“I saw it and burst out in tears, first of all,” Hargitay told Extra at NBCUniversal’s Emmy Luncheon in L.A on Wednesday. “I immediately burst out in tears because it has, just like [Meloni] said, and he was so beautiful and open — because it has been a great ride. And it has been so beautiful and intimate and such a huge part of his life and was life-changing for him.”
She went on to say that the show’s cancellation took her by surprise. “Chris is working and in demand and such a magnificent actor,” she said. “But it’s, in a way, closing a chapter. So when that happens, one needs to take inventory. It’s a real marker in your life.”
The “Law & Order” spinoff, which premiered in 2021, was officially cancelled after five seasons earlier this month. The night of the cancellation, Meloni posted an Instagram video saying, “I wanted to take this moment to say thank you to the fans who not only helped give the character of Elliot Stabler life and longevity, but for sticking with him and welcoming him back. It was a good ride.”
The show aired on NBC for its first four seasons, then moved to Peacock for Season 5, which concluded in June 2025. Meloni starred as detective Elliot Stabler, the character he originated on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Per the official description, the series followed Stabler as he “returned to New York after a decade abroad to rebuild his life following a devastating personal loss. As lead detective in Sargeant Ayanna Bell’s (Danielle Moné Truitt) Organized Crime Control Bureau, he works to dismantle New York’s most vicious and violent illegal enterprises while fending off dangers that often follow him home.”
Season 5, which aired its first two episodes on April 17, is set in “the dangerous worlds of cross-border smuggling, high-tech domestic terrorism and a crime family intent on repaying Stabler for the injury he did them in Rome.” The cast also included Rick Gonzalez as Bobby Reyes, Ainsley Seiger as Jet Slootmaekers and Dean Norris as Randall Stabler.
It explores a complicated relationship between two brothers, Niall and Ruben, with Gadd acting alongside Jamie Bell. Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson play younger versions of their characters.
“I sometimes just feel an impulse to write about something. I wrote the first episode back in 2019 and really wanted to go back to it, to honor the story and these characters. I assume there were many conversations about male rage and violence around that time, and some of it seeped into my subconsciousness.”
Refusing to explain its title – “I don’t want to say why ‘Half Man’ because it’s important for people to have different interpretations. I don’t want to rob them of that” – he admitted he wasn’t always supposed to play Ruben.
“Initially, I wasn’t going to be in it at all. I thought I would be just behind the camera. Jamie was the first person to bring it up. He said: ‘I really want to be acting opposite you as Ruben.’ Nobody has suggested it before. I thought I would cameo as a policeman or a bartender. That was the only meaningful character left that point. It terrified me and terrified us all, because you look at me and you don’t think of this masculine id.”
He said: “I went home and I was shaken by the idea of it. But all my ‘what ifs’ were about what will people would think, and that’s a dangerous headspace. What an opportunity to play a role like this, one that doesn’t come around often, and I would deprive myself of it out of fear of what people would think? That wasn’t good enough. And now we will see.”
He decided to undergo a radical physical transformation for the role.
“It’s an exploration of male masculinity and violence, and later in his life he needed to feel unhinged. I wanted him… Burly. That was the word I kept using to the personal trainers. I didn’t want this Hollywood sort of body with a sixpack. He wasn’t a gym goer. He’s heavy in his body because of life. It’s almost animalistic and it had to be real.”
Gadd wants people to enjoy his work, he said.
“I never thought about all these expectations and pressure until I finished the edit. I just want people to like it and to respond to it, in whatever way they see fit. If you provoke a reaction, that’s great.”
He certainly provoked one with “Baby Reindeer,” which became a global smash. But Scottish actor, in town in Cannes also to accept the Konbini Commitment Award, started out doing stand-up.
“I saw all these comedians giving it a shot, and I was in awe of it. It looked so much fun. I realized it wasn’t once I started to do it myself. The first gig was actually alright, but the second and hundred others weren’t. “
How were they, then?
