Soccer Fans Shocked At Victory Stop Ticket Prices At Allianz Field
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- She won back-to-back World Cup titles. But now the U.S. Women's Soccer coach is stepping down.
Jill Ellis says the time is right to move on. Ellis will remain with the team through its five game victory tour, which comes to St. Paul in September.
But fans who want to celebrate the team's success are feeling some sticker shock over ticket prices.
The U.S. Women's Soccer team is celebrating it's World Cup win with a victory tour that will land in St. Paul on September 3.
"The fact that Minnesota United and Allianz Field were able to secure the U.S. Women's national team as part of the victory tour is a big deal for us," said soccer fan Matt Tiano.
But a visit to Ticketmaster's website, is taking some by surprise.
"Sticker shock would be the way I would describe it, to say the least," Tiano said. "I can share that going to the Final Four, my tickets were a fourth of that."
Allianz Field and the Minnesota United have no control of ticket prices. The organization says that is all controlled by U.S. Women's Soccer. Ticket prices vary according to city and stadium.
For the match against Portugal in Pasadena, California at the Rose Bowl, tickets average about $40. The same teams play in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field, where ticket prices there average $66.
Allianz Field holds 19,600 fans, and ticket prices there average $220.
"They are playing in a stadium that doesn't even seat 20,000 people," said Michael Nowakowski with Ticket King. "If you look at the rest of their scheduled matches, it's in football stadiums-- NFL football stadiums-- some of which seat 80,000 people."
Nowakowski says Minnesota has to play the game of supply and demand: fewer seats and big demand equals higher prices.
"I don't think we are at a place where soccer can be priced like that," Tiano said. "We need to continue garnering interest in the sport."
Soccer fans like Tiano are hopeful ticket prices will go down.
"It's disappointing," he said. "You'd like to think that the folks at U.S. soccer would at least provide an opportunity-- an opportunity to at least get in the stadium."
