Ticket sales for FIFA World Cup matches in Arlington and other host cities have declined in recent weeks, according to ticket sales data and city officials. Robert Lodes with DFW ticket brokerage house Metro Tickets said several factors may be contributing to the slowdown, including the economy, in ternational unrest and timing. According to ticket data, which tracks ticket sales information online, in the last 30 days, there has been a 23% drop in ticket sales across all host cities. For Dallas-area matches, ticket sales for Netherlands vs. Japan are down 12%, while England vs. Croatia ticket sales are down 21%. Lodes said some buyers may be waiting to purchase tickets closer to the matches. “How cheap is it going to be? And I said, well, cheap is probably not the right word for World Cup, but there are definitely some good buys to be had right now,” said Lodes. He said higher ticket prices may also be causing fans to hold off for now. “With the high prices, I think a lot of people are waiting to see and they see the trends on the pricing but I think once you get within you know seven to ten days of the events you’re going to see a spike as people decide no I really want to go and this is what the prices are going to be,” said Lodes. During Tuesday’s Arlington City Council meeting, Arlington Deputy City Manager Jennifer Wichmann told council members that only about half, or possibly less, of the 700,000 available tickets for Arlington’s FIFA World Cup matches have been sold. “We’re thinking between about 35 and 50% of those have been sold. My 35% number comes from some tickets, numbers I got a few weeks ago,” said Wichmann. Despite the recent slowdown, city officials said they believe ticket demand will increase as the tournament gets closer. Lodes said that trend is typical for major events. “When you get like within 10 days of the event, you’re going to see scarcity and I think you’ll see those prices start to come back up. So I do think that it is a good time to buy now,” said Lodes. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication. ...read more read less