FIFA President Gianni Infantino is making headlines for a rather unusual defense of World Cup ticket prices—comparing them to the cost of attending a college football game in the United States.

Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Tuesday, Infantino argued that 25% of group stage match tickets are priced under $300, framing this as a bargain. "You cannot go to watch in the U.S. a college game, not even speaking about a top professional game of a certain level, for less than $300," he said. "And this is the World Cup."

For context, a FIFA spokesperson clarified that Infantino was referring specifically to college football, not soccer, and more narrowly to playoff and championship games. However, the comparison has raised eyebrows. In reality, college football tickets in the U.S. are widely available well below the $300 mark, even during the postseason. Last season, resale tickets for first-round and quarterfinal games often dipped under $300, and just one day before the Cotton Bowl, the get-in price was a mere $28. The College Football Championship was a different story—resale tickets there soared past $3,000—but that's the exception, not the rule.

The backlash against FIFA's pricing strategy has been building since ticket sales began last fall. While FIFA did introduce a supporters tier at $60 in response to criticism, most tickets for U.S. fans still cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. By early April, tickets to the final in New Jersey on July 19 had already crossed the $10,000 mark on the secondary market.

Infantino also emphasized that FIFA operates as a nonprofit, with World Cup revenue funding all other FIFA activities globally for the next four years. "We are in a market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world," he said. "So we have to apply market rates. In the U.S., it is permitted to resell tickets as well. So if you were to sell tickets at a price which is too low, these tickets would be resold at a much higher price."

When pressed about the high prices on FIFA's official resale platform, Infantino stressed that the organization does not control those prices—even though FIFA takes a 15% cut from both the buyer and seller on every transaction. For fans hoping to catch the world's biggest sporting event, it seems the price of admission is steep, no matter how you compare it.