As the World Cup gets deeper into its first week, periodic questions emerge regarding attendance at matches. The latest curiosity comes from Miami.
An article in the London Times, via Sports Business Journal, notes that there appeared to be “many more empty seats” than the 1,714 gap between Hard Rock Stadium’s capacity and the actual ticketed crowd to watch Saudi Arabia face Uruguay.
FIFA, per the report, issued a statement attributing the empty seats to late arrivals resulting from a “major traffic accident on Florida’s turnpike” and the normal traffic patterns.
The Times notes that there seemed to be “many thousand empty seats in the first half” that were “reduced in number after half-time.” Regardless, the Times concluded that there “appeared to be many more empty seats than the official attendance stated.”
The FIFA ticketing policy has come under scrutiny in the weeks preceding the World Cup, with specific criticism of exorbitant prices.
Hard Rock Stadium (and, no, we’re not redacting the corporate names of the venues) is one of 11 NFL stadiums being used for the World Cup.
