Want a beer at Boston Stadium? Be prepared for your wallet to take a hit, with FIFA raising concession prices
FOXBOROUGH – In the waning minutes of Scotland’s 1-0 victory over Haiti Saturday night, James Murray was fueling up in the Boston Stadium concourse with some chicken tenders.
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Pausing to consider their $13.75 value, the Scottish fan from Scotch Plains (of course), N.J., issued an analysis that may stand for all soccer fans too sticker-shocked by this event’s already high costs for items like tickets, lodging, and transportation.
“It’s not that bad, overall, with the prices,” he said. “Put it this way: Everything is not as bad as anticipated.”
Concessions prices at the first World Cup game at Boston Stadium did not rise high enough to meet Murray’s and most everyone’s definition of (and perhaps expectation for) price gouging.
But they were not nothing, either.
An unscientific Globe survey of assorted concessions prices compared to New England Revolution and Boston Legacy games last month showed that prices of most food items are higher by $1 per item, with the price of beer higher by a whole lot more than that.
Concessions prices at Boston Stadium for this tournament reflect pricing patterns from New England Patriots’ NFL games.
The Kraft Group, which owns the stadium and concessions operations, suggested the price list and FIFA approved the list along with a presumed marginal markup with the understanding that the prices reflect local market conditions.
The Kraft Group’s deal with FIFA allows it to receive more than half of the concession revenues from its seven World Cup games.
FIFA signs individual deals and leases with each of the 16 host cities and their respective venues.
And while paying $7 instead of $6 for a bag of Doritos is ludicrous at either price in any locale at any time, and paying $11.50 instead of $10.50 for an Italian sausage may not seem like such a lift, those are still 17 percent and 10 percent price hikes respectively.
Inflation in the US rose from 3.8 percent in April to 4.2 percent in May.
Anheuser-Busch InBev is the official beer sponsor for the World Cup, which means only the parent company’s beers — Michelob Ultra, Bud Light, Stella Artois — are available for sale in Foxborough.
The price of a bottle of Michelob Ultra tallboy jumped $2, from $14 to $16, a 14 percent increase.
The draught version took a substantial hike: A 24-ounce draw of Michelob Ultra cost $14 at the Revolution and Legacy games.
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A month later and four ounces less, the 20-ounce cup cost $18.
That’s 29 percent more for 17 percent less beer for one soccer game in May versus another in June.
A FIFA spokesperson said that food and beverage pricing at its World Cup stadiums “is expected to be broadly in line with pricing at regular events held at each respective venue” and that “as a result, prices may vary between venues.”
Unlike previous World Cups, for this one FIFA allowed concession operators at each stadium to continue to run and manage their business.
A spokesperson from Kraft Group did not immediately respond to an inquiry about pricing.
Outside of the stadium, food and beverage establishments at Kraft-owned Patriots Place mostly held back on increasing prices.
Of a handful of places visited and prices noted by a Globe cost inspector last month and on Saturday, prices stayed the same at Red Robin, Five Guys, Fat Tuesday, and Dunkin.
The Harp raised its prices $2 on both its loaded nachos and fried chicken sandwich to $16 and $20 each, while the poke bowl cost $1 more at $25.
A Globe survey of concessions prices at Celtics and Bruins playoff games at TD Garden in April with a ProShop visit in May, plus a Red Sox game at Fenway Park last month showed that FIFA’s price list should not be considered as any more exorbitant to the average credit-card wielding Boston sports fan.
A Red Sox baseball cap costs $60 — assorted World Cup hats range between $45 and $48 — while a pretzel at TD Garden cost 99 cents more than a Boston Stadium pretzel.
The FIFA-run and FIFA-controlled World Cup is the largest sporting event ever, expected to generate an estimated $11 billion in revenues.
Last summer, CNBC ranked the Kraft Group as the eighth largest sports conglomerate with an estimated value of $11 billion.
With all the advance warning over the high price of everything when it comes to the tournament, learning about the high prices at the games will not come as a major surprise.
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That still won’t lessen the sting felt in fans’ wallets.



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