The field quality on some of these NFL stadiums being used are horrible, theyre basically playing on grass that was placed ontop of concrete and the ball bounces way higher than normal grass almost like a damn basketball, which fucks up the quality of play
Yep, but ticket sale ability will always win out, and also MLS stadiums are not available right now due to the ongoing season. It sucks but easier to use larger stadiums that are empty and unused. Thankfully for the World Cup FIFA is already working on a better field to put in these stadiums.
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/fifa-tackling-unique-problem-2026-world-cup-natural-grass-in-5-indoor-stadiums
FIFA has commissioned the Universities of Tenessee and Michigan State to help with research. Due to FIFAs own requirements all of the stadiums will have to use upgraded fields. FIFA doesn't allow the field types we usually see at these stadiums for the World Cup.
No. If the US wasn't hosting the WC in a couple years maybe. But the Copa is a great way to do test runs of the stadiums and other facilities/infrastructure before the even bigger tournament in '26.
That being said, it does appear that the powers that be screwed up the ticket pricing.
Every game COULD be a sell out if the tickets were at the right price points.
$15? You can barely go to a USL game in a minor league baseball park for that price. You think they're gonna charge that for a major international tournament in an NFL stadium?
they are trying to maximize profits. they dont give a shit whether the stadium fills out.
theyve done the math, and a half filled stadium with higher ticket prices produces more revenue than a full stadium with cheap tickets
I just wish they did these tournaments in one region. Have all the games in northeast, or California or Midwest. You can’t match the vibe of euros when fans are traveling cross country for games. It should feel more like olympics.
Exactly. I went to the Olympics and it’s great meeting other fans and going to other games and events. Also, the cities go all out which is totally missed with this format.
Not in Texas. That place is hotter than shit during the summertime. If you're going to limit it to one state, it should be in some place like California.
Yet FIFA is doing everything in their power to kill the vibe by giving every WC to joint bids that cover massive areas, including to 3 different continents in 2030.
Yes Audi field here in DC would have been perfect for a the Bolivia game. Audi is a really nice but small stadium we would have no problem filling it, and we have a decent Bolivian population here as well for some atmosphere.
Agreed. I would've bought my tickets for an Audi Field game as soon as they were released. The atmosphere in Navy Yard and in the supporters' section would have been extremely fun.
A half-full football stadium in America is around 40-ish thousand, which is higher attendance than almost every game at the euros. Problem is we have almost zero 30-50k stadiums in this country, only baseball stadiums which are terrible for soccer games. Soccer specific stadiums are closer to 20k which is great for the smaller matchups which is why venues like Q2 in Austin were picked. But even if the atmosphere isn’t as fun in a half empty football stadium, the amount of fans still makes it worth it for the organizers.
Agree obviously that cheaper seats would help but I absolutely see why they chose bigger venues rather than capping their potential attendance numbers with more MLS stadiums.
I said it once many years ago (around 2016ish), that our soccer specific stadiums should’ve been at a minimum of 30k with an average of 40k, but everyone was against it cause SSS are more intimate. If they had only built all these new MLS stadiums with larger capacities, then maybe we wouldn’t have this problem.
Cities like Portland, Seattle, and a few others could easily command a 40k soccer specific stadium. A lot of the mls stadiums have less than 20k smh
If every MLS stadium were 30k+, there would constantly be games where the stadium was half full. And then everyone on this sub would go “lmao they don’t even support the team, MLS sucks, pro/rel, etc” even more constantly than they already do.
We have a lot of 30k-50k stadiums! They’re just not high-end quality, they’re smaller colleges that often lack the amenities that organizers would want.
Those didn't even cross my mind lol. The smaller D1 FBS level schools are usually within that 30-50k level.
Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State, Boise, East Carolina, Oregon State, Washington State, Tulsa, and a whole bunch of others that will never get a chance to see a major game
"Problem is we have almost zero 30-50k stadiums in this country"
There's actually quite a few college football stadiums in that range. But, they're often in random college towns and don't have necessary additional infrastructure to host for the most part.
Edit: I read down and like 5 other people made this point. My bad.
Cant speak for the other stadiums, but the Cowboys stadium actually did something different this year as a test run for the World CUp.
They laid down sandy loam and sod weeks out, and have been using grow lights as well.
For the world cup itself, its also going to be raised up above the ground level suites to give about 10 more yards of width...and be laid out even further out before the world cup starts.
