By Shashank Pattekar, International Banker
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is now underway. Jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, the biggest event in the football calendar has already faced considerable backlash over exorbitant ticket prices and transportation costs, particularly for matches hosted at US venues. With much consternation also directed at FIFA’s dynamic-pricing policy on the secondary market, which has driven prices even higher, a broader debate is now emerging over the use of technology to optimise the extraction of value from consumers.
Indeed, what used to be a fixed number printed on a label is now increasingly becoming a moving target. Known as dynamic pricing (also algorithmic pricing and surge pricing), the trend gained traction in the late 1990s as retail shifted online, making prices easier and less costly to adjust. Companies such as Uber and Amazon normalised this approach, with the former constantly adjusting pricing as it monitored imbalances between riders and drivers and the latter updating product prices based on competitor data, demand signals and inventory dynamics.
“Technology is enabling this shift. Digitalisation has radically reduced what economists call menu costs—the expense of changing listed prices—so called historically because of the costs associated with having new menus printed with updated prices,” the Bank of England (BoE) noted in a report published on April 7. “Digital pricing allows firms to change prices frequently at negligible cost.”
With today’s accessibility to artificial intelligence (AI), the rapid, algorithm-powered adjustment of prices in response to changing market conditions has become a widely used tool for profit maximisation. Sectors as varied as airlines, ride-hailing, retail, insurance, live music, sports events and even groceries are continuously adjusting prices in response to demand signals, behavioural data and competitive conditions. “Instead of relying on simple rules like peak and off-peak fares, firms increasingly deploy predictive models that infer demand curves and monitor competitors to optimise their own prices,” the Bank of England also observed.
The sheer power of those models is also transforming the scale and granularity of dynamic pricing, enabling firms to make near-instantaneous price adjustments across millions of transactions. Algorithms can ingest large volumes of data—such as consumer purchasing patterns, inventory levels, time of day, location and even individual-user behaviour—and adjust prices accordingly, the objective being to optimise revenue in real-time and extract as much consumer surplus as possible.
With competition intensifying, firms across many markets face pressure to continually optimise their margins. While static-pricing models leave revenue on the table, particularly when demand conditions change rapidly, AI-based dynamic pricing is now enabling firms to more fluidly change prices and capture more surplus value from consumers without necessarily changing production levels.
By dynamically pricing and extracting the maximum value from consumers, firms can optimise revenues and profits.
By dynamically pricing and extracting the maximum value from consumers, firms can optimise revenues and profits. “By analysing real-time data, you can set prices that reflect your offering’s current market value,” explained consulting firm Simon-Kucher. “This can lead to increased profitability, especially during peak demand periods when customers have a higher willingness to pay.”
On the flip side, however, dynamically priced goods and services will often require consumers to pay more than they would under a static model. By incorporating user-specific data such as browsing history, purchasing behaviour, location and device type, dynamic-pricing models enable firms to approximate willingness to pay at the level of each consumer, thereby influencing the specific price each consumer ultimately receives. At the highest level of granularity, therefore, firms can leverage pricing software to determine the maximum price a specific consumer is willing to pay—a price likely different from that shown to another consumer.
In the insurance industry, for example, companies increasingly use telematics data to adjust premiums based on driving behaviour, while personalised discounts and targeted offers are becoming commonplace in online retail. Such practices could be deemed unfair. Not only are different prices being charged for consuming the same good or service, but dynamic-pricing mechanisms are giving certain consumers better deals depending on what they are willing to pay.
A study published in May 2025 in the International Journal of Research in Marketing also noted a key concern among researchers, policymakers and antitrust agencies: Algorithmic pricing may facilitate collusion, leading to higher prices across an industry. “This can occur through algorithms that support explicit agreements, hub-and-spoke arrangements where multiple firms rely on the same third-party pricing software, or algorithmic autonomous tacit collusion,” the research observed, referencing work previously carried out by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). “Additionally, there are concerns about the extent of price discrimination enabled by the availability of vast consumer data and the use of advanced dynamic or personalised pricing algorithms.”
Furthermore, the spread of dynamic pricing has significant macroeconomic implications. The measurement of inflation, which relies on periodic observations of prices, becomes more complex when those prices are changing more frequently. Ultimately, this can affect how inflation is perceived and complicate the implementation of monetary policy.
In general, consumers accept dynamic pricing only in industries in which demand fluctuates significantly, such as airfares and concert tickets. As for the World Cup, while ticket prices are expected to range from $60 for group-stage matches to well over $6,000 for the best seats at the final game, those prices will also be subject to an algorithmically powered secondary market controlled by FIFA, meaning prices could surge even further.
“Dynamic pricing—or price-gouging, as it was traditionally called—feels like a betrayal of the unspoken covenant of fandom, where you agree to give away a decent amount of your money in exchange for a performance by a team or band or show you like,” Leander Schaerlaeckens wrote in a September 2025 piece for The Guardian. “It does not give the event license to ask for every penny they can shake loose from you. Instituting it for the world’s most popular sporting event is another mask-off, you’re-just-customers-to-us moment from Fifa,” Schaerlaeckens, author of The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, added.
According to the former chief executive of Liverpool Football Club, Peter Moore, meanwhile, dynamic pricing “doesn’t belong” in the World Cup or football. “It works with music, but for the World Cup, there are hundreds of thousands of people booking trips in advance,” Moore told Al Jazeera in a recent interview. “They’re asking themselves, ‘Do we want to visit and pay $2,000 for a third-tier game, Saudi Arabia versus whomever?’ And FIFA taking a 30 percent cut of dynamic pricing is outrageous.”
Moore also holds FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, chiefly responsible for permitting this practice. “FIFA is taking advantage of the unique commercial opportunities in the US, dynamic pricing, and the secondary market being legal here, to make money—Infantino has said [he expects FIFA revenues from the World Cup to exceed] $11 billion. Why not make it more reasonable and accessible and make, maybe, $8 billion?” Moore added. “FIFA is a nonprofit, built to serve players and fans of the world. That’s its remit, not to be like a commercial organisation and maximise the opportunity to make as much money as possible.”
Others view dynamic pricing as simply part and parcel of major sporting events, particularly in the US. American sports executive Don Garber, for example, has backed FIFA’s ticket-pricing strategy for the World Cup. “I think the president of FIFA has been pretty clear to say it’s going to be dozens and dozens of Super Bowls, and nobody seems to have issues with championship events that have ticket pricing that’s appropriate for the exclusivity and nature of that event,” Garber, the commissioner of Major League Soccer (MLS), said in early April.
“So, FIFA has been smart. They have variable ticket pricing, and I’m hoping they’ll be providing access to anybody that wants to buy a ticket,” Garber added. “It’s not really for me to comment on pricing. [MLS] has nothing to do with that; it’s FIFA’s decision. But I think it’s going to be a premier event, and premier pricing Americans are used to.”