“Terrible. That’s how I would describe it. It took a while to get going. None of it felt very genuine. Then I understood that all these gaps between the jokes, that’s what I found funny. I liked it when something wouldn’t land. I saw this human frailty within it. So I wrote a bunch of intentionally terrible jokes.”
“Baby Reindeer” was his last show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
“Someone told me, and it was good advice: ‘You should go to Edinburgh until you don’t have to anymore’,” he laughed.
“It was a talk of the town, I suppose. It exploded. All channels were interested; it was a bidding war. Netflix felt like the right home for it.”
Exploring difficult subject of sexual violence against men, he thought of it as an “indie film.”
“With this subject, it was never supposed to achieve the way [it did]. It’s too idiosyncratic to be that commercial, but that’s also the reason why it stood out,” he said, also praising his co-star Jessica Gunning.
“There’s a hesitation to tackle a lot of topics on TV. Not just with sexual violence, but with anything that’s challenging emotionally for people. But people want to be challenged. If you look at two shows that exploded into public consciousness and zeitgeist, you think of ‘Baby Reindeer’ and ‘Adolescence.’ One was about a comedian having a psycho-sexual relationship with a stalker, and another about a 15-year-old killing his schoolmate. None of them screamed commercial hit. All you need is authenticity to have the trappings of a hit.”
Still, the show’s concrete social impact and people’s growing awareness is what he’s most proud of. Gadd is an ambassador for We Are Survivors, a sexual abuse charity for men.
“Their statement is ‘break the silence,’ which is something that got me out of my own hellhole. I never used to speak about these things. I thought people would judge me and I would feel disempowered. They do amazing work.”
“Baby Reindeer” brought him awards – and recognition beyond his wildest dreams.
“I asked Steve Martin for a photo and he asked for one back. I’m a big wresting fan, a big John Cena fan, and he sent me a video saying how much he loved the show. Elton John phoned me. But the biggest one was The Pogues,” he recalled. Gadd also got to rewatch his Emmy speech, where he said: “The only constant across any success in TV is good storytelling that speaks to our times.”
“I think it’s true. If you look at all these success stories, they are ingenious ideas told through a prism of a singular voice. What really captures the masses are stories you didn’t know you needed to hear. That’s the secret formula. A mob boss with clinical depression, a chemistry teacher cooking meth, a sex addict and a priest falling in love.”
While he doesn’t find letting go easy – “There’s this quote that all artistic endeavors are abandoned, never finished” – you just have to get going.
“Keeping on going is all I know in life. The show came out on Thursday and nothing much happened. My manager took me to a restaurant. It was a ‘better luck next time’ meal. And then a weekend came, when people do all their binging. On Sunday I couldn’t go anywhere.”
He has “loads of plans, not just in TV,” but will he ever go back to comedy?
“Never say never, but probably never.”
“What drives me is whatever is next. I need something to become my next obsession.”
Tether, the crypto company best known for issuing the world’s largest stablecoin, said Thursday it has frozen $344 million worth of USDT tokens across two wallets on the Tron blockchain after receiving requests from U.S. authorities.
The freeze was carried out after authorities flagged the addresses for alleged links to illicit activity, the company said in a blog post on Thursday. The action prevented further movement of the funds.
The company did not specify the nature of the activity or who controlled the wallets. Blockchain analytics firm AMLbot said the addresses appeared in scam-related documents and posts.
The move comes as debate around the role and responsibility of stablecoin issuers in stopping funds linked to illegal money transfers is back in the spotlight. The Financial Action Task Force recently warned that stablecoins are increasingly used for illicit transactions, including sanctions evasion and money laundering. Public blockchains allow transactions to be traced, while issuers retain the ability to freeze assets under certain conditions.
The issue came into focus this month following the $285 million exploit of Drift Protocol, in which attackers moved hundreds of millions of $USDC stablecoin and bridged funds across chains. Critics argued that Circle (CRCL), the issuer of $USDC, could have acted faster to freeze assets and limit losses, while the company said it only takes such actions when legally required or at request by law enforcement and authorities.
