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Not even half of the spots in the 48-team field have been claimed. The schedule of matches wont be finalized until December. And other than host nations U.S., Canada and Mexico, nobody has any idea where or when theyll be playing. Millions of soccer fans worldwide evidently dont seem to mind any of those points. Tickets to next years FIFA World Cup officially go on sale Wednesday. The buyers will be those who were selected, out of 4.5 million applicants in a lottery that took place last month, to have the first formal chance to purchase tickets over the next few days. FIFA said lottery winners have been, or will soon be, informed by email. There are unique questions for consumers heading into the tournament, particularly about how they’ll get visas, if necessary, to visit the U.S. as the country cracks down on immigration. There are also more traditional concerns such as who, when, and where and none of those will be answered until the draw on Dec. 5. FIFA knows many fans wont fret about those answers; they just want tickets now and will figure out the rest later. These are not only outstanding figures, but also a strong statement, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on social media, reacting to the 4.5 million applicants for a spot in the purchase window that opened Wednesday. The whole world wants to be part of the FIFA World Cup 26, the biggest, most inclusive and most exciting event ever. From Canada, Mexico and the United States, to countries big and small across every continent, fans are proving once again passion for football truly unites. In divided times, the notion of soccer being something that truly unites will be put to the test. Here are some things to know as tickets go on sale. Whats for sale? Fans can purchase seats in one of four categories; Category 1 is the best seats, Category 4 is somewhere around the tops of stadiums. Ticket prices will range initially from $60 for group-stage matches to $6,730 for the final but could and almost certainly will change as soccers biggest event utilizes dynamic pricing for the first time. There are other ways to get tickets other than shelling out big bucks. American Airlines announced last month that its AAdvantage loyalty program members can redeem miles for World Cup tickets, starting Oct. 13 for executive platinum and concierge key members, then Oct. 14 for platinum pro, platinum and gold members, followed on Oct. 15 by all members. And starting Thursday, some Verizon customers will have access to free World Cup tickets and other perks. The telecommunications giant is a World Cup sponsor and will simply start dropping free ticket chances to its customers through its app. For me, there are few things as exciting as experiencing football live, whether thats on or o the pitch, and so I am proud to partner with Verizon to celebrate their plans to give fans unprecedented access to the tournament, said soccer icon David Beckham, part of Verizons promotion for the World Cup. Whos in? The U.S., Mexico and Canada all automatically qualified as host nations. Also in so far: defending champion Argentina, Japan, New Zealand, Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, South Korea, Brazil, Australia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Tunisia, Colombia, Paraguay and Morocco. That leaves 30 spots still unclaimed. FIFA said fans from 216 countries and territories applied to be part of the first ticket lottery. The top three nations of interest, to no surprise, were the hosts: the U.S., Mexico and Canada, in that order. The rest of the top 10, also in order of application totals: Germany, England, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Spain and Italy. Nobody has said how many tickets FIFA plans to sell in this first window. Availability wont be depleted; based on the listed stadium attendance figures, there are roughly 7.1 million seats to fill for the 104 matches around 16 North American venues, though its unknown how many of those seats will be available for sale to the public. Will visitors travel to the US? There is an immigration crackdown unfolding across the U.S., which could dampen overseas interest in traveling to the country. U.S. tourism officials already have noted a drop in overseas visitors this year and even organizers in some U.S. host cities have acknowledged that political dynamics may have an impact on attendance. Adding to some of the uncertainty, President Donald Trump, who has a close relationship with Infantino, has suggested that the host cities could be changed if he wants to move some events away from places his administration considers unsafe. The U.S. cities that are scheduled to host are East Rutherford, New Jersey; Inglewood, California; Foxborough, Massachusetts; Houston; Arlington, Texas; Atlanta; Seattle; Santa Clara, California; Philadelphia; Kansas City, Missouri; and Miami Gardens, Florida. If any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup we wont allow it to go there, Trump said last week. Well move it around a little bit. But I hope thats not going to happen. The State Department says that the safety and security of the United States along with World Cup matches, athletes, fans, and venues are the top priorities with regard to its role in the World Cup process. It also suggests that travelers who need a visa should start applying now, and officials have said the U.S. is trying to ensure an efficient, smooth, and effective visa process. Whats next? A second phase, called an early ticket draw, likely will run from Oct. 27-31, with purchase time slots from mid-November to early December. A third phase, termed a random selection draw, will start after the final draw of teams on Dec. 5 determines the World Cup schedule. Tickets also will be available closer to the tournament on a first-come, first-served basis. FIFA also said it will start an official resale platform. Some tickets already have been snagged; hospitality packages have been sold since May. The world will come together in North America, Infantino promised, like never before. The tournament runs from June 11 through July 19. Tim Reynolds, AP sports writer
Category:
E-Commerce
