Organizers in Los Angeles will charge for tickets to their World Cup Fan Fest events this summer.
L.A. Sports & Entertainment Commission president and CEO Kathryn Schloessman tells Front Office Sports the opening celebrations at USC’s Memorial Coliseum, plus the additional 10 regional fan zones throughout Southern California, will require paid tickets for attendees ages 12 and up.
“If they don’t buy tickets, you have no idea who’s going to show up,” Schloessman says. “Having the right amount of staffing and security there for the number of people coming is really important.”
FIFA Fan Fests are large watch parties that have historically been free since their official inception in 2006. But this year, host committees have struggled with meeting FIFA’s intention for free, centralized events running the full length of the tournament, especially with strict FIFA limits around fundraising and onerous security costs. Many cities have scaled back initial plans, or are slicing up a singular Fan Fest into smaller watch parties.
The host committee for New York and New Jersey said in December it would require paid tickets for the first time in tournament history, charging $10 each. Organizers later canceled the main event planned for Liberty Park, opting for smaller regional events throughout New York and New Jersey, some of which will still cost $10 to get in.
Schloessman says ticket prices are not confirmed, but said the goal is to make them affordable when they go on sale in about two weeks. She says all 10 fan zones will set their own prices, but the host committee has urged them to keep costs low.
“Let me be perfectly clear here,” Schloessman says. “Nobody is making any money on these. I mean, we are all taking a hit. It’s the right thing to do for the community, but you got to have everybody pay a little bit in there so that they show up, and frankly they appreciate it.”
Meanwhile, FIFA continues finding new ways to squeeze fans. Some tickets to the final in New Jersey were listed last week for more than $10,000. The global governing body recently posted expensive tickets in brand new tiers called “Front Category 1” and “Front Category 2,” essentially bumping fans who thought they were buying premium tickets out of the closest seats.
Schloessman says LASEC—which serves as the World Cup host committee while also preparing for next year’s Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics—never thought a singular Fan Festival running the full length of the tournament would’ve worked well in Los Angeles. She says her FIFA contact truly got on board with the idea of scattered fan zones after getting caught in the region’s notorious traffic on the way to a meeting about, ironically, the fan zones.
The official Fan Fest will be a kickoff event at the Coliseum, followed by one-to-four-day fan zones throughout June and July at 10 different spots: The Original Farmers Market, Downey, Union Station, Hansen Dam Lake, Earvin “Magic” Johnson Park, Whittier Narrows, Venice Beach, Fairplex, West Harbor, and Burbank.
Last week, the head of Boston’s host committee, Mike Loynd, said “fundraising has been a challenge,” particularly because of “FIFA’s restraints on intellectual property and branding” and America250 events heading to New England this summer.
Schloessman agreed, saying “it’s always a challenge to raise money in a competitive environment” and navigate around FIFA’s numerous partnerships.
“We’ve really focused on more the people who are focused on, they want their money to go to the community, not so much for all the eyeballs around the world,” she says. “I tell people, if you want to support the host committee, it’s more of an emotional ROI.”
