Of the around 700,000 tickets available to World Cup matches in Arlington, only 35% to 50% have been sold, according to information provided to Arlington City Council Tuesday.
Tickets for the World Cup aren't all available for sale at once but are released in groups. The latest release was May 8.
Deputy City Manager Jennifer Wichmann told council the 35% number comes from the latest information provided to the city "a couple of weeks ago."
The first five matches of the tournament already have tickets sold, with Wichmann saying those matches have sold more tickets than later games.
Around 50% of tickets for elimination matches are being held by FIFA until those teams are determined. Wichmann said that is because the nations that will be represented there will want seats for their fans.
With the World Cup weeks away, numbers of hotel bookings are fewer than expected. The American Hotel and Lodging Association found in a survey of hoteliers that bookings aren't keeping up with projected demand.
The survey found 80% of respondents said their bookings were "tracking below initial forecasts" while 65% to 70% said they believe visa barriers and global tensions are suppressing interest from international would-be visitors.
"These factors consistently rank as the top constraint on World Cup-driven travel," the association said in a news release about its survey.
Brent DeRaad, president and CEO of the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he still expects hotels to be fully booked, or close to it, for match days. He also expressed confidence that matches will be sold out, too.
"We certainly believe that the night before matches and match nights that we will be sold out are very close to it, and certainly the rates will be higher than what we typically see," DeRaad said. "We're optimistic that June and July will be two of the highest room revenue months in Arlington's history."
The current lowest booking dates are for Round of 32 matches, DeRaad said. He attributed part of that to the teams being unknown and how far out those matches are — Arlington hotel rooms are traditionally booked an average of 14 days ahead of an event in the city.
NPR previously reported demand for World Cup tickets and travel to the US are facing challenges due to several factors — among them are ticket prices, flight costs and anti-US sentiment resulting from the war in Iran and FIFA's award of a peace prize to President Donald Trump.
Ticket prices have softened in the last month.
TicketData, a website that tracks changes in ticket prices, shows the cost of a seat to World Cup matches across all host cities has dropped 23% in the last 30 days.
In Arlington, ticket prices for group stage matches have dropped by 24% over the last 30 days, according to Ticket Data. The average "get-in price," as the website calls it, for matches held in Arlington is $777.
The June 30 and July 3 matches in Arlington have seen the biggest decrease in that time, both declining by 42%, according to TicketData. Those matches are Round of 32, meaning they were not included in the website's calculation of the average decrease in prices and the teams facing off in each game have not yet been determined.
The use of dynamic ticket pricing could also see costs go up or down the closer it gets to game day.
With dynamic pricing, ticket prices can change based on demand. According to ESPN, the cost of attending a Club World Cup game in 2025 saw extreme price reductions, in some cases from $473.90 down to $13.40.
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