World Cup Buzz Hits Bay Area, But Some Fans Feel Left Out

After years of anticipation, the World Cup’s traveling circus has finally rolled into the Bay Area. As the tournament, being hosted in North America for the first time in 32 years, entered its first weekend, the region’s streets were awash with the hues of soccer jerseys. Red-shirted Swiss supporters, in town for their match against Qatar at Levi’s Stadium, rubbed shoulders in BART stations with Brazil’s trademark canary yellow shirts, while Dutch and Japanese fans mingled in a downtown San Francisco bar as they watched their teams fight out a 2-2 draw. It was a weekend which reminded one of the World Cup’s majesty, the colorful kits and shouts of celebration representing a kind of world in microcosm gathered along a continent’s edge. 

Yet for all the weekend’s joy and excitement, some local soccer fans are feeling shut out of the fun unfolding in their backyard. With World Cup tickets selling for eye-popping sums amidst a wider crisis of affordability in the Bay Area, there were swathes of empty seats at Levi’s as Qatar faced Switzerland on Saturday in the first of the region’s six World Cup matches. On SeatGeek, the cheapest tickets for that game were priced at over $400, a sum which soccer lovers like Diego can’t justify spending. “If the tickets were cheaper, maybe $80-100 at most, I would definitely be there,” he told me at that evening’s Oakland Roots game, where twenty bucks sufficed for entry.

The buildup to this World Cup was marked by a pall of controversy and negativity. Even beyond the high cost of tickets, the Trump administration’s hostile stance towards foreigners has made the U.S. a less attractive tourist destination, with the number of international visitors having fallen over 5 percent in 2025. And while the World Cup should give those numbers a temporary lift, the number of traveling fans from some prominent soccer countries has remained below expectations. The Swiss Football Association, for instance, reported in February that Swiss interest in attending matches in North America was only “modest,” leading the organization to return part of its ticket allocation to FIFA. 

While they may not have traveled in huge masses, there were plenty of fans wearing the Swiss national team’s red jersey around San Francisco’s Pier 39 on Friday afternoon, the day before Switzerland’s World Cup opener. The prevailing sentiment was of enthusiasm, both over their team’s chances and their experiences in the United States. Patrick, who had made the trip with a group of friends, said he couldn’t wait until the games got started. “It’s our first World Cup which we’re visiting live, so we’re very excited,” he said underneath the bright California sun.

Beat and Nadine, a middle-aged couple who said they were going to all three of Switzerland’s group matches, were also in good spirits. “People are very friendly. We really feel like guests here,” said Nadine of their time in America. That feeling was shared by Roger, who told me in his Swiss-accented German that his experiences had been “positive” so far. “It’s not like how the media depicts it.” 

The positive vibes amongst the Swiss contingent were aided by access to relatively cheap tickets. Several groups of fans mentioned they had snapped up seats for just $60 through the Swiss FA, who had made cut-price tickets available for loyal backers of the national team. “We’re members of the Swiss association, so we could get tickets for sixty dollars,” said supporter André, who had traveled to the tournament with his wife.

Switzerland’s supporters were upbeat, too, about their country’s chances at the World Cup. Colin, who told me that he was going to two Swiss matches, predicted they would reach the “final sixteen or quarterfinals,” while Patrick likewise expressed hope that Switzerland would reach the last eight. Yet Qatar dealt those aims a major blow on Saturday, equalizing in stoppage time to hold the heavily-favored Swiss to a tie. 

While the Swiss fans were licking their wounds following their team’s damaging draw, the Oakland Roots were kicking off their USL Championship match against Miami FC at the cavernous Oakland Coliseum, about thirty miles up Interstate 880 from Levi’s Stadium. It was a game for the soccer diehards, a cagey 0-0 stalemate with few real chances. Surely the people attending this sort of match were thrilled to have the World Cup unfolding on their doorstep, and were looking forward to taking it in live?

As it turned out, the crowd’s feelings towards the tournament were more mixed. While some attendees– such as Jim, who told me he’d watched every World Cup match up to that point– noted they would be going to games, others said they felt shut out by the high cost of tickets. 

One such fan is Diego. A fervent Borussia Dortmund supporter who has that club’s slogan of Echte Liebe– or “true love”– tattooed on his forearm, Diego told me that he “watch[es] soccer all the time.” But despite his love for the sport, he won’t be attending any World Cup matches. The inflated costs “make the experience not as fun for regular fans,” lamented Diego, who said he’d be going to watch parties instead.

Other members of the crowd were still unsure of whether they would go. Zach, attending alongside his partner Carolyn, told me he was still “considering” seeing a match live. “It’s a little bit expensive, but if [prices] came down I would go,” he said, adding that he considered between $100 and $300 to be a fair price depending on the matchup. 

Manning the merchandise stand, Leno and Chris, two twentysomethings who both described themselves as casual soccer fans, also mentioned that they were still weighing whether to attend a game. Chris, who was streaming the Scotland vs Haiti fixture on his phone, told me $150-200 represented the maximum he would cough up. Leno said he was contemplating going to Tuesday’s match between Austria and Jordan, for which he was prepared to spend up to $300. That price point is “still pretty steep,” but “not terrible for the World Cup,” he reasoned. 

Though some of the fans I spoke with may still end up passing through the turnstiles at Levi’s this summer, the inflated cost for seats at this World Cup represents a missed opportunity. The 1994 World Cup, the only previous edition of the tournament to be held on these shores, is credited with sparking a surge in soccer’s popularity in America, in large part due to the ease and affordability of catching a game. By contrast, attending this tournament requires a much greater financial commitment. That may end up costing countless Americans the chance to catch the soccer bug by watching the sport on its grandest stage, and hinder the game’s continued growth in the U.S. 

Take the example of an older gentleman at Saturday’s Roots match who declined to give his name. The gentleman, wearing a Roots cap and matching scarf, told me that he wasn’t a huge soccer fan, but had begun following the Roots when baseball’s A’s left Oakland in 2024. And while he said he wasn’t following the World Cup very closely, he responded “absolutely” when I asked if he would buy a reasonably-priced ticket to catch a game. Seeing a World Cup game in person could help his soccer fandom blossom, but that won’t happen this summer. “Can’t afford it,” he said wistfully.