Tether said it works with law enforcement when wallets are tied to sanctions evasion or criminal networks, and has supported more than 2,300 cases globally across 340 agencies in 65 countries.
In today’s newsletter, Vincent Chok from First Digital unpacks the rise of “agentic finance,” where AI agents are moving beyond advice to execute financial transactions, making crypto the essential financial backend for this machine-driven economy.
Then, in “Ask an Expert,” we posed two questions to three leading AI systems — Grok, Gemini, and Claude — about AI payment use cases and the necessary steps for scalability.
Note: Responses were generated by AI assistants and reflect each model’s perspective. They should not be construed as financial or legal advice.
– Sarah Morton
AI agents in crypto: what advisors need to know
The explosive growth of AI agents
AI agents have become one of the most trending topics over the last year. A recent PwC survey of over 300 companies found that 79% are already adopting AI agents in some form. This explosive growth reflects a broader shift: AI agents are evolving from advisory roles to execution roles.
Initially deployed to help with chatbot services and copiloting roles, AI systems are now actively planning, deciding and acting on predefined parameters set by humans, including financial transactions. The result is the early formation of “agentic finance.” This is a new primitive wherein AI agents essentially execute financial actions within predefined rules such as limits, permissions and goals.
Breaking down agentic finance
Agentic finance can be understood in three layers. The agentic commerce layer focuses on discovery and decision-making. For example, an AI agent can search for the best hotel deal for an upcoming trip. The agentic payments layer handles execution, where the agent completes a transaction once approved.
Finally, the asset management layer represents the full stack, where the agent can manage portfolios, handle payments and dynamically optimize financial strategies based on real-time market trends. While this may seem as if we are giving AI agents full autonomy, that is not the case. It’s conditional delegation, wherein users retain control through constraints while offloading execution.
Theoretically, AI agents do have a use case in the financial space; however, they don’t neatly fit in with existing traditional financial infrastructure. Structurally, AI agents lack direct access to global banking rails and are designed to operate 24/7. This structural mismatch is where crypto comes into play.
Stablecoins offer AI agents access to programmable, always-on money, blockchains enable instant and global settlement, and crypto wallets provide permissionless access to funds. Essentially, these components form a financial layer that is better suited to machine-driven activity. Crypto is thus increasingly becoming the infrastructure for autonomous systems, rather than only being an asset class.
Use cases of AI agents
Early implementations are already visible. Machine-to-machine payments powered by API access and data providers have made the inter-merchant rails stronger and faster. In the consumer context, autonomous commerce has allowed users to optimize retail research, using agents to get the best deals for travel, subscriptions and shopping.
Meanwhile, in crypto-native environments, trading agents are widely deployed for portfolio management, yield optimization and trading strategies. On the enterprise side, supply chain management and vendor payments have been easily automated via AI agents, cutting down on errors and resource expenditure. At this stage, most activity remains business-to-business and infrastructure-driven, rather than consumer-facing.
Beyond use cases, AI agents also play an integral part in driving new investable categories as well as demand for crypto itself. As AI agents can’t operate on existing infrastructure rails, demand is growing for agent-native wallets, stablecoin payment rails and data or compute marketplaces.
Coinbase, for example, has launched x402, an open payments protocol designed for agent-native transactions. This shift is particularly relevant for micropayments, where high transaction volumes and low value make traditional rails inefficient. For the first time, non-human users are participating in the financial system and driving activity. AI agents have become a new class of ‘user’ for crypto networks.
Risks and future outlook
Despite the momentum, we are still in the early stages, and there are risks and limitations. Security is the primary concern, particularly around rogue or exploited agents executing unintended transactions. Questions around authorisation, liability and regulatory treatment are still under scrutiny and are being actively defined. For widespread adoption, we must build trust for users. This comes through regulatory clarity from all involved stakeholders, so projects can build with clarity and confidence while safeguarding user funds and interests.
