MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Attending the World Cup can quickly become a costly venture: match tickets are steep, flights to North America are pricey, and hotel rates in many host cities are running high.
And then fans get to the beer stand.
Across World Cup venues, concession menus feature plenty of eye-catching — and sometimes budget-stretching — options. In Miami, adventurous fans can find a $75 tray of tater tots topped with caviar or a massive 5-pound (2.2-kilogram) empanada priced at $40, designed either for the bold or for a group. Guadalajara, Mexico, is offering rib-eye tacos for $8, while Los Angeles has a $22 Twinkie cheeseburger that, despite the name, is not a dessert.
For many American fans, the prices may feel familiar, roughly in line with what they might pay at an NFL game or a major college football matchup. For some visitors from abroad, however, the sticker shock is real — particularly when a beer can cost more than $20.
“It’s unfair. It’s not right. It’s wrong,” said Thomas Schüller, an engineer from Germany who was in Toronto over the weekend to see his national team play. In his hand was a beer that cost 24.25 Canadian dollars, roughly $17 or 15 euros. “It’s three times the cost of what I pay in my country.”
Still, has the price convinced him to go without?
“Well, no,” Schüller admitted.
World Cup beer prices stir a modest brew of frustration
There is clearly some sticker shock among international visitors to this World Cup, especially when it comes to the concession prices. In Europe, it’s not uncommon for beers to be perhaps around 4 or 5 euros (about $5-6 USD).
There’s also no shortage of intrigue on the menu at the concession stands at stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“Never seen anything like it,” said Janine Arbetter, a fan from Austria, as she waited for a hot dog, chips and soda combo in Miami last week. The pre-tip price: $19.35 (about 17 euros), which included a discount for using Visa. “It’s a lot of food for a little snack.”
Some Argentina fans happily showed off their $34 lobster rolls from a match in Kansas City on social media, but in Toronto, the brisket sandwich with chips and a bottle of soda for nearly 40 Canadian dollars ($28) had some online commenters lamenting it as “robbery.”
“It’s OK, more or less, for the World Cup,” German fan Daniel Feldmann said of the food prices while watching a match in Vancouver last week.
Concession offerings vary from stadium to stadium
FIFA, the sport’s governing body and the tournament organizer, has very specific rules on just about everything related to the World Cup — and there are guidelines that concessionaires have to follow as well. But prices can vary by market, as do the food and drink offerings. And that means the experience in one city might look, or taste, nothing like what’s offered in another.
The “Fancy AF Tots” for $75 at Miami Stadium aren’t really tots at all — it’s three deep-fried hash brown patties, with caviar, creme fraiche and chives. (For those who just want the caviar, it’ll be $70.) Southern California’s Twinkie cheeseburger is in fact a burger topped with a Texas Twinkie — a bacon-wrapped jalapeño stuffed with brisket and cream cheese.
But there’s also a slew of choices specific to a local market; for example, Vancouver offers short rib poutine (an iconic Canadian dish of fries loaded with beef gravy, pulled short rib and cheese curds) along with a maple bacon smokie (smoked sausage topped with bacon onion jam that features Canadian maple syrup).
And in Miami, the signature offerings include pan con lechon (a Cuban-style sandwich with pork, infused with citrus mojo sauce and served on a toasted full Cuban loaf) and Empanada Mundial (the five-pound, handmade, chicken-and-cheese-stuffed dish named after the World Cup).
Both Vancouver and Miami have Sodexo Live as a food and beverage provider, and the typical game-day menus in both stadiums were revised a bit to accommodate a soccer crowd.
“We want it to feel like Miami when you’re here,” said Zach Williams, the stadium’s vice president of operations. “Everything we do around the Miami Stadium, we want to make sure everybody understands that when they come here, they’re getting a Miami experience.”
Atlanta Stadium keeps prices low
In Mexico City, a beer could cost a day’s pay — literally. The daily minimum wage in Mexico City is just 315.04 pesos (roughly $18). Some beers at Mexico City Stadium were selling for between 299 and 310 pesos — about twice as much as fans would ordinarily pay in the same stadium when the World Cup isn’t in town.
But in Atlanta, where Falcons owner and stadium operator Arthur Blank promised the low concession prices he’s championed for many years would hold for the World Cup, pizza slices were $3, 32-ounce sodas were $4, a cheeseburger was $5, chicken tenders with fries were $6 and beers could be had for as little as $8.
Jonathan Arango, a 33-year-old from Greenville, South Carolina, was at a match in Atlanta with his wife, daughter and father.
“In total for what we got — three orders of tacos, a slice of pizza, two waters and a Coke — we spent like $50,” Arango said. “Compared to what we’ve paid at other events … it’s nice after you paid a lot for a ticket.”
And Schüller pointed out that even though the tournament does come around every four years, it still feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“The entire football world is having fun,” Schüller said, “so cheers to that.”
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Associated Press journalists Tales Azzoni, Maura Carey, Andrew Dalton, Carlos Rodriguez, Alanis Thames, Stephen Whyno and Ben Kule contributed to this story from various World Cup venues. Kule is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
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