Fifa's 2026 Ticket Scheme Is a Late-Capitalist Hellscape

Strictly speaking, an external market being brought into existing ticketing systems would be net-neutral, since the following pros & cons should balance each other out:

(additional visibility into ticket prices & demand (+)) + (increased assurance of "this is the one place to get a ticket" (+))

==

-( (increased competition for a ticket (-)) + (perverse incentives of platform to increase ticket prices (-)) )

But because of their reputation, the negatives are weighed more than the positives due to their existing track record.

As such, the following constructed scenario should be considered: If it was a fully automated platform external to any party that handled such ticketing systems, would such a severely negative view still hold?

Probably because there was way less people (the density was only slightly less, mostly just a significantly smaller facility - so no significant traffic trying to park, enter, or leave). They also had a lot more family-friendly entertainment.

Of course, those local matches are something I have always loved. Local as in a few people just playing on some ground (rarely the full ICC size, which is good; otherwise, it becomes too difficult to track) - just playing for the sake of playing - with no intention or plan to show the game to anyone else, as sometimes I am the only spectator sitting near the fence. You know the ones where you are sometimes asked to join if they are short on players and they notice you are wearing sports/running shoes. At least for cricket, this happens.