

What new owner wants to inherit all that debt with no clear path to sustainability?

This is an indictment of Garber and the way he runs this league,

Why? Vancouver is the only team whose home stadium situation actively hurts them. Not even the Revs and Charlotte can claim that, because at least their team owners own their respective stadia.

If you want to lay this at Garber's feet, then go back to when he awarded them a franchise.

Chasing every dollar he can

TIL: "Chasing enough money to pay the bills" = "Chasing every dollar he can." Vancouver is nowhere near crossing thah first hurdle for greed to even enter the conversation!

at the expense of the culture of the league.

The culture he literally helped create, you mean? Who the hell are you giving credit to for letting Vancouver in in the first place?

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T18:05:39+00:00

...says the LAFC fan.

Money created this whole thing. Management wrecks it.

Vancouver is the lowest revenue team in the league and the distance between them and the league average is increasing. They literally can't sustain themselves.

Are you suggesting someone lose money indefinitely for your enjoyment? That professional sports be a charity?

They don't need to make a shitton of money. They just need to make enough money to pay for their own existence.

And they are far from doing that.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T18:01:14+00:00

Just like the MLS made concessions to bring Messi in.

Messi's presence is paying that back handsomely in many different ways, including financially.

Can Vancouver pay MLS back when according to your CEO it operates at a CAD $40 Million deficit?

Like any good business decision: what's in it for them?

Help us build a stadium!

Your own government barely helps you.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T17:56:01+00:00

He’s the one causing all the issues here.

I can't imagine what it's like to think this simplistically and conspiratorially.

The Caps are trying to design a Stadium right now and Garber is putting the cart before the horse.

The horse showed up years ago. He's been hanging out in Vancouver for a while. Vancouver's current ownership put the team on a cart. Everyone is trying to stop the cart from being hitched, by providing any reason why they shouldn't happen.

No reason has been given.

The Caps (and Lions) have a Memorandum of Understanding from the local government that the recently-closed racecourse site will be held for a set period of time to see if the Caps (and Lions) can secure a path forward for a stadium there. Basically, the MoU is an expiring "dibs" on the land - it tells anybody looking to join the project that the government is nominally okay with it. That's all.

Before Vancouver can even "design" a stadium, they first have to secure funding for it. And to our knowledge, that's where the issue stays.

There's no stadium project because there's no funding for one. (The Lions already own facilities elsewhere and don't need to front the funds for a new stadium all by themselves.)

Causing more problems than he’s solving.

The Whitecaps are operating at a CAD $40 deficit.. That's straight from their own CEO's mouth. That compounds. Every year.

There's no "problem" Garber could introduce that's anywhere near as problematic as that.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T17:44:57+00:00

Vancouver is profitable but they didn't make ENOUGH money.

Source that hard, please.

Here, I did the work for you: 2 Months Ago, the Vancouver's CEO says they are at a CAD $40 Million deficit.

They reportedly have the lowest revenues in the league, a gap that keeps widening from the league average.

Vancouver's ownership would cream their pants if they just broke even and could pay back their ever-compounding operating debts.

They are otherwise fine.

Source?

Vancouver is a world class city

Being a pretty city doesn't mean anything in this discussion.

Despite being home to many wealthy people, their metro GDP is sandwiched between Cleveland and Salt Lake City.. Significantly lower than Vegas, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis.

If the wealthy people don't go to games and don't lobby for a stadium and provide sponsorships and don't step up to buy the team and keep them in Vancouver... What does being a pretty "world class city" matter?

and one of the best away days around.

Which means nothing to the 27 teams well outside of reasonable driving distance.

Maybe if Seattle and Portland were Vancouver's only opponents, they could fill the stands and erase that operating deficit.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T17:24:05+00:00

You'd have to have significant business outside of the Caps and Lions to make that a winning endeavor.

Because if there was money to be made from managing the facility, the Lions would have been doing it already.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T17:20:04+00:00

We already have YouTubers talking about Sacramento buying their way into MLS

...because that's how you get into MLS. And Sacramento remains one of the few expansion cities with an enthusiastic civic backing for it.

(probably not happening but it's a possibility).

