£500m ticket hike for 2026 World Cup!
THE fight to stage the 2026 World Cup has seen claims that the joint bid by the United States, Canada and Mexico are changing their financial forecasts on the hoof.
In their bid book submitted to FIFA last March, it is alleged they said that they would bring in £1.3billion from ticket sales. But at a presentation in Brussels earlier this month, they had upped their ticket revenue pledges to £1.8bn.
That figure equates to an average ticket price of £321, including corporate hospitality seats, compared to £169 for rivals Morocco — and £158 for the tournament in Brazil four years ago.
The joint bid’s ticket income is of particular importance because their whole campaign is based around the amount of revenue a World Cup in North America would generate. A bid spokesman was unavailable.
Meanwhile, Morocco will make their presentation to the FA on Thursday week, which is around the time of their FIFA inspection report. There is still concern that a score below the minimum requirements in the mandatory accommodation and stadium categories will rule them out before the Congress vote on June 13.
BEN RYAN, who was on the three-strong shortlist — first revealed by Sports Agenda — from which Paul Gustard was unveiled yesterday as the new head coach of Harlequins, may also end up at the Stoop. The club are splitting the director of rugby role that John Kingston performed and Ryan (above), who led Fiji to Olympic Sevens gold, is in contention to be the new general manager.
IT IS a pity that the FA Cup final was not stopped for a review by the video assistant referee. For any VAR ruling would have been shown to the crowd via the big screen — a development in the transparency of the system that will be used at the World Cup and help with public acceptance. The Football League would also have communicated to spectators in the same way if VAR had been needed at this year’s Carabao Cup final.
ONLY the FA could re-organise the football pyramid and place Didcot Town in the Southern League West Division and Cinderford in the East — when Didcot lies nearly 100 miles east of Cinderford. It was only when Andover declined promotion that the mess was sorted out, with Cinderford joining Didcot in the Southern League West.