FIFA is under fresh scrutiny for sky-high World Cup ticket prices and sales tactics that fans say left them with worse deals than they wanted.
The attorneys general in New York and New Jersey, which is hosting eight World Cup matches including the final, announced Tuesday that they are investigating whether FIFA’s ticketing practices violated consumer protection laws.
They have sent subpoenas to soccer’s global governing body demanding information on a range of ticketing issues, including FIFA’s use of “variable pricing” models that sent ticket prices soaring for most matches and redrawn stadium maps that fans say relocated their seats far from the pitch.
FIFA has been here before. In May 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted nine FIFA officials and five sports marketing executives on charges of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering — one of the most sweeping corruption prosecutions in the history of professional sports. The charges, built over years by federal investigators, alleged that officials had accepted more than $150 million in bribes in exchange for broadcasting and marketing rights to major soccer tournaments. Several officials pleaded guilty; FIFA’s longtime president Sepp Blatter resigned within days. The organization pledged structural reform. A decade later, these two attorneys general, working with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, say they are focused primarily on ticketing practices for matches at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