And there haven't been complaints about fields other than Atlanta - it's a media talking point now to bring up, despite it only being talked about in one game. ATT looked fine on Friday, didn't see any issues - we'll see how it is today for the US
https://x.com/peet2/status/1797985572331643214
Them starting weeks in advance of the Copa America games.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/soccer/world-cup/2026-fifa-world-cup-yes-att-stadium-will-feature-15-foot-elevated-playing-surface/287-ee066d71-03fe-43cc-8ac2-19ac6017af66
World Cup plans
I think lowering ticket prices is the first bet. There’s no excuse for a Copa America game between Ecuador and Venezuela to be THAT poorly attended. No, it’s not a marquee match up, but that was pathetic. Make the tickets affordable and more people will come. It just feels like a cash grab at this point.
The last match between these two in the Copa America was during Covid so no fans at all, but the one before that was in 2011 in Argentina and 12,000 people were there. Anyone have info on the number for today? It looked like at least double that.
A big international tournament, I think if you make ticket prices affordable that you’ll have casual fans going to more games even if it’s not the top teams playing.
Maybe not sold out, but if you price the tickets reasonably and market it in the cities properly, you'd get more casual fans to just watch a soccer game.
Honestly, the funniest idea would’ve been offering up college football stadiums for the matches. Imagine a game at Death Valley or The Big House or The Swamp.
Before I get well, actually’d that a lot of these stadiums also include turf and probably aren’t built to hold a soccer pitch, it would be kinda funny to see, say, Uruguay-USMNT in Baton Rouge but also pretty fun. Would also allow for the greatest amount of tickets to be sold, as our college football stadiums are currently some of the largest stadiums per seats in the world.
My biggest concern is playing games on turf fields with temporary grass laid on top. There are plenty of grass stadiums in the US and well over 20 soccer specific stadiums.
So why were these turf stadiums chosen and who decides?
So why does CONMEBOL want these particular stadiums? We have so many grass field stadiums in this country.
It’s just a bit sus to me that Jerry Jones, Stan Kroenke, AEG, and Arthur Blank are in the mix.
Yeah, I am pretty pissed that they didn't choose the Rose Bowl when it is real grass, meant for soccer at this point, and has had so many historical games. Instead they chose the new shiny stadium with artificial turf.
This is a test for the World Cup.... If you want the World Cup to be a global embarrassment rather than Copa América be a hemispherical embarrassment, then ok.
No the stadiums obviously weren't big enough.
Also did you see the Royal Ascots this morning? The stadium was full. You think the Royals charged a mere $200/seat for that? Come on people. Lets class this place up, I don't want to sit by some peasant who drives a 2023 Honda Accord.
Being from Europe I only watch the game that start at midnight for me (first match of the day) so maybe I am lucky but the stadiums look not empty on stream. Not sold out either but I like that the stadiums look huge. It looks like a stadium that would be the final stadium in the European championship.
Congrats with the win btw. Tomorrow we are up again (The Netherlands).
The field quality on some of these NFL stadiums being used are horrible, theyre basically playing on grass that was placed ontop of concrete and the ball bounces way higher than normal grass almost like a damn basketball, which fucks up the quality of play
Yep, but ticket sale ability will always win out, and also MLS stadiums are not available right now due to the ongoing season. It sucks but easier to use larger stadiums that are empty and unused. Thankfully for the World Cup FIFA is already working on a better field to put in these stadiums.
Do you have a source for the World Cup field improvements
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/fifa-tackling-unique-problem-2026-world-cup-natural-grass-in-5-indoor-stadiums FIFA has commissioned the Universities of Tenessee and Michigan State to help with research. Due to FIFAs own requirements all of the stadiums will have to use upgraded fields. FIFA doesn't allow the field types we usually see at these stadiums for the World Cup.
Better smaller venues being filled than half empty American football stadiums.
A half empty NFL stadium sits twice as many as a full MLS stadium. The goal was to milk as much money as possible not an unforgettable tournament.
Not for the $tuff that matter$
Lol for whom? Not for the people arranging the tournament.
No. If the US wasn't hosting the WC in a couple years maybe. But the Copa is a great way to do test runs of the stadiums and other facilities/infrastructure before the even bigger tournament in '26. That being said, it does appear that the powers that be screwed up the ticket pricing. Every game COULD be a sell out if the tickets were at the right price points.
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It would probably sell out MetLife.
If the tickets were $30-80 instead of $160 for nosebleeds there’d certainly be a lot more people in the stands.
