If you want to buy World Cup 2014 tickets, get on the ball now
If you’re chasing tickets for the World Cup competition beginning June 12 in Brazil, your time is running short.
FIFA, the World Cup’s organizing body, started with about 3 million tickets to sell for 64 matches in 12 cities. But most of those seats are spoken for.
The best chance at this point may be a hospitality package that combines match tickets with a hotel room or other amenities. FIFA has authorized Match Hospitality as sales agent for those packages. Match Hospitality has authorized SportsMark as its American sales agent. And SportsMark has authorized sub-agents, including Beck & Score (www.beckandscore.com, based in Culver City), Cartan (www.cartanglobal.com, based in Manhattan Beach) and Jet Set Sports (www.jetsetsports.com, based in Far Hills, N.J.).
Prices vary widely, but $7,000 to $9,000 a person, double occupancy, for two matches and seven hotel nights, is common. The sales agents are expected to offer hospitality packages as long as their inventory lasts.
For those seeking tickets only, FIFA began taking requests (also known as applications) on Aug. 12, 2013. A second phase followed Dec. 8-Jan. 30, and fans of specific teams had until Feb. 8 to request seats from a pool of tickets reserved for each team, with results of their electronic-draw ticket lottery to be known by March 11.
The next step was a period of first-come, first-served ticket sales that began March 12 and ends April 1. The final step is the “last minute” phase from April 15 through the day of the final, July 13. But there may not be much available. Before February was over, FIFA officials were saying they’d tallied “close to 10 million” ticket requests. The competition begins with the June 12 opener in São Paulo and ends with the July 13 final in Rio de Janeiro.
Tickets for foreigners come in three price categories, with individual matches priced at $90 to $990 a person, excluding ticket delivery charges. (There’s a more affordable fourth category reserved for Brazilian residents). Package deals allow fans to follow their chosen team through multiple matches or to attend only matches at a single venue.
If you do get your hands on tickets, be advised that Brazil has set up a separate visa category for World Cup visitors, presumably simplifying the red tape that has sometimes complicated travel between the U.S. and Brazil. To get one of those visas, you must first show that you have tickets.
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