The 'Other Football' Draws Record Flock of U.S. Fans
In less than three months, soccer teams from Brazil to the Ivory Coast will be traveling to Germany to battle it out at the World Cup. Now, a parallel competition is heating up: the effort by U.S. fans to get tickets.
In the past, Americans haven't clamored for World Cup seats nearly as much as fans in traditionally soccer-obsessed nations like Argentina and England. But this year, interest has soared. U.S. fans snapped up more team-specific tickets to this World Cup than any other country, according to the U.S. Soccer Federation. The federation also sold out its own pool of tickets -- amounting to 8% of the seats for each U.S. game -- in one day. (The wait list is full, too.) In past overseas World Cups, the group never sold out its share before the beginning of the tournament.
The U.S. defeated Japan in a match in San Francisco last month.
The upsurge in interest stems from such things as an unusually strong U.S. team and the increasing popularity of soccer among American children. The American team is now rated fifth in the world (its highest ranking ever). And soccer has steadily become almost as much a part of American childhood as Little League baseball: There are now about 3.2 million youth players, up from two million in 1994, according to the nonprofit U.S. Youth Soccer. A whole generation of young people who spent years on the soccer field are now at the age when they can travel on their own -- and many are making plans to head to the World Cup.
Also, this year's tournament (which runs from June 9 to July 9) is particularly accessible and appealing for travelers -- matches are being played in 12 German cities during Europe's peak holiday season. At least 2.6 million out of a total of 3.1 million tickets have already been sold or given away to sponsors. Although a complicated ticketing system has led to enormous confusion for those hoping to see matches, committed enthusiasts will find some surprising late availability of match tickets and hotel rooms in host cities.
The World Cup effect will likely be felt by almost anyone planning a European vacation this summer: Because Frankfurt is a central airport hub for the Continent, and European fans will be packing the low-cost airlines and railway system, throngs stand to disrupt -- or enliven, depending on the traveler's perspective -- holiday plans from Prague to Rome.
The Germany organizing committee is selling tickets to fans in five phases, two of which remain. People need to apply online at fifaworldcup.com. The fourth phase is going on right now and ends April 15: Tickets are sold out, but more may be made available once tickets that have been returned are put back on the market. The final sales period begins May 1 and runs through the end of the tournament. Because tickets are being released all the time, spots are still theoretically available for all matches. But demand is high and devotees have to act fast: The German organizing committee estimates that 30 million fans want tickets -- about 10 million more than for the French cup in 1998. (Individual tickets start at around $43 and go up to $730 for the final.)
Sebastian Sanchez, a 22-year-old legal assistant from New York, has played soccer since he was three years old. "Soccer was the first sport I ever loved. I have really strong memories of the 1990 World Cup and I've always been dying to go," he says. While he has applied for World Cup tickets three times during the sales phases, so far he has had no luck scoring them. Still, he's planning to go to Germany anyway and try for scalped tickets, or at least watch the matches in a pub.
Those who don't snare tickets during one of the sales phases can still land a spot by buying a higher-price "hospitality package" sponsored by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, soccer's international governing body. These packages (available at fifaworldcup.com and
www.isehospitality.com) include tickets to a match and varying levels of perks including parking, meals and unlimited drinks. The tickets come in four tiers of service: A third-level package, for example, starts around $1,100 plus tax for a match between Mexico and Iran on June 11 in Nuremberg.
Independent tour companies are also selling tickets to even the most eagerly anticipated matches -- but the prices are high. RazorGator, a company that specializes in hard-to-get tickets, is selling a package to the semifinal in Dortmund plus the final in Berlin, with four-star hotel accommodation, for $10,219. TicketCity.com has some tickets for the final available and can get fans into a match for $350 or less for a ticket to Ukraine versus Tunisia.
Carole Williams, a 48-year-old homemaker from Columbia, S.C., turned to a travel agent in the hopes of snaring enough tickets to the U.S. vs. Italy match so that her family could sit together. (One of her sons grew up playing soccer and now plays on his college team.) But she wound up paying four times what she thought she would for tickets. "I panicked because I was thinking it was too late," she says.
Fans will find it harder to get scalped tickets at the stadiums this year. That is because the organizing committee says it will be tagging the tickets with RFID cards. The tickets will be stamped with the buyer's name and fans may be required to show their passports at the gate. (Organizers say the major concern isn't terrorism but "hooliganism," the rowdiness that plagues major soccer matches.)
