NYC Offers $50 World Cup Tickets After Price Backlash

New York City residents will get a small but symbolic shot at cheaper World Cup seats this summer, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani moves to soften the sticker shock around one of the most expensive sporting events in the world.

Mamdani announced on Thursday that 1,000 tickets priced at $50 each will be made available to city residents through a lottery starting May 25. The tickets will cover seven of the eight World Cup matches scheduled at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan.

“To put that into perspective, that is five lattes in New York City,” Mamdani quipped from a bar in Harlem’s Little Senegal neighbourhood, where he appeared alongside US men’s national team player Timothy Weah.

The only match excluded from the offer is the July 19 final, where some seats are already priced at nearly $33,000.

The discounted tickets will also come with free round-trip bus transport to the stadium. City officials say the tickets will be non-transferable and distributed directly to fans as they board buses on match day, an attempt to stop them from being resold on the secondary market.

Mamdani said the city will use a “variety of ways” to verify that recipients are New York City residents.

“We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create,” Mamdani said.

The move fits neatly into the mayor’s broader affordability message. Since taking office in January, Mamdani has framed his administration around lowering costs for ordinary New Yorkers, usually on essentials such as housing and groceries. This time, the argument extends to culture, sport and public life.

“It extends to making it possible for every New Yorker to take part in the things that make us human,” he said.

The announcement follows months of frustration over World Cup pricing, especially as FIFA has leaned into demand-based ticketing for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

During his campaign, Mamdani called on FIFA to reserve 15 percent of tickets at discounted prices for local residents and launched a petition urging football’s governing body to reverse its dynamic pricing plan.

The $50 seats, however, are not coming directly from FIFA. According to the mayor’s office, they are part of the ticket allocation given to the joint New York and New Jersey host committee.

FIFA had previously made some $60 tickets available for every match after backlash over high prices. But those tickets were allocated to national football federations, which decide how to distribute them among loyal supporters who have attended previous matches.

MetLife Stadium, home to the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets, will host five group-stage matches and two knockout games before the final. Group matches involving former champions Brazil, France, Germany and England are set to begin there on June 13.