Ticket Prices Drop After Ronaldo and USA Exit World Cup

Ticket prices for Friday’s FIFA World Cup quarter-final in Los Angeles have fallen sharply since the United States and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal were knocked out of the tournament. Forbes shared this news.

The report says the cheapest resale tickets for the match dropped by almost 60 percent. They went from $2,950 down to about $1,200 on the secondary marketplace TickPick after Monday’s Round of 16 games.

This big drop came after the United States lost 4-1 to Belgium in Seattle. This defeat ended their hopes of playing in the quarter-finals at home.

Portugal also left the tournament after a 1-0 loss to Spain in Arlington, Texas. This marked the end of Ronaldo’s World Cup career and took away one of the big draws from the Los Angeles game.

Forbes pointed out that with both the U.S. and Ronaldo gone, interest in the match dropped. Ticket prices would have likely been much higher if either team had moved on.

“Spain defeated Portugal 1-0 on Monday, ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup career and removing a significant amount of star power appeal from the quarterfinal match in Los Angeles, which would have likely had far higher ticket prices if the U.S. and Portugal faced off instead,” the report stated.

The report also mentioned that average resale prices for all World Cup quarter-final matches have gone down by 31.5 percent in just one day and by 50.4 percent over the last three days. This information came from ticket marketplace SeatPick.

SeatPick noted that the number of tickets for sale on secondary markets has increased to 49,415, up from 28,285 at the tournament's start.

Among the quarter-final matches, Thursday’s game between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is currently the cheapest. Tickets for this game start at $989, according to TickPick.

Even with the drop in quarter-final prices, interest in the final remains strong. Forbes reported that the cheapest resale ticket for the World Cup final in New Jersey on July 19 is now $9,346 as of Tuesday. This price might change based on which teams reach the final.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to be the most expensive ever, with ticket prices much higher than those seen in past tournaments, according to the report.