Over the next twelve months, this technology will continue to grow and mature. Signals that matter include growth in agent-driven transaction volume, emergence of agent-native wallets and payments protocols, and deeper integration between stablecoins and AI-driven systems. Finally, regulatory clarity will heavily shape the pace and scope of adoption across different industries and fields.
In conclusion
AI agents are not a theoretical concept; they are already executing transactions in limited environments. As the trend develops, crypto is increasingly emerging as the financial backend for machine-driven economies. For now, this is an infrastructure and long-term thematic play; however, that is changing with rising adoption rates. Advisors should track it as a next-wave driver of crypto utility.
– Vincent Chok, CEO and co-founder, First Digital
Ask an Expert
This week we’re doing something a bit different. Instead of one expert, we have a panel of experts — AI experts. Below, we posed two questions to three leading AI models, asking about the present and future of AI payments. While there were common themes — especially about what’s needed for future growth — there are also some clear differences. We hope you find this experiment as fun and thought-provoking as we have.
Q1: What AI payment use cases are you seeing today?
Q2: What’s needed for AI payments to scale?
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Strategy surpasses BlackRock as the largest bitcoin holder.
New study shows European banks risk losing customers to competitors that provide crypto friendly tools.
A tokenized Great British Pound (TGBP) has been announced by Coinbase.
Howe, who joined Netflix in 2018 and helped develop Shondaland’s Bridgerton and Inventing Anna as well as shows like Beef, The Night Agent, The Diplomat and Untamed, will be part of the Summit Series in Banff after replacing Peter Friedlander in the top North American drama series role last year.
“Jinny Howe’s leadership is helping to shape the stories audiences around the world are watching. Her work exemplifies the creativity, innovation and global perspective that define this festival, and we look forward to attendees hearing her insights firsthand,” Sean Cohan, chair of the board of directors in Banff and president of Bell Media, said in a statement on Thursday.
Howe’s upcoming slate includes a retelling of Little House on the Prairie, the limited series The Altruists starring Julia Garner, and the sports comedy The Hawk, led by Will Ferrell. Additional keynote speakers will be announced in the coming weeks ahead of the 47th edition of the Banff World Media Festival set to run June 14-17 in the Canadian Rockies.
Past Summit Series speakers include Chuck Lorre, Anjali Sud, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Paula Kerger, Rob Wade, Pearlena Igbokwe, Bela Bajaria, Keith Le Goy, Ted Sarandos and Maverick Carter. Banff earlier announced that Spain will be the Country of Honor this year.
And the TV festival will again combine the Banff Gala Awards and the Rockie Awards international competition to celebrate industry talent and TV series at one event.
The sequel to The Simpsons Movie headlines the 38 movies granted subsidies in the latest round of tax credits granted to productions by California’s film office.
Disney’s 20th Century Studios will get $21.9 million for shooting the film in the state. The company is taking advantage of California’s recent changes to the tax incentive program expanding the eligible categories of production to include animated movies.
Other projects that will get subsidies include untitled films from Paramount ($25.9 million) and Dreamworks Animation ($24.7 million), plus a Disney live-action title ($18.2 million). In total, the 38 films will nab roughly $193.5 million for $545 million in qualified spending, which includes $373 million in wages. They’re expected to generate nearly $800 million in economic activity across more than 1,000 shooting days while employing over 5,300 cast and crew.
“California remains the entertainment capital of the world — and we’re making sure it stays that way,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “Our expanded film and television tax credit is keeping more productions here in the Golden State, creating good-paying jobs and supporting communities statewide.”
The announcement comes amid a historic production slump in California and, specifically, Los Angeles. Major soundstages recorded a 62 percent occupancy rate during the first six months of 2025, down one percent from anemic levels recorded in 2024, according to data released from local film office FilmLA in March. For comparison soundstages participating in the survey from 2016 to 2022 reported an average occupancy rate of at least 90 percent.
In this allotment of tax credits, animation emerged as major participants as the production category became eligible for the first time in the program’s history. They include a Phineas and Ferb film from Disney, which will get $3.5 million for creating the title in the state.
