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The ticket prices, the traffic, the surrounding politics: There were plenty of reasons for Angelenos to be wary ahead of the arrival of this year’s FIFA World Cup. And all of those concerns certainly don’t evaporate just because the ball has hit the pitch at SoFi Stadium (dubbed “Los Angeles Stadium” for the length of the tournament). But after attending Friday night’s sold-out opener—the first World Cup match in the U.S. in over three decades, and the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s first appearance of this tournament—it’s pretty clear that the aura of World Cup soccer is still absolutely intoxicating.
Not even gridlock can dull the the lingering glow of the United States’ 4–1 victory over Paraguay on Friday night. (Though if you’re intrigued by the mostly-pretty-typical traffic, I have a minute-by-minute account of my journey on Metro’s $1.75 direct bus service.) The atmosphere was electric through every hour of the evening, from the jersey-clad fans joined in song filing into the grounds to the “U-S-A” chants roaring underneath the stadium’s translucent roof to the elated eruptions in response to the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s opening and closing-minute goals.
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Everything about L.A.’s first World Cup match since the 1994 final at the Rose Bowl felt surreal. SoFi’s striking setup admittedly makes almost anything look impressive, but the first sight you have of the pitch is just dreamy. The space around the sidelines during an NFL game feels cushy compared to the wedged-in soccer pitch here; the touchlines theatrically creep right up to the stands. And when the sprinklers turn on pregame, the scent of fresh grass fills the normally artificial turf stadium.
Then there’s the pageantry of the whole affair. Did I get a little emotional over some flags? You bet. Because how could you not feel the momentousness of the event as the procession of competing nations’ flags circled the field? How could you not cheer for Katy Perry’s adorable pregame duet with a 10-year-old kid? How could you not be transfixed by David Beckham and Tom Cruise’s marathon autograph-signing sessions in the stands? And how could you not feel invigorated as the USMNT bounded onto the pitch just before the start of play?
Of course, this sort of soccer high doesn’t come cheap: Aside from a small number of $60 tickets that were allocated for fans, most attendees to the USMNT’s opener (one of the most expensive matches of the entire tournament) were looking at spending somewhere between $500 and $3,000 for a face value ticket. (Full disclosure: I was provided with a seat from Verizon that otherwise would have cost about the same as an average Angeleno’s rent.) There were doubts about how well the match would sell at those prices; The Athletic counted around 10,000 tickets still up for sale last Sunday, and around 1,300 available the morning of the match. But a late-match announcement proclaimed that this was indeed a sell-out with 70,492 fans in attendance.
As I left the stadium on Friday night, I certainly didn’t hear anyone grousing about ticket prices. Instead it was a parade of fans, as if they’d all just come off a rollercoaster, trying to articulate just how remarkable of an experience it was but instead coming up with nothing but endorphin-fueled babble. The feeling is infectious—enough so that ticket prices have already surged for the team’s next L.A. match against Türkiye on June 25.