As fans in the United States and across the world continue to voice their anger at the exorbitant prices that FIFA is charging for the 2026 World Cup, more details about other amenities will surely keep that fire burning.
Tickets are being sold at prices higher than ever before – with the cheapest tickets on US soil going for hundreds of dollars for some group stage matches.
But in a country with little public transit infrastructure, parking passes are now being sold at a premium – in some cases, more than the tickets to the matches themselves.
According to Henry Bushnell of The Athletic, FIFA is currently selling parking for games at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for $250 to $300 per matchday and per spot.
Adding insult to injury, these spaces – listed on FIFA’s ‘official World Cup 2026 parking website – are located over a mile away from the stadium.
The venue is set to host eight World Cup matches. Both the United States’ opening fixture and a quarterfinal match are leading to charges of $300 for a single parking spot.
FIFA is selling parking passes for as high as $300 for a single match at SoFi Stadium in LA
This image, from FIFA’s parking website, shows the long walk fans in Los Angeles would take
A FIFA statement says parking prices are determined by ‘local market conditions’
In a statement to The Athletic, a FIFA spokesperson justified the prices by saying, ‘parking prices are determined based on local market conditions and benchmarking against comparable major events previously held in each host city.’
This justification doesn’t seem to match with the reality of games at SoFi Stadium – home to the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams of the NFL. The venue, located in Inglewood, is also adjacent to the Intuit Dome – home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.
The $300 parking spots for the US’ opening match are located adjacent to the Intuit Dome in a parking garage that is a 21 minute walk from the stadium.
For regular season games, the Clippers parking garage charges only $56.50. For the upcoming NBA All-Star Game hosted at the same venue, parking costs $88.
Meanwhile, at SoFi itself, the Rams only charged $71 per game in lots adjacent to the stadium. These lots, according to The Athletic, will most likely not be open for fans and will be inside security perimeters.
Los Angeles appears to be the worst of the bunch in terms of prices. Other venues are charging in the hundreds (Philadelphia) while others vary by match (Atlanta ranges from $75 for Spain-Cabo Verde to $200 for one of the two semifinal matches).
Some venues like Gillette Stadium outside of Boston and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami have already ‘sold out’ of parking. Other venues in Houston, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and New York/New Jersey have not begun selling parking yet.
Passes are also being sold on the ‘secondary market’ where fans are already selling spots to the highest bidder.