“This round marks a truly exciting milestone for our program. For the first time, we’re welcoming animated feature films from powerhouses DreamWorks Animation and Walt Disney, alongside a strong slate of big budget features and independent productions, that bring fresh voices and original storytelling to the screen,” said California Film Commission director Colleen Bell in a statement. “With more than 45% of filming days taking place outside the traditional studio zone, we’re seeing the real-world economic impact of this program reach communities across the entire state.”
Other titles nabbing tax credits: Black is Blue ($1.3 million), The Renewal ($14 million), Self-Help ($2.6 million) and Tommy & Me ($9.8 million).
A top U.S. military official said the government runs a Bitcoin node to test cybersecurity uses of the network.
Admiral Samuel Paparo said the military sees Bitcoin mainly as a tool to help secure networks.
He also praised stablecoin legislation for helping ensure the global dominance of the U.S. dollar.
A top military official told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. government currently runs a node on the Bitcoin network, to conduct tests related to network security.
“We have a node on the Bitcoin network right now,” Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday.
“We’re not mining Bitcoin,” he continued. “We’re using it to monitor, and we’re doing a number of operational tests to secure and protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol.”
The Bitcoin blockchain relies on tens of thousands of nodes situated around the world, which help secure and maintain the network. The node network is intentionally decentralized, meaning no one party has control over Bitcoin and its transaction validation process. That’s a key innovation—one that made the cryptocurrency so unique when it first debuted in 2009.
If the U.S. government runs only one of the thousands of nodes that keep Bitcoin up and running, that involvement poses no threat to the network’s independence. But America’s operation of a node may nevertheless raise eyebrows, considering Bitcoin’s “censorship resistance” has long been framed as a defense against takeover attempts by powerful nation states.
Admiral Paparo said Wednesday that the U.S. government is currently in an “experimentation” phase when it comes to Bitcoin. But he also emphasized that the American military views Bitcoin as a highly valuable technological tool—moreso than as a financial asset worth stockpiling.
“Our interest in Bitcoin is as a tool of cryptography, a blockchain, and a reusable proof-of-work—as an additional tool to secure networks, and to project power,” he said.
“From the military application standpoint, my interest in Bitcoin is as a computer science tool,” he added.
Paparo did later mention, though, that supporting hegemony of the U.S. dollar worldwide is in the American military’s best interest. And he noted that the GENIUS Act, a law signed last summer by President Donald Trump legalizing the issuance of stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of the dollar—“is a great step forward that moves us in that direction.”
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Blockchain Capital is raising $700 million across two new funds, according to Bloomberg sources.
The venture capital firm is pursuing its seventh early-stage fund and second growth fund simultaneously.
The firm has already begun deploying some of the new capital, with the fundraising round expected to close within five to six months.
Blockchain Capital is raising $700 million across two new funds, according to Bloomberg.
Citing a source familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the venture capital firm is simultaneously pursuing its seventh early-stage fund and its second growth fund, and has already deployed some of the new capital.
The fundraising effort builds on Blockchain Capital’s existing portfolio of over $2 billion in assets under management. The firm demonstrated its continued investment activity last week by leading a $12 million funding round for Paxos Labs, according to industry reports.
Blockchain Capital’s VC portfolio includes crypto exchange Coinbase, DeFi platforms 1inch and Aave, and stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether, positioning it among the sector’s most established venture players.
Crypto venture capital
The fundraising effort comes amid volatile conditions for crypto venture capital. Crypto VC funding climbed to $2.42 billion in March from $683.6 million in February and $1.31 billion in January, before dropping to about $466 million in April, according to industry data.
According to a recent JP Morgan report, crypto has “reemerged as a dominant driver of fintech funding,” accounting for some $3.5 billion—45% of all fintech investment—in the year to date. Crypto treasury firms are branching out into venture capital, too, with Tokyo-listed Metaplanet last month unveiling a venture arm with plans to deploy around $25 million into companies building Bitcoin financial infrastructure.
