Sports
FIFA president: All 104 World Cup matches will be 'sold out'
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Dec 5, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrives on the red carpet ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Mandatory Credit: Brian Snyder-Reuters via Imagn Images FIFA president Gianni Infantino said all 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup will be “sold out” despite tickets available for the tournament running from June 11 to July 19.
“The demand is there. Every match is sold out,” Infantino told CNBC in an interview Wednesday from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.
Infantino said there had been 508 million ticket requests in four weeks from more than 200 countries for about seven million available tickets.
“(We’ve) never see anything like that — incredible,” he said.
The 48-team World Cup is taking place across 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., as the site of the World Cup final.
The head of the sport’s governing body said that tournament locations contribute to what soccer supporters’ associations have complained are exorbitant ticket prices.
“I think it is because it’s in America, Canada and Mexico,” he said. “Everybody wants to be part of something special.”
Also affecting prices are resale websites, which take the official ticket that has a fixed price and use “dynamic pricing” leading to the cost to fluctuate.
“You are able as well to resell your tickets on official platforms, secondary markets, so the prices as well will go up,” Infantino said. “That’s part of the market we are in.”
A report in the Straits Times said that a Category 3 seat — the highest section in the stadium — for Mexico’s match against South Africa in the tournament opener on June 11 in Mexico City was listed at $5,324 in the secondary market. The original price was $895.
The same seat category for the World Cup final on July 19, originally priced at $3,450, was advertised for $143,750 on Feb. 11, per the report.
In December, FIFA designated “supporter entry tier” tickets with a $60 price to be allocated to the national federations whose teams are playing. Those federations are expected to make those tickets available “to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams,” FIFA said in a press release.
The last time the U.S. served as a World Cup host in 1994, tickets ranged from $25 to $475. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, prices ranged from $70 to $1,600 after the matches were announced.
Infantino in his comments this week estimated that the 2026 World Cup will raise $11 billion in revenue for FIFA, with “every dollar” to be reinvested in the sport in the 211 member countries.
He said the economic impact for the United States would be around $30 billion “in terms of tourism, catering, security investments and so on.” Infantino also estimated the tournament will attract 20 million to 30 million tourists and create 185,000 full-time jobs.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Super Bowl LX ratings given late boost, still shy of record
Feb 4, 2026; Santa Clara, CA, USA; NBC Peacock television camera with Super Bowl LX logo at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Nielsen adjusted the ratings for Super Bowl LX, bumping the final viewership numbers to 125.6 million.
The Seattle Seahawks’ victory over the New England Patriots was originally reported to have averaged 124.9 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo and other digital platforms. Nielsen said the update was to due a Big Data provider not properly collecting data from its devices on game day.
The new figure still makes Super Bowl LX the second-most watched in history, trailing the record 127.7 million who watched last year’s Super Bowl. However, the Feb. 8 game, won 29-13 by Seattle, was the most-watched show in NBC history and drew a combined average household rating of 39.7.
–Field Level Media
Sports
All-Star events draw biggest audience in 24 years
Feb 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Team USA Stars guard Anthony Edwards (5) of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates with the MVP trophy after the championship game during the 75th NBA All Star Game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images The NBA’s All-Star festivities drew their largest viewing audience in nearly a quarter-century last weekend, the league announced Thursday.
The league said 46 million people in the United States watched All-Star weekend across the NBC platforms and ESPN, the most since 2011 and more than triple last season.
Capped off by Sunday’s reformatted USA vs. World mini-tournament of four 12-minute games, the weekend also featured Friday’s celebrity game and Rising Stars event and Saturday’s 3-Point Contest, Shooting Stars and Slam Dunk Contest.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards was named MVP of Sunday’s 75th NBA All-Star Game at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Edwards led the USA Stars to a 47-21 win against USA Stripes in the final.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Prez Charlie Baker still wants to ad at-large bids to NCAA Tournament
NCAA president Charlie Baker still envisions an expanded NCAA Tournament field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images NCAA president Charlie Baker rolled out the red carpet ahead of the Selection Committee exercise to set the top 16 seeds in the men’s tournament field this weekend and couldn’t help but dream of a bigger dance.
Baker and members of the Selection Committee are running their annual bracket stacking drill to be released Saturday with the public finding out where the NCAA sees the top 16 seeds in the tournament at this stage of the season.
The field will not increase in size in March. The men’s and women’s tournament field remains at 68 for 2026. But 2027 could bring a boost in field size to 72 or more, Baker has said.
“I think there’s some very good reasons to expand the tournament, so I would like to see it expand,” Baker said on Thursday in a session with select media, as detailed by tournament TV partner CBS, a network making headlines about coverage — and non-coverage — of news events and interviews. “You have to remember that some of the folks we’re talking to are going through some pretty interesting corporate conversations of their own. And I think for us, we accept and acknowledge that, but we’re still talking.”
Debate remains around how to structure a bracket growing by as many as eight spots. Baker said the number of at-large bids awarded — currently 36 — is not enough. But he doesn’t want to fiddle with the 32 at-large bids going to conference and conference tournament champions to satisfy the “bubble” teams that might be labeled the “last four out” on Selection Sunday.
“It puts some other really good teams that probably might belong there,” Baker said of the push to increase at-large bids. “But it also protects the AQs, right? Because I don’t want to end up in a situation where people say we need to do something about the AQs because we’re keeping too many good teams out of the tournament.”
–Field Level Media
Super Bowl LX ratings given late boost, still shy of record
NYT Strands hints, answers for February 20, 2026
