Sounders fans offer mixed reviews on ticket situation for Club World Cup

SEATTLE – Seated on the steps in the late-afternoon sun along the west side of Lumen Field, Torri Murray watches the Sounders fans’ march to the match walk past while he finishes his traditional prematch bratwurst. His order includes grilled onions and yellow banana peppers.

Murray, who moved to Seattle from New Orleans less than two years ago, remains unconvinced by the proposition of adding cream cheese.

“I haven’t tried it yet,” he said. “That scares me. Cream cheese? I’ll try it one day.”

Murray is one of the announced 30,151 fans who showed up to watch the Sounders fall 2-1 to Brazilian club Botafogo in Sunday’s Club World Cup match. It’s the first of six matches Seattle will host for the tournament.

Murray, a Sounders season-ticket holder, held off on buying tickets to the match until Friday to avoid paying the high prices enforced by FIFA’s dynamic-pricing model, but said he empathized with fans who bought tickets early only to see prices tumble.

“I waited to buy and they still ended up expensive,” he said. “But this is a rare event to be coming here, so I just figured let me just blow the money and see it anyway. But it’s stupid expensive. And you can probably tell from the crowd turnout, if you go on Ticketmaster right now, a lot of seats are still empty.”

FIFA’s dynamic pricing model factors demand into ticket cost, causing prices to plummet during the weeks before the tournament’s opening. A 300-level ticket to Sunday’s game cost more than $153 during the December presale period. Three days before the match, a 300-level ticket was just $62 after taxes and fees.

Dynamic pricing will become even more relevant next summer, when Seattle hosts six games during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Steve DeBroux, another Sounders fan, called the dynamic pricing “disappointing” and said it was making him rethink his strategy for buying World Cup tickets next year. DeBroux said this experience erased any thoughts he’d had about purchasing one of the World Cup hospitality packages being offered.

DeBroux’s wariness following his Club World Cup ticketing experience, however, is countered by a simple desire to make sure he gets to see a World Cup game in Seattle. It was a similar sentiment echoed by Ben Allen-White, another Sounders season-ticket holder.

Allen-White also bought Club World Cup tickets during the presale period before prices tumbled, but described himself as just mildly disappointed about the eventual outcome. He also still plans to buy World Cup tickets as early as possible, because he feels there will be more demand for that tournament and he doesn’t want to miss it.

“I’m going to be just as foolish next time, too,” he said. “But I think I’ll be right that time. … I think I’m going to have to mortgage a home or something to get into any game there.”

The Sounders, in an attempt to placate frustrated fans, offered two free tickets to Sunday’s game for anyone who’d purchased tickets through the club during the presale period.

The Sounders tried to get free tickets from FIFA to each of their three games at Lumen Field as additional compensation for fans who bought the presale tickets, but were only able to get them for the Botafogo game, a source with knowledge of the situation said. The source added the Sounders were the only MLS club in the competition – which also includes LAFC and Inter Miami – that was able to negotiate free tickets as additional compensation.

Those additional tickets allowed some extra fans to come to the match. Allycea Weil and Wayne Liou are more casual Sounders fans. They weren’t planning to go until they received the tickets for free from a friend. Edward Liu, a five-year Sounders season-ticket holder, bought tickets for his family, including his wife and daughter. He used his two extra tickets to bring two of his daughter’s soccer teammates to the game.

“I appreciate that the Sounders stepped up to help us,” Liu said.

While several fans said they appreciated the Sounders’ effort to compensate them, others expressed concerns about the club’s attitude toward the tournament.

Weil, Liou, Allen-White and his brother Lawrence White, DeBroux and Jed Feltis, a season-ticket holder since 2009 – the club’s first MLS season – all said they’d be more interested and invested in the tournament if the players received a larger share of the Club World Cup’s prize money.

Sounders players wore shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Club World Ca$h Grab” before their game against Minnesota United on June 1 to call attention to MLS owners refusal to formally negotiate about how the nearly $9.55 million prize pool each MLS club will earn for participating in the Club World Cup will be split with the players. Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer reportedly confronted players about wearing the shirts after the match.

“I wish Hanauer would step behind the players and say ‘They deserve more,’” Feltis said. “This club has been the best club in the league. Keep it that way. Don’t denigrate your players.”