New Yorkers fretting about the sky-high prices of FIFA World Cup tickets may have another way in: Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday that a total of 1,000 tickets will be sold to New York City residents for $50 — a steep discount from the average $2,800 price.
Mamdani said the initiative, which would operate by lottery, was made in response to the reality that “ticket prices for this tournament have soared into the thousands of dollars.”
“There are countless New Yorkers desperate to attend a World Cup match, but who simply cannot afford to go,” Mamdani said at a press conference in Harlem’s Little Senegal on Thursday. “We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create.”
The initiative was made in partnership with the NYNJ Host Committee, Mamdani said. The tickets would be divided into batches of approximately 150 tickets for the first seven of eight games to be played at MetLife stadium, not including the July 19 final.
Entry for the lottery, which will be held at www.regnyctix.com, begins Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. and ends at midnight on Saturday, May 30. Officials said New Yorkers may enter once a day, and there is a daily cap of 50,000 entries. Winners will be notified June 3 and will be given the opportunity to purchase up to two tickets each.
“ We will verify eligibility using a variety of methods to make sure that only New Yorkers are purchasing these tickets,” Mamdani said, adding, in a moment of unbridled trash talk, that “ Philly fans may try to crash this lottery and get revenge for the home games that the Knicks won.”
In order to minimize scalping, tickets will be handed directly to winners at an official boarding location on the day of each match, and are non-transferable. The city is providing free round-trip transportation from the location to MetLife Stadium for all winners.
Fans have complained about being unable to purchase affordable tickets for months now. Tickets for the eight New York-New Jersey games are currently selling for an average $2,790, according to SeatPick.com, more than double the rate of tickets in the 16 World Cup host cities.
Mamdani, an avid soccer fan, said the exorbitant rates were a departure from other World Cup tournaments. He recalled watching the 2002 World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan, and noted that some tickets were available for $120.
“ Not cheap,” Mamdani said, “but within reach for a special occasion.”
