Around here, Knicks fever drowns out World Cup fervor

Long Island has a serious case of Knicks fever. Bakeries are churning out orange-and-blue cakes, cookies and doughnuts. Restaurants and delis are making sandwiches named for players, and at least one is offering an orange-and-blue pizza. Watch parties are everywhere.

The fervor here and throughout the region surrounding the New York Knicks’ clash with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals is enough to make you forget that the world’s biggest sporting event does not actually kick off until Thursday. That’s the opening day of soccer’s World Cup, which this year is being hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Our parochial rapture, as delightful and consuming as it is, typically would pale in comparison to the global obsession with the quadrennial crowning of what the rest of the world calls football. But even allowing for the mania that has greeted the Knicks’ gritty march, a close cousin of the passions roused in entire nations by a winning soccer team, something seems a bit off with this year’s World Cup. The typical pregames luster seems a little duller this time around.

Simply put, interest is down, if one measures by ticket sales and hotel bookings. This despite what was supposed to be great excitement from fans in the U.S., where soccer has grown in participation and popularity since the World Cup was staged here in 1994. That tourney set attendance records yet to be broken and remains the most financially successful World Cup in history.

As of late this past week, more than 30,000 tickets remained unsold for the 104 matches — and that’s after FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, allegedly dumped 44,000 unsold tickets into the resale marketplace for sale at cheaper prices. Meanwhile, some 80% of hotels in the 16 host cities report that bookings are falling short of forecasts.

Culprits can be fingered, beginning with pricing. Amid a worldwide affordability crisis, FIFA’s initial ticket listings ran into the thousands of dollars. Even as some prices have dropped, the get-in price on resale markets for the U.S. opener against Paraguay on Friday in Los Angeles was $829 a few days ago; a ticket directly from FIFA was $1,940. FIFA’s system has been so complex and opaque that the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey are investigating its practices.

World Cup hotel rates were also jacked — from an average $300-a-day in New York/New Jersey to $593, from $260 to $611 in Boston, and from $90 to $511 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Most notoriously, NJ Transit announced a round-trip train ticket from New York City to games at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, typically costing $12.90, would be $150. After predictable outrage, the fare was reduced — to $98. Is it any wonder that as of last week less than 6% of the tickets had been sold?

Politics also seems to be playing a role. Some fans from abroad reportedly have had difficulty getting visas from the Trump administration, and some would-be ticket buyers in America are concerned about potential immigration crackdowns at game sites.

One factor in the U.S. is that our country still lacks a dominant, charismatic player for fans to rally around. The Knicks have Jalen Brunson. The biggest star in American pro soccer leagues is Argentine Lionel Messi.

Hard-core soccer fans have not lost interest and enthusiasm will surely build as matches are played. But the pretournament ennui is a reminder that the status of global events like the World Cup comes not only from fanatics, but also the mass of more casual viewers who want to be part of the excitement, like the people who right now are buying Knicks gear past and present, planting Knicks lawn signs and hanging banners, dancing on taxis outside Madison Square Garden after games, and snapping up anything orange and blue.

Columnist Michael Dobie is a retired member of the editorial board.

By Michael Dobie

michael.dobie1@newsday.commwdobie

Michael Dobie is a retired member of the Newsday editorial board.