HOUSTON and ARLINGTON, Texas — Perhaps you’ve seen some damning photos circulating on social media. Or maybe you just watched a Copa América 2024 match, saw the stands and wondered: why aren’t there more people there?
Empty seats have been an intermittent feature of the tournament’s early stages. So far, fans have filled 71% of the listed stadiums’ capacity (and only 64% in the first six games). Everyone involved has billed the Copa América as a competition comparable to the European Championships, but its optics are in stark contrast to the Euros, where stadiums are invariably full.
The simple question is: Why?
The answer, not so simple, is multiple.
This touches on ticket prices and marketing, but also broader macroeconomics, geography, urban planning and public transport and, arguably above all, the sheer size of stadiums.
No more seats, no more empty spaces
During a group round, the Copa América 2024 averages 51,592 fans per match, which is actually more than the Euro 2024 average attendance of 50,990 (across 28 group matches; in the first turn only, the Euro was at 53,158).
The simultaneous tournaments look different, however, partly because seven of the ten German stadiums hosting Euro 2024 can hold between 40,000 and 55,000 people; the Copa América, meanwhile, is played mostly in NFL stadiums that can hold between 60,000 and 80,000.
The follow-up question, of course, is: why was this additional capacity not used?
At the Euro, more than 97% of seats were filled, and more could be if the stadiums were bigger.
By contrast, in five of the eight Copa América matches so far, tens of thousands of seats have remained empty.
Ticket prices
Two reasons for these divergent results are ticket prices and the typically American, oppressive capitalist obsession with income.
The average price of a ticket for the Copa América, according to several estimates, exceeds 200 dollars. Even the cheapest seats in many Copa matches cost more than $100. As of Tuesday morning, the lower bowl tickets still available for Argentina-Chile at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium were all going for more than $500 on the primary market.
The culprit is dynamic pricing, an algorithmic system where prices fluctuate based on demand, so that sellers and event organizers can maximize their profits.
In the euro, as elsewhere in the world, prices are fixed. Tickets for the group stage ranged from €30 ($32) to €200 ($215) for non-premium seats. (“Prime seats” cost €400.) The range is €50-250 for the round of 16, €60-300 for the quarter-finals, etc.
This approach leaves revenue on the table; demand outstrips supply. (UEFA, which runs the Euro, has said it has received more than 20 million ticket applications.) But it creates and maintains relative goodwill among fans – one of the reasons for the overwhelming demand in the first place. It also ensures that stadiums are full, which contributes to the spectacle and overall appeal of the tournament.
This, critics say, is what various entities in American football fail to understand. They view ticket sales primarily, and sometimes only, from a revenue perspective. They apparently see no difference between selling 30,000 tickets at $200 each and selling 60,000 tickets at $100 each, despite the medium- and long-term benefits of the latter solution – the thousands more people who can soak up the sport; and the millions of people who watch TV and see a packed stadium, which sends a very different message than a half-empty stadium: It’s a game that deserves attention.
CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, generally controls all ticket sales for the Copa América, as UEFA does for the Euros. But for this 2024 tournament in the United States, sales have been entrusted to individual stadiums and their partners, Ticketmaster or Seatgeek. None of these entities have a direct interest in developing football. So they used dynamic pricing, and everyone involved – from brokers to stadiums to CONMEBOL and CONCACAF and even the US Soccer Federation – will get a share of the winnings, while fans’ wallets bleed.
Spending goes beyond tickets
Another reason why Copa America venues aren’t packed is that just getting there can be expensive.
Even for locals, many NFL stadiums are inaccessible via public transportation, unlike most European football grounds. So you have to pay to park. You’ll probably spend obscene amounts of money on drinks or food. The costs add up.
But they are particularly prohibitive for the Copa América’s core audience: South American soccer fans.
All but one of the Euro 2024 participants are within 1,000 miles of Germany. In fact, eight of the 23 countries share borders with the host country. On the other hand, all the countries of South America are more more than 1,000 miles from every city on the American continent. Most are 2,000 miles from Copa América host cities. While Hungarians can travel to Germany for $30, an Argentinian wanting to visit New York would typically have to spend more than $1,000 for a round-trip plane ticket.
Oh, and $1,000 for a middle class Argentinian is a lot more than for a middle-class American (or Briton or Dane). The strength of the dollar and the U.S. economy, compared to struggling South American economies, often makes summer vacations in the United States impossible. (Obtaining a B2 visitor visa can also be extremely difficult and require a wait of several months or even years.)
Still, thousands of South Americans have traveled for the 2024 Copa América. Juan Emilio Roa, CONMEBOL’s commercial director, told Yahoo Sports ahead of the tournament that around 25% of fans attending matches would be foreigners. Travel agencies offered all-inclusive packages, including tickets exempt from the dynamic pricing system.
However, the distance and cost of travel – to the United States and within the country, between the 14 host cities – surely kept thousands more fans at home.
Different teams, different countries, different audiences
The target audience for the 2024 Copa América in stadiums has therefore been the American public – and in particular the diverse and vibrant Latin American communities scattered across the United States.
Latin American diasporas, however, are not evenly distributed. There are more than 37 million Americans of Mexican origin. There are more than a million Colombian Americans. But there are fewer than 100,000 Uruguayans and Paraguayans here in the United States, according to census data.
Their national football teams also enjoy varying levels of popularity. The demand for tickets therefore varied from one match to another. Colombia drew 67,059 in Houston on Monday. The Brazil-Costa Rica match had a similar number Monday with 67,158 spectators at SoFi Stadium in greater Los Angeles. Argentina sold Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. But when Venezuela and Ecuador met in Santa Clara, California, the stands at Levi’s Stadium were mostly deserted. Ditto for Uruguay and Panama in Miami.
The most curious attendance figure was 53,763 for the Mexico v Jamaica match, some 18,000 less than the capacity of Houston’s NRG Stadium. This was probably due to ticket prices, slowing down and El Tri being tired.
Market fatigue?
In the lead-up to this Copa América, several industry sources speculated to Yahoo Sports that organizers were having difficulty distinguishing this tournament from the rest of a busy soccer market. Most participating teams regularly play friendly matches in the United States. All six CONCACAF teams competed in the Gold Cup and the Nations League final. The United States and Mexico played a final at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, just three months before the United States opened the Copa América there against Bolivia.
“It’s a little strange to come back to the same places,” admitted American midfielder Tyler Adams on Sunday.
And even for him, as a player who understands the prestige and importance of the Copa América, “it still doesn’t feel much different (from a Nations League final),” Adams said.
If it doesn’t feel different to them, does a casual fan understand that it’s actually more meaningful?
Adams added, however: “Our fans came out today. » There were 47,873 in the 80,000-seat stadium, many of them dressed in red, white and blue. “And I was happy with that,” he said. However, he hopes that “we will have big games in front of us”, and that these will be more distinct, with an even wider audience.
