Even before the first ball of the World Cup was kicked in Mexico City on Thursday, there was one team that everyone was already rooting against. FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, have been widely lambasted for ticket costs this year'which are four to 10 times higher than they were for comparable matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Initial prices for some of the cheapest games in the United States ranged from $60 for a smattering of nosebleed seats to $620 for seats closer to the field. Tickets for Friday's U.S. opener in Los Angeles ranged from $560 to $2,735 when initially released. Critics argue that FIFA, soccer's governing body, is gouging fans of the world's most popular sport. The attorneys general of New York, New Jersey, California, and Texas have launched investigations into World Cup ticketing, including for allegedly misleading fans about seat locations and creating false scarcity to drive up prices. FIFA, which maintains that legal experts have vetted its...
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