Blockchain Capital’s new funds follow a period of significant institutional crypto adoption. Public companies now hold billions in Bitcoin portfolios, while crypto investment products continue expanding. Three altcoins received leveraged ETFs this month, reflecting growing demand for crypto investment vehicles. The sector has also seen high-profile security incidents, including a venture firm founder offering a bounty to recover $42 million in stolen crypto.
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Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
The United States and Israel’s war on Iran has pushed up the price of nearly everything.
In the early days of the war, the global supply of oil, gas and fertilisers was the main focus of this crisis.
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In recent days, however, pharmacists have also noted a spike in the price of medicines and contraceptives like condoms, as a result of the war. In the United Kindom, for example, pharmacies are charging 20 to 30 percent more for over-the-counter medicines, and the common painkiller paracetamol has more than quadrupled in price. In India, chemists are reporting price rises of common painkillers of as much as 96 percent.
We break down the reason behind the rise in prices and how badly countries around the world will be affected:
Why has the price of medicines increased?
Since the early days of the war, Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are shipped in peacetime. Experts say this has also disrupted pharmaceutical supply chains, which are reliant on the oil supply.
“Pharmaceuticals are tied to both petrochemical feedstocks, a large part of which are sourced through the Persian Gulf,” Frederic Schneider, a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.
“Furthermore, some logistics routes, including for pharmaceuticals, for example, between East Asia and Europe, have important sea and air transhipment stops in the Gulf, particularly in Dubai. These routes are especially fragile because many pharmaceuticals need special handling, including an unbroken cold chain. Both have been disrupted through the war,” he added.
Wouter Dewulf, a professor at the University of Antwerp in Belgium and an expert in pharma logistics, warned that while pharmaceutical supply chains are not in immediate danger, medicines are highly exposed to air logistics.
The US-Israel war on Iran has caused severe disruption for airlines, featuring widespread cancellations, airspace closures and a looming jet fuel crisis.
“35 percent of pharmaceuticals move by air, and about 90 percent of critical or life-saving pharmaceuticals and vaccines do so too. I estimate that 22 percent of global air cargo flows are exposed to Middle East disruptions,” he said.
“So the main global effect for now is delays, rerouting, and higher costs, rather than a worldwide physical shortage.
“There might be some modest price increases on pharmaceuticals, because of the increase in air cargo fares, mainly on the east-west corridors. For generic medicines, where the margins are much thinner, the relative increase in price might be higher,” he added.
Which pharma products have become expensive?
Pharmacies in the UK and India have noted an increase in the price of paracetamol, a drug commonly used to treat headaches and the flu.
“Paracetamol is rising by approximately 96 percent,” a former board member of the Visakha Chemists Association in India told the country’s Economic Times on April 17.
He said a spike in the price of raw materials used to make such drugs is to blame and added that paracetamol could rise further in price, by 30 to 40 percent.
In the UK, the price of paracetamol has also increased.
Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) told The Guardian newspaper that the price he pays wholesalers for a pack of 100 500mg paracetamol tablets had jumped 41 pence (55 cents) to 1.99 pounds ($2.69) by the end of March, but has since eased back to 1.09 pounds ($1.47).
Which countries are most affected?
While the price of medicines has already begun increasing in some countries, Schneider told Al Jazeera the impact across the globe will depend on several factors, including whether other suppliers are available.
“The US has domestic hydrocarbon and petrochemical supply, and China can source most of its demand from elsewhere. India, however, is a major producer of pharmaceuticals and depends on supplies from the Gulf, which is a major chokepoint in the global pharmaceutical supply network,” he said.
Schneider said another crucial factor to consider is strategic stockpiling.
“The EU, for example, has a ‘solidarity mechanism’ – a recent stockpiling strategy that includes pharmaceuticals – and country-specific stockpiling requirements of two-10 months’ worth of medicines. While some Global North countries, like the NHS in the UK, are sounding the alarm bells and warn of shortages in the weeks ahead,” he noted.