The World Cup stands to make this summer a banner season for Europe, which has struggled to fully recover to pre-Sept. 11 visitor numbers. The European Travel Commission anticipates that travel to Europe this year stands to grow 5% over last year. For Germany, which has lagged behind trendy destinations like Italy in recent years, it's a boon: Expedia Inc.'s Expedia.com shows airline ticket sales to Germany up 120% over the same period last year. The demand is pushing prices up: Kayak.com, a search engine, found that New York to Barcelona in the summer costs as low as $595, while Boston to Frankfurt is going for $874, both round trip and including taxes.
Getting around Germany will be fairly easy. Lufthansa has introduced a pass for the World Cup that gives fans the opportunity to buy three to 10 tickets for about $73 each within the country as long as they fly in trans-Atlantically on Lufthansa or a Star Alliance partner in June or July.
Fans will also find a wide availability of hotel rooms. About 50% of the hotel rooms earmarked for fans through FIFA are still unsold. During the opening match on June 9 in Munich, for instance, the Mercure Munich Neuperlach Sud has rooms available from about $143. For a June 10 match in Hamburg between Argentina and the Ivory Coast, the Best Western Queens has rooms from $221. For the final in Berlin on July 9, the Courtyard by Marriott has some rooms from $470.
Fans looking for U.S. atmosphere should try Hamburg, because the U.S. team will be based there. Munich and Berlin are likely to be mobbed because the opening and closing matches, respectively, are taking place there. But Berlin has the most hotel rooms of the 12 German cities hosting the event, making it more likely to find a bargain there. Some smaller centers stand to be mobbed by hot matches: Sweden versus England will be in Cologne on June 20, and Japan versus Brazil will play in Dortmund on June 22.
Those stuck Stateside will find many more options for watching the tournament this year. Among them, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, will be airing all of the World Cup games live and for the first time in high-definition. ABC will be broadcasting 12 matches live. (In 2002, when the tournament was located in Japan and Korea, the network broadcast only the final live.) Fans can also watch matches on the Web at fifaworldcup.com.
美国球迷预热世界杯
还有3个月不到的时间，从巴西到科特迪瓦的众多国家足球队将齐聚德国、参加世界杯的角逐。但现在，美国球迷围绕入场券的争夺就已升温。
以往，美国人对现场观看世界杯并不怎么热衷，不像阿根廷、英国等国的球迷那样疯狂。但今年，美国人的兴趣开始上升了。据美国足球协会(U.S. Soccer Federation)称，美国球迷购入的某些球队比赛场次的入场券数量超过了其他任何国家。美国足球协会一天内就售光了其份额，大约是每场美国队比赛的8%的入场券，等票的人也是排得满满的。以前在美国以外地区举行的世界杯，美国足球协会从未在比赛开始前将份额一售而空。
