Parking your car at a World Cup venue could cost you more than a match ticket

Martin Macdonald

• 3 Feb 2026 06:15 CST
• 4 min read

Nieuws

The 2026 World Cup is already set to be the most expensive in history for fans due to tickets, accomodation and travelling.

And, that's without the added cost of parking your car at one of the match venues.

For one particular venue - the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California - parking could cost as much as $300 which is actually more expensive that a small batch of released World Cup match tickets.

SoFi will host eight World Cup matches, including the United States' opening fixture and one of quarter-finals. For those two matches, one parking spot is priced at $300. For the other six, including Iran vs. New Zealand and the third USA group match, a pass costs $25.

A FIFA spokesperson said: “parking prices are determined based on local market conditions and benchmarking against comparable major events previously held in each host city" when asked about the prices by the Athletic.

The parking spots are apparenty a mile away near the Intuit Dome, the Los Angeles Clippers basketball arena. It's an estimated 21 minute walk to SoFi Stadium.

Usually, the venues set to host the World Cup have parking just outside the stadium but due to the security and infrastructure required to host a World Cup match, these will be minimised for travelling fans.

For example, for NFL matches hosted at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, there are around 20,000 parking spaces. For World Cup matches held at that venue, there will be 4,000.

For certain venues, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the cost of parking is more expensive that a Category 3 match ticket for group stage matches at the previous World Cup in Qatar.

The group stage doesn't start until June this year but for some matches - like Colombia versus Portugal and Brazil versus Scotland - parking has already sold out. FIFA says more will become available, however.

“As planning continues and details are finalized, additional inventory is expected to be made available," a spokesperson said:

"As a result, listings currently marked as ‘sold out’ do not necessarily reflect final availability.”

One of the biggest controversies surrounding the World Cup so far has been the exorbitant price of match tickets, in part due to secondary selling platforms bumping up the cost.

There is also a secondary platform selling parking tickets, too, however fans have been warned against purchasing these as only those with official match tickets can purchase official parking passes.

StubHub, a resale platform, includes the following on their site:

“IMPORTANT: Only match ticket holders are eligible to purchase parking passes, and you must use the same email address that was used to purchase your match tickets. Parking passes may be cancelled if the email address used to buy parking does not match your ticket purchase email. Only 1 parking pass per customer per match is permitted.”

Match ticket pricing

FIFA has received huge criticism over the past six months or so for their set prices for World Cup matches.

Group stage matches are, on average, three times as expensive as the last World Cup, while the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is $4,258.

The next World Cup will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer and despite complaints about exorbitant ticket prices due to the dynamic pricing structure in place, the tournament's organising body reported that 500 million ticket requests have been made.

Numerous high-profile figures, including New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, have been outspoken about how costly the World Cup is going to be be for regular fans.

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