HOUSTON and ARLINGTON, Texas – You may have seen a few damning photos floating around social media. Or maybe you just watched a 2024 Copa América match, caught a glimpse of the stands and wondered: why aren’t more people there?
Empty seats are a regular occurrence in the early stages of the tournament. Fans have filled 71% of the stated stadium capacity so far (and only 64% through the first six games). Everyone involved has touted the Copa América as a competition comparable to the European Championships, but its optics are in stark contrast to the European Championship, where the stadiums are invariably full.
The simple question is: why?
The not so simple answer is multiple.
It touches on ticket prices and marketing, but also on broader macroeconomics, on geography, on urban planning and public transport and, perhaps most of all, on the sheer size of stadiums.
More seats, more empty ones
After one round of group play, the 2024 Copa América averages 51,592 fans per match, which is actually more than the Euro 2024 average attendance of 50,990 (through 28 group matches; the first round alone saw the Euro 53,158).
However, the simultaneous tournaments will look different, partly because seven of the ten German stadiums hosting Euro 2024 can accommodate 40,000 to 55,000 people; the Copa América, meanwhile, is mainly played in NFL stadiums that seat 60,000 to 80,000 people.
The next question is of course: why was this extra capacity not used?
At the European Championship, more than 97% of the seats are occupied, and more could be filled if the stadiums were larger.
In contrast, tens of thousands of seats have remained empty at five of the eight Copa América matches so far.
Price of tickets
Two reasons for these disparate outcomes are ticket prices and the uniquely American, oppressively capitalist obsession with revenue.
According to multiple estimates, the average price of a Copa América ticket is more than $200. Even the cheapest seats at many Copa games cost more than $100. As of Tuesday morning, the lower tickets still available for Argentina-Chile cost in the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey all over $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, like elsewhere in the world, prices are fixed. Group stage tickets ranged from €30 ($32) to €200 ($215) for non-premium seating. (“Prime seats” cost $400.) The range goes up to $50-250 for the Round of 16, $60-300 for Quarterfinals, and so on.
This approach leaves revenues on the table; demand exceeds supply. (UEFA, which administers the Euro, said it has received more than 20 million ticket requests). But it builds and maintains relative goodwill among fans – it’s a reason for the overwhelming demand in the first place. It also ensures that the stadiums are full, adding to the spectacle and overall attractiveness of the tournament.
Here’s what several U.S. soccer entities don’t understand, critics say. They view ticket sales mainly and sometimes exclusively through the lens of turnover. They apparently see little difference between selling 30,000 tickets for $200 each and selling 60,000 tickets for $100 each, despite the medium and long-term benefits of the latter – the thousands of extra people who can enjoy the sport; and the millions who watch on TV and see a full stadium, which sends a very different message than a half empty stadium: This is a game worth paying attention to.
CONMEBOL, the South American football federation, usually controls all ticket sales for the Copa América, just as UEFA does for the European Championship. But for this 2024 tournament in the US, it has transferred sales to individual stadiums and their partners, Ticketmaster or Seatgeek. None of these entities have any interest in growing the sport of football. So they’ve used dynamic pricing, and everyone involved – from the agents to the stadiums to CONMEBOL and CONCACAF and even the US Soccer Federation – will get a cut of the profits, while the fans’ pockets bleed.
The costs extend beyond just tickets
Another reason why the Copa América venues are not filled is that it can simply be expensive to go there.
Even for locals, many NFL stadiums are not accessible by public transportation, unlike most European ballparks. So you have to pay to park. You probably spend obscene amounts of money on drinks or food. The costs are rising.
However, they are especially unaffordable for the Copa América’s core audience: football fans in South America.
All but one of the participants in Euro 2024 are within 1,000 miles of Germany. In fact, eight of the 23 share borders with the host country. By contrast, every South American country is more than 1,000 miles from any city in the continental US. Most are 3,200 kilometers away from the Copa América host cities. While Hungarians can travel to Germany for $30, an Argentinian looking at New York would typically have to spend more than $1,000 on a round-trip flight.
Oh, and $1,000 for a middle-class Argentinian is too a lot of more than for a middle-class American (or British, 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 unfeasible. (Obtaining a B2 visitor visa can also be extremely difficult and require a wait of months or even years.)
Still, thousands of South Americans have traveled for the 2024 Copa América. CONMEBOL commercial head Juan Emilio Roa told Yahoo Sports ahead of the tournament that around 25% of the match fans 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 US and within, between the fourteen host cities – kept many more thousands of fans at home.
Different teams, different countries, different crowds
So the target audience for the 2024 Copa América at the stadium was an American audience – and especially the diverse and vibrant Latino communities spread across the US.
However, Latin American diasporas are not evenly distributed. There are more than 37 million Mexican Americans. There are more than 2 million Colombian Americans. But according to Census data, there are fewer than 100,000 Uruguayans and Paraguayans here in the United States.
Their national football teams also enjoy varying degrees of popularity. The demand for tickets therefore varied from game to game. Colombia drew 67,059 in Houston on Monday. Argentina sold out Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. But when Venezuela and Ecuador met in Santa Clara, California, the stands at Levi’s Stadium were largely bare. Ditto for Uruguay and Panama in Miami.
The most remarkable attendance figure was 53,763 for Mexico vs. Jamaica, about 18,000 fewer than the capacity of NRG Stadium in Houston. It was probably a result of ticket prices, El Tri’s decline and fatigue.
Market fatigue?
Ahead of this Copa América, several industry sources speculated to Yahoo Sports that organizers were struggling to differentiate this tournament from the rest of a crowded football market. Most participating teams regularly play friendly matches in the US. The six CONCACAF teams have played Gold Cups and Nations League finals. The US and Mexico played a final at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, just three months before the US opened the Copa América there against Bolivia.
“It’s a little strange coming back to the same places,” American midfielder Tyler Adams admitted on Sunday.
And even for him, as a player who understands the prestige and significance of the Copa América, “it doesn’t feel very different. [from a Nations League final] “Not yet,” Adams said.
If it doesn’t feel any different to him, does a casual fan understand that it’s actually more important?
However, Adams added: “Our fans showed up today.” There were 47,873 people in the 80,000-seat stadium, many wearing red, white and blue. “And I was happy with that,” he said. However, he hopes that “we have some big games ahead of us,” and that they will make themselves felt more clearly, with an even bigger audience.