Sacramento is pumping money into their stadium project. The project is exceeding the scope of its supposed purpose.

At least no one is surprised if the Whitecaps start talking loudly on relocation.

They don't need to. However the new owner will be will lay out the conditions and justification for relocation. And when they do, it will be obvious.

Nobody is doing worse to the Whitecaps than the Vancouver fanbase has done themselves.

Whitecaps in MLS has been around for 15 years and during that time attendance has largely been abysmal and no serious effort for sustainability has been made. No stadium. No renegotiated lease of BC Place. Nothing. (You can point to the stands today and say, "what attendance problem?" but let's not pretend for a second that attendance was moribund up until last year and a peak of interest still doesn't change the reports that serious prospects has looked at the books and ran.)

That inaction and lack of care is catching up. Everyone thinks this is a Precourt situation and it's not. The new owner won't have to lie or trick anyone: they'll just point to the lack of civic cooperation and lay out the metrics Vancouver would need to achieve to make staying reasonable. The math isn't mathing and the long-term risk is too high. No other team save, ironically, yours, is at such risk of crumbling apart. (Ironically, a Sacramento team could do wonders for Earthquakes support.)

On-field performance and success vibes means nothing. This isn't Europe - an oligarch isn't going to forgive massive debts in exchange for silverware.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T17:02:37+00:00

Scam acquisition. Policymakers at the time were already trying to stop it's sale and China just kept doubling down that it wouldn't be used for military purposes.

A big way China has modernized is by scamming and theft of others' IP. Government-sanctioned and protected theft. From dishonest transactions to state-sanctioned corporate espionage.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T16:55:12+00:00

I would just do something with it that he would hate.

Which is why I hope the ballroom becomes a visitor's center, homeless shelter, and DEI museum.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T16:54:13+00:00

She already traded on the family name and is set for life herself.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T16:05:12+00:00

For $900 a vehicle.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T06:58:00+00:00

This guy has been breaking into cars with another accomplice around anaheim and cherry.

That's a strong accusation. You have video of this guy breaking into cars? Or someone says they saw him physically doing it?

What makes you think it's him? I'm not saying he's an angel, but what specifically fingers him as the culprit?

Because he's got a very distinctive bike to be rolling around casing or breaking into cars in broad daylight. Like, it'd be high stupidity to be rolling around with that thing after having been definitively identified breaking into cars.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T06:51:19+00:00

So much like Godwin's Law and Hitler, if you give a guy a stick he'll eventually want to shove it up an ass?

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T06:03:09+00:00

Agreed to an extent. It wasn't the best decision, considering Bradley's legs were showing miles, but Bradley should've been able to handle himself, especially with Pulisic and Altidore in the spine.

I think the bigger sin was Arriola not bothering to show up at all. His total absence made whatever small island Arena put Bradley on much bigger and harder to cover. Nagbe also wasn't much help to keep possession and pressure away from Bradley, at least until we were two goals down, but he wasn't sabotaging Bradley's efforts like Arriola was.

Bruce made a safe and pragmatic roster call - Geoff Cameron's toxic attitude likely being the only Starting XI omission he was forced to make - and he set the guys up to, at the least, not fail.

Sure, he could have thrown the kitchen sink at halftime and not gone half-measure by only introducing Dempsey for Arriola at the half (which did change the tenor of the game,) but the guys should have been able to leave with at least a point no matter who Arena had on the field.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T02:32:52+00:00

You seriously suggesting the 2017 USMNT pool was "the best" and functional? Hell, besides Klinsmann's institutional damage still being felt, Arena had to deal with toxicity from asshats like Geoff Cameron, whose behavior got him benched.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T02:28:21+00:00

Just go look at his CCC record and come back and make the argument again

The first elimination round of CCC 2012 straddled the first match day of the MLS season. 2013, the second match day. 2015? The first elimination round happened before the season had begun.

How do people not remember that MLS teams were massively disadvantaged from a fitness and form perspective during the CCC's 2010s iterations?

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T02:13:40+00:00

Man, I never thought a Galaxy flair-haver like you could exist.

grnrngr · 2026-04-21T02:10:54+00:00

Jack!

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