美国人对世界杯兴趣的上升，源于美国国家足球队实力的极大提升以及足球日益受到美国青少年的喜爱。美国国家队目前在全球排名第五，是其有史以来最好的排名。足球已逐步成为美国青少年生活的一部分，就像Little League棒球赛一样：如今全美踢足球的青少年大约有320万人，大大高于1994年的200万左右，非营利性机构U.S. Youth Soccer的数据显示。而且，许多足球少年已经长大成人，许多正计划飞往德国、现场观看世界杯。
而且，今年在12个德国城市举行的世界杯赛事（从6月9日到7月9日）日程安排使得球票非常畅销，因为这段时间正好赶上欧洲度假高峰期。世界杯总计310万张票大约已有260万张已经售出或赠送给赞助方。虽然复杂的售票系统让那些希望观看比赛的人感到摸不著头脑，执著的球迷们还是会在最后一刻找到一些意料之外的球赛入场券和赛事所在城市的酒店房间。
这个夏天，每个到访欧洲的人可能都会感到世界杯效应：因为法兰克福是欧洲大陆的航空中转港。欧洲球迷可能会塞满低成本航空公司的客机和火车车厢，站满了看台，从布拉格到罗马的游客行程可能会因此被打乱，也可能因此而更有声有色，完全取决于你怎么看。
德国组委会计划分五个阶段出售入场券，目前还有两个阶段。人们需要在fifaworldcup.com网站进行在线申请。目前正在进行的是第四阶段，将于4月15日结束：入场券已经售磬，只能等退票重新出售。最后一个阶段的售票将从5月1日开始，直至世界杯结束。因为入场券在不断地释放出来，从理论上来说，所有比赛的位子应该还有。但需求量很大，球迷必须迅速行动：德国组委会估计有3,000万球迷希望获得入场券--比1998年法国世界杯时大约多了1,000万球迷。（个人入场券从43美元起，最高为决赛时的730美元。）
纽约22岁的法律助理塞巴斯蒂安?桑切斯(Sebastian Sanchez)从3岁开始就踢足球。“足球是我喜欢上的第一项体育运动。我清楚地记得1990年世界杯的情形，我一直渴望能到现场观看比赛，”他表示。他已经三次申请购买德国世界杯的入场券，但迄今仍未能成功购买。不过，他还是计划前往德国，试图购买黄牛票，或至少在当地找一个酒吧观看比赛。
那些未能买到票的人如果愿意出更高的价钱，也可以通过网站fifaworldcup.com和
www.isehospitality.com购买国际足球联合会(Federation Internationale de Football Association, 简称FIFA)提供的“贵宾套票”(hospitality package)，套票包括某场比赛的入场券以及不同级别的礼遇，如停车、便餐和无限量畅饮。贵宾套票有4个等级：例如，6月11日在纽伦堡举行的墨西哥和伊朗的比赛有一项三星级贵宾礼遇，起价为1,100美元（不含税）。
独立的旅游公司也在出售热门比赛的入场券，但价格很高。专门出售热门赛事入场券的公司RazorGator目前推出了一项产品：观看多特蒙德半决赛和柏林总决赛，并提供四星级酒店住宿，价格10,219美元。TicketCity.com有一些总决赛的入场券，并能为球迷提供像乌克兰和突尼斯比赛入场券这样低至350美元的门票。
南卡罗来纳州48岁的家庭主妇凯洛尔?威廉姆斯(Carole Williams)找到了一个旅行社，希望能获得足够多的美国对意大利比赛的入场券，以便全家人能坐在一起。（她有一个儿子从小就踢足球，现在也在大学足球队中踢球。）但她最后不得不支付了相当于预期价格四倍的费用。“我很著急，因为我当时觉得可能太晚了，”她解释说。
今年球迷们可能会发现很难在体育场外获得黄牛票。因为组委会表示，他们会在入场券上附加电子标签(RFID)卡。入场券上将印上购买者的名字，球迷可能会在入场时被要求出示护照。（组委会表示，主要担心的不是恐怖主义，而是足球流氓。）
世界杯必将使欧洲的这个夏天热闹非凡，自911以来欧洲的游客数量就一直未能回升到之前的水平。欧洲旅游委员会(European Travel Commission)预计今年欧洲游客人数将较去年增加5%。对于德国这样近年来落后于意大利等时尚之都的旅游目的地，世界杯是一个福音：Expedia Inc.旗下的网站Expedia.com显示飞往德国的机票销量较上年同期增长了120%。需求正在推高票价：搜寻引擎Kayak.com发现今夏纽约至巴塞罗纳的机票价格最低为595美元，而波士顿至法兰克福的机票价格为874美元，均为往返机票，且含税。
在德国不同城市间旅行非常方便。汉莎航空(Lufthansa)已推出了一种世界杯套票，球迷可以以每张73美元左右的价格购买3-10张德国国内航班的计票，只要他们是6、7月乘坐汉莎航空或星空联盟(Star Alliance)合作伙伴的大西洋航班来到德国的。
球迷们还能找到充足的酒店客房。通过FIFA销售的专供球迷入住的酒店客房大约有50%仍未卖出去。例如，在6月9日在慕尼黑举行的世界杯开幕赛期间，Mercure Munich Neuperlach Sud仍有可预定的房间，起价在143美元左右。6月10日在汉堡举行阿根廷和科特迪瓦的比赛那天，Best Western Queens有起价221美元的客房可供预定。7月9日在柏林举行总决赛那天，Marriott的Courtyard酒店有一些可供预定的房间，起价470美元。
美国队的球迷们可以前往汉堡，因为美国国家队将驻扎在这里。慕尼黑和柏林可能出现骚乱，因为这两个城市将分别举行世界杯的开幕赛和总决赛。但在举行世界杯比赛的12个德国城市中，柏林拥有的酒店客房数量最多，因此在这里更可能找到比较价廉物美的客房。一些规模较小的城市也可能因热门赛事的举行而出现骚乱：瑞典和英国的比赛将于6月20日在科隆举行，日本和巴西的比赛将于6月22日在多特蒙德举行。
那些无法动身前往德国、只能留在美国的球迷今年观看世界杯也有了更多选择。美国广播公司(ABC)、ESPN和ESPN2将直播世界杯所有比赛，并首次采用高清晰技术。ABC将直播12场比赛。（2002年日本和韩国世界杯时，美国广播公司仅直播了总决赛一场。）另外，球迷们也能在fifaworldcup.com网站上观看比赛。