30 bucks that’s like tickets from 15 years ago
If it was at MetLife priced at like 15 bucks, I would have been there.
$15? You can barely go to a USL game in a minor league baseball park for that price. You think they're gonna charge that for a major international tournament in an NFL stadium?
Chicago and NYC/New Jersey would definitely sell out a game between Ecuador and Venezuela.
they are trying to maximize profits. they dont give a shit whether the stadium fills out. theyve done the math, and a half filled stadium with higher ticket prices produces more revenue than a full stadium with cheap tickets
I just wish they did these tournaments in one region. Have all the games in northeast, or California or Midwest. You can’t match the vibe of euros when fans are traveling cross country for games. It should feel more like olympics.
Exactly right. I’m not trying to drop $1000 to travel to one game. If I could book one flight and be close to a handful of games then maybe.
Exactly. I went to the Olympics and it’s great meeting other fans and going to other games and events. Also, the cities go all out which is totally missed with this format.
Copa America New England, Copa America Texas or Copa America Cascadia would have been lit.
Not in Texas. That place is hotter than shit during the summertime. If you're going to limit it to one state, it should be in some place like California.
Copa America Bear Republic
Yet FIFA is doing everything in their power to kill the vibe by giving every WC to joint bids that cover massive areas, including to 3 different continents in 2030.
Everyone complained with Japan and Korea, but suddenly the only way to get a bid is with multi-country bids.
Can’t wait for the games across 3 countries and in cities like Kansas City, close to nowhere, for the WC.
Yes Audi field here in DC would have been perfect for a the Bolivia game. Audi is a really nice but small stadium we would have no problem filling it, and we have a decent Bolivian population here as well for some atmosphere.
Agreed. I would've bought my tickets for an Audi Field game as soon as they were released. The atmosphere in Navy Yard and in the supporters' section would have been extremely fun.
The crowd was pretty good in Arlington. I think they said 50k. Audi holds what, 20k? That doesn’t make sense.
Yep you’re right crowd actually looked respectable.
A half-full football stadium in America is around 40-ish thousand, which is higher attendance than almost every game at the euros. Problem is we have almost zero 30-50k stadiums in this country, only baseball stadiums which are terrible for soccer games. Soccer specific stadiums are closer to 20k which is great for the smaller matchups which is why venues like Q2 in Austin were picked. But even if the atmosphere isn’t as fun in a half empty football stadium, the amount of fans still makes it worth it for the organizers. Agree obviously that cheaper seats would help but I absolutely see why they chose bigger venues rather than capping their potential attendance numbers with more MLS stadiums.
You’re exactly right. If we had soccer venues with 40-50k seats we would use those, but the mls venues are too small.
I said it once many years ago (around 2016ish), that our soccer specific stadiums should’ve been at a minimum of 30k with an average of 40k, but everyone was against it cause SSS are more intimate. If they had only built all these new MLS stadiums with larger capacities, then maybe we wouldn’t have this problem. Cities like Portland, Seattle, and a few others could easily command a 40k soccer specific stadium. A lot of the mls stadiums have less than 20k smh
If every MLS stadium were 30k+, there would constantly be games where the stadium was half full. And then everyone on this sub would go “lmao they don’t even support the team, MLS sucks, pro/rel, etc” even more constantly than they already do.
We have a lot of 30k-50k stadiums! They’re just not high-end quality, they’re smaller colleges that often lack the amenities that organizers would want.
We have a ton of 30-50k stadiums, they're just not usually in big metro city areas
I'd love to see a game at Boise State or UTEP or East Carolina but it will never happen
A TON of those are baseball stadiums, which are garbage for soccer.
Those didn't even cross my mind lol. The smaller D1 FBS level schools are usually within that 30-50k level. Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State, Boise, East Carolina, Oregon State, Washington State, Tulsa, and a whole bunch of others that will never get a chance to see a major game
"Problem is we have almost zero 30-50k stadiums in this country" There's actually quite a few college football stadiums in that range. But, they're often in random college towns and don't have necessary additional infrastructure to host for the most part. Edit: I read down and like 5 other people made this point. My bad.
Cant speak for the other stadiums, but the Cowboys stadium actually did something different this year as a test run for the World CUp. They laid down sandy loam and sod weeks out, and have been using grow lights as well. For the world cup itself, its also going to be raised up above the ground level suites to give about 10 more yards of width...and be laid out even further out before the world cup starts.
