QCOSTARICA – For Sunday’s game to see Costa Rica’s national team, “La Sele” live, in person, in the National Stadium, went for ¢95,000 colones a head. For Wednesday’s game, September 8, the Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (Fedefútbol) was asking ¢60,000.
However, for Sunday’s game against Mexico, and for the first time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 that fans were allowed in the stadium, only 2,200 tickets of the maximum 3,000 allowed were sold.
Now, given the tie against Panama (in Panama) on Thursday, the loss to Mexico on Sunday, and the high price of entrance, fans showed little interest to see Wednesday’s game against Jamaica live, has forced the Fedefútbol to drop its pants, reducing entrance to ¢12,000 colones.
The poor performance of the national team against Panama and Mexico generated more disinterest in the fans to attend the match against Jamaica, a situation that undoubtedly weighed in reducing the cost of tickets.
Fans who purchased at the high price will be getting a refund assures the Fedefútbol.
“The decision was made considering the possibility of giving the fans a greater opportunity to support the Sele from the stadium. The new price will be general for all digital tickets that can be purchased through the page www.specialticket.net from 2 pm of this Monday,” indicated the Federation in a communiqué.
The game, a crucial game after drawing against Panama and losing to Mexico – will take place at 7 pm keeping alive La Sele’s hope of moving forward towards the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
The government of Costa Rica authorized the presence of 3,000 fans for these two La Sele commitments, as a pilot plan for the return of fans to the stadium.
For these games, only the west grandstand was enabled and a strict protocol must be followed, which includes specific hours of entry, digital tickets and permission to move only to go to the bathroom, among other measures.
Pandemic Hit
Rodolfo Villalobos, president of FedeFútbol, acknowledged weeks ago that not having a full stadium for the first two matches of the octagonal would generate losses between US$1.3 and US$1.4 million dollars.
In the same way, for the duel with Mexico, it was not possible to sell all the available tickets, which hit the Federation’s finances even more, according to Gustavo Araya, secretary of Fedefútbol speaking on Teletica Radio.
“We achieved results with the sale at a very high price, as we had achieved at a regular price. That makes us financially flat, so to speak. In the end, it is not the number we had budgeted for and of course, it is a number that leaves heavy losses,” said Araya.