It’s official: AOL‘s dial-up internet has taken its last bow. AOL previously confirmed it would be pulling the plug on Tuesday (Sept. 30) writing in a brief update on its support site last month that it routinely evaluates” its offerings and had decided to discontinue dial-up, as well as associated software optimized for older operating systems, from its plans. Dial-up is now no longer advertised on AOL’s website. As of Wednesday, former company help pages like connect to the internet with AOL Dialer appeared unavailable and nostalgic social media users took to the internet to say their final goodbyes. AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many households to the World Wide Web for the first time when its dial-up service launched decades ago, rising to prominence particularly in the 90s and early 2000s. The creaky door to the internet was characterized by a once-ubiquitous series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone line used to connect your computer online along with frustrations of being kicked off the web if anyone else at home needed the landline for another call, and an endless bombardment of CDs mailed out by AOL to advertise free trials. Eventually, broadband and wireless offerings emerged and rose to dominance, doing away with dial-up’s quirks for most people accessing the internet today but not everyone. A handful of consumers have continued to rely on internet services connected over telephone lines. In the U.S., according to Census Bureau data, an estimated 163,401 households were using dial-up alone to get online in 2023, representing just over 0.13% of all homes with internet subscriptions nationwide. While AOL was the largest dial-up internet provider for some time, it wasn’t the only one to emerge over the years. Some smaller internet providers continue to offer dial-up today. Regardless, the decline of dial-up has been a long time coming. And AOL shutting down its service arrives as other relics of the internet’s earlier days continue to disappear. Microsoft retired video calling service Skype just earlier this year as well as Internet Explorer back in 2022. And in 2017, AOL discontinued its Instant Messenger a chat platform that was once lauded as the biggest trend in online communication since email when it was founded in 1997, but later struggled to ward off rivals. AOL itself is far from the dominant internet player it was decades ago when, beyond dial-up and IMs, the company also became known for its Youve got mail catchphrase that greeted users who checked their inboxes, as famously displayed in the 1998 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan by the same name. Before it was America Online, AOL was founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1985. It soon rebranded and hit the public market in 1991. Near the height of the dot-com boom, AOL’s market value reached nearly $164 billion in 2000. But tumultuous years followed, and that valuation plummeted as the once-tech pioneer bounced between multiple owners. After a disastrous merger with Time Warner Inc., Verizon acquired AOL which later sold AOL, along with Yahoo, to a private equity firm. AOL now operates under the larger Yahoo name. A spokesperson for Yahoo didn’t have any additional statements about the end of AOL’s dial-up when reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday, directing customers to its previous summer announcement. At the time, Verizon sold AOL in 2021, an anonymous source familiar with the transaction told CNBC that the number of AOL dial-up users was in the low thousands” down from 2.1 million when Verizon first moved to acquire AOL in 2015, and far below peak demand seen back in the 90s and early 2000s. But beyond dial-up, AOL continues to offer its free email services, as well as subscriptions that advertise identity protection and other tech support. Wyatte Grantham-Philips, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
Amazon is pushing deeper into the grocery aisle with the launch of Amazon Grocery, a food brand that keeps most prices under $5. The idea of buying much of anything for $5 seems like a distant memory for most shoppers these days, as President Trumps tariffs and persistent inflation keep the price of everyday consumer goods high, with little relief in sight. Keenly aware of that, Amazon is looking to undercut the competitions prices with its own newly unified private-label brand featuring everything from eggs and premade salads to ground beef and olive oil. The company plans to expand its offerings to more grocery staples like frozen pasta, granola, and cakes in the coming months. The company says that its new Amazon Grocery brand will merge its existing Amazon Fresh and Happy Belly brands into a single storefront for essentials. In its online grocery store, many items have already been relabeled digitally away from the Happy Belly and Amazon Fresh brands and given a makeover with a modern, clean and distinctive new design so shoppers can spot the line of core items easily, much like Target does with its in-house Good & Gather line. The new, rebranded Amazon Grocery lineup of products is now available online and through the companys brick-and-mortar Amazon Fresh stores. “During a time when consumers are particularly price-conscious, Amazon Grocery delivers more than 1,000 quality grocery items across all categories that don’t compromise on quality or tastefrom fresh food items to crave-worthy snacks and pantry essentialsall at low, competitive prices that help customers stretch their grocery budgets further, Jason Buechel, Amazons vice president of worldwide grocery stores and Whole Foods Market CEO, said in a press release. Amazons big grocery push On paper, Amazon is trying to make its branding less confusing, differentiating its core grocery line from its other in-house brands like 365 from Whole Foods. But a year ago, Amazon made a similar announcement, hailing a value-minded new private-label brand called Amazon Saver. From crackers and cookies to canned fruit and condiments, Amazon Saver offers affordable grocery essentials at a great value both in-store and online, the company wrote in a press release at the time, highlighting that most Amazon Saver products would be priced under $5. Somewhat confusingly, the company claims that the new Amazon Grocery brand will complement its portfolio of private label products, including Amazon Saver, which apparently isnt going away. Its been almost a decade since Amazon bought Whole Foods in a then-shocking $13.7 billion deal that revealed the extent of the companys master plan to dominate even offline shopping. The companys commitment to push deeper into selling wallet-friendly fridge and pantry staples is a sign that Amazons ambitions in the space havent yet been fully realized. In August, Amazon introduced same-day delivery service for perishable foods in 1,000 additional U.S. cities, with plans to double that coverage by the end of the year. The companys ongoing aggressive expansion into on-demand grocery delivery puts the undisputed king of shopping on a collision course with grocery delivery competitors like Walmart, Target, and Instacart. Not all of Amazons grocery experiments have been successful. Last month, the company announced that it would close all of its Amazon Fresh stores in the U.K. after a thorough evaluation of business operations. At the same time, the company noted its plans to expand its online grocery sales, doubling down on the very substantial growth opportunities in online grocery delivery.
Category:
E-Commerce
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