Why sky-high ticket prices have sent fans searching for alternative ways to get a World Cup experience

By Kyle Feldscher, Dianne Gallagher, CNN

Charlotte (CNN) — The World Cup officially kicks off in Mexico on Thursday, but thousands of fans across North America will have already gotten their opportunity to enjoy the world’s biggest sporting festival before a minute of the tournament is played.

With ticket prices – not to mention travel expenses – having been at extreme levels for months, the series of international friendlies (exhibition matches, for the American reader) – played before the tournament begins have become big-time moments for families all around the United States. The accessibility of the games – coming to markets where no World Cup matches will be played, such as Saturday’s match between the USA and Germany in Chicago – and the relative affordability of those tickets has turned meaningless games into priceless memories.

Jay Jhaveri traveled from Long Island outside New York City to North Carolina last weekend to see the US take on Senegal in Charlotte. Jhaveri said he explored going to matches at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, but for his family of five, it made more financial sense to fly to Charlotte, buy fifth-row tickets at Bank of America Stadium and enjoy a weekend away than it did to purchase tickets for the actual tournament a short(er) trip from home.

“It was 10-fold, to be honest with you,” he told CNN Sports, describing how much more expensive it would be to go to a game at MetLife. “With a family of five, it would have been 20-fold. I did the math and I was also planning to go to a New York Knicks championship game, which is also on the schedule, however the cost of that was competing with it.”

He added traveling to Charlotte “was still considerably cheaper because I saw the World Cup ticket prices for the final in New Jersey in the Meadowlands, they start – start – at $15,000 or $20,000 each. And then by the field, it’s about $90k. I mean, that’s a cool three hours, but $90,000 for three hours is like $30,000 an hour. I do that math, I’m just like, ‘Wow, $500 a minute is kind of a lot.’”

That’s made the scene at friendlies around the country so vibrant this week as national teams from around the world flock to North America for warm-up matches.

On Saturday, high-profile friendly matches around the country are expected to fill stadiums. The US and Germany will face off at Soldier Field in Chicago, England and New Zealand face off at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, while Argentina and Honduras play at the 102,000-seat Kyle Field at Texas A&M’s campus in College Station, Texas. On Tuesday, Argentina and Iceland play at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, which holds more than 88,000 fans.

The scene at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on May 31 was full of color and noise as the red, white and blue of the US matched up against the green of the Senegalese fans that flocked to North Carolina’s biggest city.

The noise from both fan bases echoed around the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers throughout the game as many East Coast fans got a chance to see their teams for perhaps the only time during the monthlong festival of soccer. In addition to prices keeping many fans away, many USA fans on the eastern seaboard will be thousands of miles away from Team USA’s three group games in Los Angeles (where the Americans play twice) and Seattle.

“It was so close to home and I think it’s a great opportunity for all of the fans who aren’t able to go to the World Cup games to support the team,” said Kim, who lives in Elizabeth City near North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Mo Ndiaye, a Senegal fan, said he and thousands of other Senegalese fans who live within driving distance of Charlotte – the stretch of the country between Philadelphia and Charlotte is home to a large Senegalese contingent in the US – picked going to Charlotte instead of one of the squad’s other games in New York.

“It’s almost like $2,000 per ticket, that’s outrageous. That’s outrageous,” he told CNN. “We can’t afford it.”

CNN’s Andy Buck contributed to this report.

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