Native Mexican citizens are being systematically priced out of attending the FIFA World Cup hosted in their own country, with stadium tickets reaching prices up to $32,970 while the average worker earns around $433 a month, forcing national celebrations into streets, plazas, and below highway underpasses. This economic dispossession has led many to feel "it's a party we weren't invited to," according to Diego Merla, fiscal justice coordinator for Oxfam Mexico.
The Globalist Profit Motive
Merla stated that the World Cup is "built around the logic of squeezing as much value out of it as possible," prioritizing "those who are willing and able to pay the absolute maximum," which "ends up excluding a lot of people." FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the exorbitant ticket prices, which ranged from $140 to $8,680, and later rose to around $32,970 for the final, by stating they were "fitting the U.S. market." Infantino noted that a "college game" in the U.S. costs "not less than $300," implying an external economic standard imposed on the host nation.
Reclaiming National Culture
In response to this cultural and economic alienation, native Mexicans have taken celebrations into their own hands. Fans have gathered around televisions set up on plastic tables in working-class neighborhoods in downtown Mexico City and other public places across the country. Esmeralda Serrato expressed a preference for watching in the street with dozens of neighbors, stating, "Honestly, there’s nothing like going to the stadiums, but I prefer being here in the street. … For me it’s like watching the game from my living room."
Guillermo Ramírez, a 49-year-old native of Tepito, a Mexico City neighborhood known for sprawling street markets, set up a TV screen and speakers in front of his house and small corner shop. Ramírez recalled watching the 1986 Mexico World Cup as a young boy from TVs set up by neighbors who could not get into stadiums, noting, "There are a lot of us who simply can’t afford to go to the stadium." In Tepito, soccer is described as a "symbol of resistance and local identity" in an area most commonly associated with crime, with a local soccer field named after renowned Mexican player Bernardo Manolete Hernández.
Armando Soriano, who traveled with his wife and two children from the fringes of the city to a smaller Fan Fest in a plaza, stated his desire for his family "to be swept up in the spirit — to feel, more than anything, what it means to be Mexican, and to experience the traditions that people here live and breathe." Soriano noted that this event felt "more Mexican" than the central FIFA event.
National Pushback Against Transnational Elites
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized the costs last week, urging FIFA leaders to "reflect on their pricing decisions" and asserting that "Soccer has to be something else." She has encouraged fans to attend free public watch parties organized by local governments and FIFA in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, with nearly 20 such venues in the capital, including lower-income areas. Despite the economic barriers imposed by transnational elite interests, over 200,000 Mexican and foreign fans packed into Mexico City’s main plaza, the Zocalo, for one game, demonstrating the widespread desire for collective celebration and cultural continuity.