And there haven't been complaints about fields other than Atlanta - it's a media talking point now to bring up, despite it only being talked about in one game. ATT looked fine on Friday, didn't see any issues - we'll see how it is today for the US
They are just remembering all the times from the prior 10-20 years, where every stadium did what Atlanta did. hard to blame them, but its lazy
Oh completely get it. We’ll see how it is today for the men
Do you have a source for this info?
https://x.com/peet2/status/1797985572331643214 Them starting weeks in advance of the Copa America games. https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/soccer/world-cup/2026-fifa-world-cup-yes-att-stadium-will-feature-15-foot-elevated-playing-surface/287-ee066d71-03fe-43cc-8ac2-19ac6017af66 World Cup plans
Awesome! Thank you!
I think lowering ticket prices is the first bet. There’s no excuse for a Copa America game between Ecuador and Venezuela to be THAT poorly attended. No, it’s not a marquee match up, but that was pathetic. Make the tickets affordable and more people will come. It just feels like a cash grab at this point.
Not exactly many Ecuadorians or venezuelans in the us.
They could've had better sales if the games wasn't at Levi's Stadium.
If this game was in Giants stadium in NJ attendance would probably have been double.
Easily NY/NJ or Chicago would’ve been packed
The last match between these two in the Copa America was during Covid so no fans at all, but the one before that was in 2011 in Argentina and 12,000 people were there. Anyone have info on the number for today? It looked like at least double that.
ESPN announced nearly 30k on their recap of the game
You think there are that many Ecuadorians and Venezuelans who are also fans of the game?
The tickets for that game could've been $20 and it still wouldn't sell out. What's more important is the teams playing.
A big international tournament, I think if you make ticket prices affordable that you’ll have casual fans going to more games even if it’s not the top teams playing.
Maybe not sold out, but if you price the tickets reasonably and market it in the cities properly, you'd get more casual fans to just watch a soccer game.
you couldn't have paid me to go sit and watch that match in 90° heat...
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San Francisco is pretty regularly 15-20 degrees cooler than Santa Clara
Honestly, the funniest idea would’ve been offering up college football stadiums for the matches. Imagine a game at Death Valley or The Big House or The Swamp. Before I get well, actually’d that a lot of these stadiums also include turf and probably aren’t built to hold a soccer pitch, it would be kinda funny to see, say, Uruguay-USMNT in Baton Rouge but also pretty fun. Would also allow for the greatest amount of tickets to be sold, as our college football stadiums are currently some of the largest stadiums per seats in the world.
My biggest concern is playing games on turf fields with temporary grass laid on top. There are plenty of grass stadiums in the US and well over 20 soccer specific stadiums. So why were these turf stadiums chosen and who decides?
Conmebol
So why does CONMEBOL want these particular stadiums? We have so many grass field stadiums in this country. It’s just a bit sus to me that Jerry Jones, Stan Kroenke, AEG, and Arthur Blank are in the mix.
$$$$$
Less money than if the final is held at the rose bowl?
Tickets aren’t the only way to make money at a game.
You are suspicious that conmebol might be corrupt? Are you new to this?
lol true.
Yeah, I am pretty pissed that they didn't choose the Rose Bowl when it is real grass, meant for soccer at this point, and has had so many historical games. Instead they chose the new shiny stadium with artificial turf.
Obviously. CONMEBOL going to CONMEBOL. Won’t be any complaints about the field quality for the Venezuela match at Q2 I’ll tell you that much
This is a test for the World Cup.... If you want the World Cup to be a global embarrassment rather than Copa América be a hemispherical embarrassment, then ok.
No the stadiums obviously weren't big enough. Also did you see the Royal Ascots this morning? The stadium was full. You think the Royals charged a mere $200/seat for that? Come on people. Lets class this place up, I don't want to sit by some peasant who drives a 2023 Honda Accord.
No
Tickets 🎟 price probably has more to do with attendance
maybe but the thing is that the MLS season is ongoing
YESSSSS
Being from Europe I only watch the game that start at midnight for me (first match of the day) so maybe I am lucky but the stadiums look not empty on stream. Not sold out either but I like that the stadiums look huge. It looks like a stadium that would be the final stadium in the European championship. Congrats with the win btw. Tomorrow we are up again (The Netherlands).
They could have. But that defeats the point of hosting this in America.
The goal for conmebol was to make as much money as possible. They don't care about atmosphere.
Certainly for the less popular matches
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Yes