New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani negotiated 1,000 World Cup tickets at $50 each with free roundtrip transportation for working-class New Yorkers. The move came after N.J. Transit initially priced a match-day rail ticket at $150 to get to MetLife Stadium.
The state then committed $6 million for a free watch party for 50,000 New Yorkers on Central Park’s Great Lawn, plus fan fests in all five boroughs. The city also launched its most expansive ferry schedule.
The result was tickets climbing to $32,970 on FIFA’s own portal — attorneys general are now investigating the alleged inflating prices by design, according to a report in .
World Cup Jerseys
Quick answers to key questions
Why are Zohran Mamdani’s FIFA World Cup 2026 jerseys being sold at such high prices on eBay?⌵
The jerseys, originally priced at $50, are being resold for up to $1,150, showcasing a markup of 2,000% due to high demand and scarcity, as only 1,500 jerseys were made available.
How did Zohran Mamdani address ticket pricing issues for the FIFA World Cup?⌵
Mamdani negotiated 1,000 tickets at a much lower price of $50 each for local residents and launched a petition demanding FIFA to end dynamic pricing and cap resale prices.
What measures did the city of New York implement for World Cup fans?⌵
New York City committed $6 million for a free watch party for 50,000 New Yorkers and expanded ferry services to accommodate fans attending the World Cup.
What steps did Mamdani take to combat the resale market for World Cup tickets and jerseys?⌵
Mamdani’s ‘Game Over Greed’ campaign focused on capping resale prices and reserving tickets for local residents, highlighting his commitment to keeping the event accessible for working-class fans.
Should fans expect to find affordable merchandise during major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup?⌵
While local initiatives aim to provide affordable options, the high demand often leads to significant markups in resale markets, making it challenging for fans to find reasonably priced merchandise.
Earlier this week, Mamdani announced an exclusive run of New York City-inspired World Cup jerseys. There would be only 1,500 shirts available to the public, and anyone who wanted to grab one had to go in person at the city’s official CityStore when it opened at 9 am on Friday morning.
Less than 24 hours after the article went live, New Yorkers reportedly started camping outside the CityStore in the wee hours of Friday morning,
As the temperatures reached past 92 degrees and the line didn’t get any shorter, the $50 jerseys were selling on eBay for up to $1,150 a 2,000% markup.
The markup is exactly what Mamdani spent his campaign railing against.
Game Over Greed
In September, the then-candidate launched his “Game Over Greed” petition with three demands of FIFA: end dynamic pricing, cap resale prices, and reserve 15% of tickets for local residents at a discount.
He singled out FIFA’s own resale platform for refusing to cap secondary sales. “That means you can buy a ticket for 60 bucks and resell it for $6,000,” he said in the video announcing the petition, and warned that “the biggest sporting event in the world is happening in your backyard, and you’ll be priced out of it.”
“For far too long, FIFA has looked upon these World Cups as opportunities for profit, as opposed to opportunities to extend this to the people who make this game so special,” he said at the petition’s launch in the Bronx.
When he announced the $50 ticket lottery last month, he promised that “working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create.”
But on Friday, working people were priced out of the jersey commemorating it, and by a resale market the city, like FIFA, left uncapped. Fortune was on scene when a CityStore employee informed the crowd the jerseys had sold out.