“The problem is, as with most supply-chain problems, more acute for Global South countries, and sub-Saharan Africa in particular, that have fewer or no stockpiles and not enough financial heft to afford the price increases due to the supply crunch, as well as countries currently experiencing humanitarian crises, like Sudan, Yemen and Palestine,” he explained.
“The situation in the GCC remains apparently stable, with governments assuring that their supply is secure, but that may change if things turn for the worse again,” he added.
Dewulf said the countries most likely to suffer are the ones directly touched by the conflict and regional disruption.
“The real exposure is in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iran, rather than across the global market,” he said.
“I would add a second group: Fragile, aid-dependent countries that were already under severe pressure before this war,” he said.
A third, more conditional risk group is the import-dependent Gulf markets, he said, especially for cold-chain and cancer medicines. “Those flows were rerouted when major hubs such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha were hit [by air strikes].
“In the Middle East, the picture is still more manageable than in conflict zones: There are risks and delays, not yet a generalised collapse, especially since the airlift is gradually coming back. Pharmaceuticals always have priority as the yield to transport pharmaceuticals is higher,” he added.
FIFA’s decision to release the latest tranche of World Cup tickets, coinciding with the 50-day countdown mark for the tournament, has left fans more frustrated than excited in advance of the biggest sporting event in the world.
Football’s global governing body announced yet another “last-minute ticket phase” on Wednesday, with tickets for all 104 matches available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are available in the three previously open categories, as well as the new “front category” pricing it added this month.
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Fans have expressed outrage at the exorbitant prices for the matches — the most expensive ticket for the final costs nearly $11,000 — since the first phase of ticket sales in December, and the latest round has left them wondering if FIFA’s “dynamic ticketing” is to be blamed for the pricing and availability of seats at the most sought-after sports event.
Here’s what we know about the ticket prices for the World Cup cohosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States:
Why has FIFA reopened World Cup ticket sales?
Ostensibly, FIFA has plenty of unsold tickets in the bank despite its four previous sales windows, and it wants those tickets to sell out between now and the match days.
The global body has repeatedly claimed that the “cumulative attendance record of 3.5 million” set at the 1994 edition of the World Cup, which was hosted by the US, is on course to be surpassed during this year’s competition, but an unplanned fifth phase of ticket sales seems to suggest otherwise.
The unexpected release has raised questions about FIFA’s ticket sales strategy, as it previously said the April 1 phase was “the fourth and final” one that would remain open until the end of the competition.
However, in a comment to Al Jazeera, a FIFA spokesperson said: “This ticket drop is part of the ongoing last-minute sales phase, which runs until the end of the tournament and allows the general public to purchase tickets via FIFA.com/tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.”
“Along with this set of tickets, additional tickets will continue to be released to the public on an ongoing basis up until the final on Sunday, 19 July (subject to availability),” the spokesperson told Al Jazeera.
Why is FIFA struggling to sell tickets?
The most obvious answer would be that fans are not buying tickets, likely because they are significantly more expensive than promised.
Last month, Football Supporters Europe (FSE) said the North American bid had initially promised that tickets would be available from as little as $21. Instead, the cheapest tickets to go on sale — for $60 — have been limited. These tickets are allocated to a small portion of tournament venues and were introduced in a new pricing tier in December due to the immediate backlash over high pricing.
FIFA has brushed aside suggestions that a lack of interest and “pricing out” are to be blamed for low sales.
“Ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup remain strong with a high degree of interest for all matches,” its spokesperson said.
[Al Jazeera]
What’s the price range of World Cup tickets?
When the tickets first went on sale, in December, the prices ranged from $140 for category 3 to $8,680 for the final.
It then raised prices to as much as $10,990 when sales reopened on April 1, which is nearly seven times more expensive than the $1,550 maximum price initially laid out when North America bid for the tournament’s hosting rights.
Why are World Cup tickets so expensive this time?
Experts link the pricing to multiple factors, the biggest of which is the allocation of 78 of 104 matches to the US.
