Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced a series of free events for soccer fans in New York who hope to experience the excitement of the 2026 FIFA World Cup but cannot afford high ticket prices for the major sporting event.
New York is among the host cities for the FIFA World Cup, shared by the United States, Mexico and Canada starting June 11.
“The World Cup is coming to our backyard and we’re making sure every New Yorker can be a part of it,” Mamdani announced via a social media post. “This summer events will be free for FIFA fans in all five boroughs.”
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Mamdani, a well-known soccer devotee, announced the free events along with New York Gov. Kathy Hochula, a fellow Democrat.
“Every fan should be able to watch the biggest tournament in the world without dipping into their savings,” Mamdani said.
“These events were not originally set up to be free, but the world’s game should belong to the world,” Mamdani told a news conference. “So together we decided that fans would be able to watch together without having to spend a dollar.”
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About official World Cup fan events
The events, one in each of the five boroughs, will include match parties and other festivities.
They will be held at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, a mall near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, and a minor league baseball stadium in Staten Island.
A separate fan event planned for Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, where the New York Red Bulls play, will cost $10.
Fan zones will be free in most US cities hosting World Cup matches, with the exception of Los Angeles.
What was the outrage?
Last week, fans expressed outrage when it was announced that round-trip train tickets to MetLife Stadium, which will host eight games, including the tournament final, would cost $150, up from the normal $12.90.
Local transit company New Jersey Transit defended the short $150 rides to New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium by saying it would cost nearly $50 million to run trains to the 78,000-seat venue.
When AFP asked Mamdani about this, he complained that city authorities were being forced to cover transport costs, even though the tournament is expected to bring in $11 billion for FIFA.
That’s the amount FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, plans to earn from the tournament.
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Recently, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill pushed for FIFA to cover the cost of getting fans to MetLife Stadium. But FIFA has balked, insisting that any money it accepts goes to fund its constituent national federations and other tournaments.
The agreement between FIFA and the previous New Jersey management also eliminated parking at the stadium, which required rail service to transport four times as many fans as usual, Sherrill said.
FIFA, already facing fierce criticism over sky-high ticket costs for many matches, called New Jersey’s move “unprecedented”.
