New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani will announce on Thursday that 1,000 tickets for the 2026 World Cup, priced at $50 each, will be available exclusively to residents of the five boroughs. These tickets, distributed through a random lottery, grant access to seven games at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, excluding the final match. Each game will have about 150 tickets in the upper bowl of the stadium.
The matches included are five group games and two knockout rounds. This initiative marks the first time a host city offers special access to tickets for its residents, reflecting a return to previous practices where locals received discounted tickets. The lottery will run from May 25 to May 30, allowing up to 50,000 entries daily, with winners able to purchase up to two tickets for each game.
Mamdani, a soccer enthusiast and advocate for affordability in sports, has criticized FIFA for its ticket pricing strategy, emphasizing that high costs hinder access for true fans. The pricing landscape has stirred controversy, with initial round-trip transit fares to the stadium skyrocketing from $13 to $150 before being reduced to $105, and bus tickets priced at $80. In response to criticism, FIFA had offered some $60 tickets, representing a small fraction of overall availability.
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