“One of the main reasons the World Cup is taking place in the US is because of the revenue-generating opportunities it potentially offers,” Simon Chadwick, professor of Afro-Eurasian sport at the Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, explained to Al Jazeera.
FIFA has tapped into what Chadwick calls a “mature” market, where “consumers have a strong predisposition towards spending on sport, a part of which are the premium price and corporate segments.”
The sporting industry expert believes FIFA has tapped into the “dynamic ticket pricing model”, which has been employed in the US for several years.
“Sports consumers [in the US] are used to the real-time adjustment of ticket prices, which can result in both rises and falls in the price of entrance,” he said.
“When used in conjunction with a premium pricing strategy, dynamic ticketing is very clearly an attempt to revenue harvest, as FIFA seeks to maximise the financial returns from this summer’s tournament,” Chadwick explained.
“The problem is that such an approach may price some fans out of the market, resulting in a crowd that has more affluent socio-demographic features.”
What is dynamic ticketing at the World Cup?
Dynamic ticketing, also known as dynamic pricing, is a sales strategy in which ticket prices are not fixed; rather, they fluctuate in real-time based on demand, supply, and timing.
There has been much criticism of ticket prices, with a group of US lawmakers last month calling on FIFA to lower the cost, saying that the use of dynamic pricing has turned the World Cup into an exclusionary enterprise at the expense of fans, according to the news agency Reuters.
FIFA also says variable pricing is being used, where ticket prices may be adjusted based on a review of demand and availability, rather than dynamic pricing, which automatically modifies ticket prices, Reuters said.
The variable pricing method was used for the opening two phases of sales – Visa Presale Draw and Early Draw. It was not used for the third phase, Random Selection Draw and PMA ticket sales, but is now being utilised again for the last-minute sales phase.
Will FIFA be able to sell out all World Cup tickets?
Chadwick, who has written several books on the economy and politics of sport, believes selling out tickets may not be a problem for FIFA.
“In theory, there shouldn’t be any unsold tickets, as the logic of real-time dynamic pricing is that market conditions will necessitate a price reduction resulting in all tickets being sold,” he said.
“However, the reality might actually be somewhat different; markets don’t always operate in such a perfect, predictable way. Indeed, some fans may resent the initial premium-pricing strategy and completely withdraw from the market.
“In this regard, FIFA has rolled the dice on the effectiveness of dynamic ticket pricing, a gamble the organisation may not necessarily win.”
How do prices compare with previous World Cups?
Tickets for the final of the Qatar World Cup in 2022 cost approximately $1,604 for the most expensive seat, which was 46 percent up from $1,100 for the 2018 final in Russia. The nearly $11,000 ticket for this year’s final is an astronomical rise compared with both previous iterations.
The cheapest seats on general sale for international fans to watch Qatar open the 2022 World Cup were $302, up from $220 in Russia. In comparison, FIFA’s December ticket sales priced the June 12 USA opener against Paraguay at $1,120, $1,940, and $2,735.
Despite this being noted as the third-most-expensive match of the tournament, The Athletic reported on Tuesday that ticket sales are lagging for the match in Inglewood, California.
It said a document distributed to local organisers, dated April 10, stated that 40,934 tickets had been bought for the US-Paraguay game, and 50,661 were bought for the Iran-New Zealand contest on April 15.
What has FIFA said about ticket prices?
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended high ticket prices for this year’s World Cup, saying that the event is the organisation’s only source of income every four years.
He also reiterated that FIFA is a nonprofit organisation that has 211 member nations who are supported through the revenue FIFA generates at tournaments like these.
What are fans saying about ticket prices?
Fans have taken to social media to vent their frustration at not only the pricing but also the technical issues with FIFA’s official ticketing platform. Prospective buyers said that after queueing for hours, they received an error message or were told tickets were sold out.
Others have accused FIFA of “ruining the sport” for “pricing out lots of genuine fans”.
One user, seemingly based in the US, compared the price of a single World Cup ticket to flying all the way to Europe and watching a Premier League game.
