Tickets for this summer’s men’s Copa América in the United States should be available to the public by the end of February, a CONMEBOL spokesperson told The Athletic on Tuesday. An exact date for when tickets for the tournament will be on sale is yet to be determined, but it could also extend into early March.
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CONMEBOL has also been finalizing how tickets will be sold. Two sources briefed on the tournament’s plans said that each Copa América venue will sell match tickets via their preferred ticket partners, rather than all tickets for the tournament going up for sale through a single system, as they do for FIFA World Cups. In effect, tickets for games would be available for purchase via either Ticketmaster or SeatGeek, depending on where the game is being held.
| City | Stadium | Ticketing partner |
|---|---|---|
Arlington | AT&T Stadium | SeatGeek |
Atlanta | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Ticketmaster |
Austin | Q2 Stadium | SeatGeek |
Charlotte | Bank of America Stadium | Ticketmaster |
NY/NJ area | MetLife Stadium | Ticketmaster |
Houston | NRG Stadium | Ticketmaster |
LA area | SoFi Stadium | Ticketmaster |
Bay Area | Levi's Stadium | Ticketmaster |
Phoenix | State Farm Stadium | SeatGeek |
Las Vegas | Allegiant Stadium | Ticketmaster |
Kansas City, Mo. | Arrowhead Stadium | Ticketmaster |
Kansas City, Kan. | Children's Mercy Park | SeatGeek |
Miami | Hard Rock Stadium | Ticketmaster |
Orlando | Exploria Stadium | Ticketmaster |
An official statement from CONMEBOL regarding ticket access is expected in the coming weeks.
Even though tickets are not yet available for purchase, they have already appeared on the secondary market. A search on StubHub for tickets to the Copa América opener in Atlanta between Argentina and either Canada or Trinidad & Tobago ranged from $563 to $66,537 at time of writing. On its checkout page, Stubhub lists the demand for Copa América tickets as “high.” With no official tickets available to anyone yet, these listings have been posted by third-party brokers, at prices that are likely to be significantly elevated from face value. These brokers do not have any match tickets in hand. After a consumer purchases tickets, the brokers would have to then acquire match tickets once they officially go on sale.
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That said, securing tickets to see Copa America games this summer will likely be expensive no matter what, and a relatively short runway for fans to book hotels and make travel arrangements will only increase those costs. If tickets go on sale the day after the Super Bowl, for example, there will be just 130 days between then and the opening game.
A source briefed on CONMEBOL’s plans said the federation is in the process of evaluating its own market research and purchasing behaviors in order to target the U.S. consumer better, given that most of its operations have been in South America up to this point.
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The 48th edition of the Copa América begins on June 20 and will feature all 10 CONMEBOL countries and six nations from CONCACAF. The tournament will be played in 14 U.S. cities, with the final coming on July 14 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. 2022 World Cup winner Argentina, led by Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, is the defending champion.
The Copa América Centenario in 2016 was also held in the U.S. That tournament was a rousing success on the pitch and commercially. A total of 1.5 million people attended matches in 2016, with average attendance hovering around 46,000, per reports. The competition was televised in more than 160 countries, with television viewership for the Centenario in the U.S. surpassing 100 million.
(Photo: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)
