Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced a series of free events for soccer fans in New York City who hope to experience the excitement of the FIFA World Cup 2026 but can’t afford the hefty ticket prices to the premier sporting event.
New York is among the host cities for the World Cup, which is being shared by the United States, 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, FIFA fan events will be free in all five boroughs.”
Mamdani, a noted soccer devotee, announced the free events alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat.
“Every fan should be able to watch the greatest tournament on earth without dipping into their savings,” said.
“These events were not initially set to be free, but the world’s game should belong to the world,” Mamdani said at a news conference. “So we made the decision together for fans to be able to watch together without having to spend a dollar.”
About the official World Cup fan events
The events, one in each of the city’s five boroughs, will include watch parties for the matches and other festivities.
They will be staged at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, a shopping center 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.
In most US cities hosting World Cup games, the fan zones will be free of charge, except in .
What was the outrage about?
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, will cost $150, compared to $12.90 normally.
The local transport company, New Jersey Transit, defended the short $150 rides to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey by saying it will cost nearly $50 million to run trains to that 78,000-seat venue.
When AFP asked Mamdani about this, he complained that city authorities are being forced to foot transportation costs even as the tournament is forecast to bring in $11 billion in revenue for FIFA.
This is the amount that FIFA, football’s world governing body, projects to take in revenue from this tournament.
New Jersey’s recently sworn-in Governor Mikie Sherrill had pushed for FIFA to assume the cost of getting fans to MetLife Stadium. But FIFA baulked and insisted that any money it takes in goes to financing the national federations that comprise it and other tournaments.
The deal between FIFA and the previous New Jersey leadership also eliminated parking at the stadium, requiring the rail service to transport four times as many fans as it usually does, Sherrill said.
FIFA, which is already facing severe criticism over the sky-high cost of many match tickets, called New Jersey’s move “unprecedented”.
(With agency inputs)
