The biggest World Cup matches are here, so why are ticket prices collapsing?

The World Cup has reached the moment every fan waits for.

The group stage is over, the weaker teams have gone home and the biggest matches of the tournament are finally here.

Normally, that would mean one thing: more demand and even higher ticket prices. Instead, the opposite is happening.

Prices for some World Cup quarterfinals are falling sharply, despite featuring teams such as Spain, Belgium and England.

The reason has less to do with the quality of the matches and more to do with the two teams that will not be playing in them.

The United States and Mexico

, two of the tournament's three host nations, were eliminated in the Round of 16. Both had reached the knockout stage and kept alive the possibility of playing major matches in front of millions of supporters in their own countries.

Once they were eliminated, that demand disappeared almost immediately.

The U.S. exit changed everything in Los Angeles

The United States advanced from the Round of 32,

but saw its run end with a 4-1 loss to Belgium in the Round of 16.

Had the Americans won, they would have faced Spain in Friday's quarterfinal in Los Angeles. Thousands of U.S. supporters had already looked at that game as a possible home showcase for the national team.

That expectation pushed resale prices to extraordinary levels.

Before the United States was eliminated, the cheapest ticket for the quarterfinal was selling for around $3,200 on TickPick.

After the defeat, the price dropped to approximately $1,100. That represents a fall of about 65%.

The match remains one of the most important of the tournament. Spain and Belgium are still fighting for a place in the semifinals.

But for many local fans, the emotional connection disappeared when the U.S. team went home.

Mexico's elimination had a similar effect

Mexico also made it through the Round of 32

, defeating Ecuador before facing England in the Round of 16.

El Tri came close to extending its run, but a 3-2 loss ended its hopes of reaching the quarterfinals

and continuing the dream of winning the World Cup on home soil. The impact on ticket prices was immediate.

Before Mexico's elimination, the cheapest tickets for Saturday's quarterfinal in Miami were approaching $4,000.

After the loss, prices dropped to around $2,000, according to TickPick. That is a decline of approximately 45%.

The game will now feature England against Norway.

It is still a quarterfinal and still offers a place in the final four, but it no longer includes the team that was driving much of the demand.

“Quarterfinal tickets were priced with the expectation that both Mexico and the US would advance,”

TickPick co-CEO Brett Goldberg told CNN

.

When both teams lost on consecutive days, demand for those potential matchups fell almost overnight.

The matches are bigger, but the local connection is gone.

Ticket prices do not rise only because a match is important.

They also depend on who is playing, where the game is being held and how many supporters are willing to travel or pay almost any price to be there.

The United States and Mexico offered all three

Tom's Watch Bar, a sports bar chain with 18 locations across the United States, said matchdays involving Mexico and the U.S. produced massive increases in business.

With both teams gone, the company expects its World Cup-day revenue to decline by around 50%.

Mexico was an especially powerful attraction.

According to Brooks Schaden, the company's co-founder and co-CEO

, Mexican supporters stayed longer and spent more money than U.S. fans at its locations. “Quite frankly, price was no object,” he said.

Mexico's elimination therefore did more than change one side of the bracket.

It removed one of the tournament's most passionate and commercially valuable fan bases.

It is an unusual situation for a World Cup designed around the size and enthusiasm of its host markets.

The tournament will continue to feature major national teams and some of the sport's biggest stars

, but it has lost the local story that encouraged millions of people across North America to follow every match more closely.