Quote from: temple on May 16, 2023, 10:59:24 PM

Quote from: TopTort777 on May 16, 2023, 11:37:15 AM

Quote from: temple on May 16, 2023, 11:21:04 AM

I confess that I don't have an idea how the average fan goes about visiting tournaments like the World Cup.
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If this is not a crazy national team fan, than this guy visits few games, probably stay in a city abroad for few days and fly away. Each tournament - this is +2 weeks non-stop games routine. I doubt that an average man can afford to go for a +2 weeks holiday just to watch favourite team play, plus buy tickets, that often cost 50+ bucks for shitty seats during prelims. I think such expenses are unacceptable for an average fan, that is why few games/few days is enough for him.

I have travelled from Europe to US and have visited Mexico via cruise about 5 years ago. I dont remember visa being a problem and cost a lot. Plane tickets wasnt expensive either, as I have bought them months before the flight. Hotels ate most of the budget, but it was a high season in Miami.

Thanks for the informative reply, but there is one thing that is still not clear to me. I know that when you want to visit the big games like the semifinals and finals in the Champions League or any games at the World Cup or European Cup, you have to take part in a lottery and see whether you are among the few who are entitled to purchase a ticket. Now when somebody decides to go to a World Cup, they first have to wait for the lottery to conclude in order to know when and where they can go. But you now said that some average guys will visit a few games, but what is the chance that someone wins the lottery for a few games? Perhaps they want to go with friends and they depend on all of them being selected for the same games. I would think that the average fan is going to visit one game. Am I wrong here? Has anybody been to a World Cup and visited several games? Has there been a lottery for every game? As far as I know, when I looked into that the last time there actually was a lottery for all of those games. You could buy tickets on the black market, but now that the tickets are mostly digital I don't know whether you could get stopped at the entrance.

If I were to go to a game, I would choose some favorite locations, apply for the games and then if I got selected, I would go to my favorite place, plan some holiday there and visit one game.

Honestly, I dont understand what is lottery you are talking about. Maybe this is football finals feature, but in ice hockey, you just go online and buy ticket. Or buy tickets from resellers at the stadium. Right now you can freely go to https://www.lippu.fi/en/artist/2023-jaakiekon-mm-kisat/2023-jaeaekiekon-mm-kisat-3218460/?pnum=2 and buy a ticket for gold medal game. 150 EUR and you will see which ice hockey team is the best in 2023.

Lets take Frankfurt, Germany airport (one of the biggest and busiest airports in Europe) as a centre. Google say that cheapest one way airplane ticket is about 400 EUR. Same google say that Tampa hostels starting price is 40 EUR, taking into consideration, this is IIHF finals, everything will be booked, so I would double the price.

Total: 1000 EUR to see IIHF World Cup final + the amount you spend to get to Frankfurt + beer Cheesy

The problems you might get - all the cheap tokens for prelims are already sold out now, but if you are alone and dont need 5-10 seats in a row, you still can get a ticket with a little effort.