New York City will offer residents a chance to purchase $50 tickets for World Cup games in New Jersey this summer. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday that 1,000 affordable tickets will be distributed through a lottery system.
The discounted tickets include free round-trip bus transportation to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. The tickets will be split across five group-stage and two knockout matches, with 150 tickets available per game.
"We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create," Mayor Mamdani said at a press conference in Harlem. He noted the $50 price is equivalent to five coffees in New York City.
The lottery opens May 25. Tickets are non-transferable and will be distributed to winners at the bus boarding location to prevent scalping.
Ticket affordability has been a major issue for the tournament co-hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. According to TicketData, the average "get-in" cost for a group-stage match in New York was $864 as of Wednesday. Some resale tickets are listed for thousands of dollars on various platforms.
Seats for the final on July 19 in New Jersey were priced at nearly $33,000.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino recently defended the high ticket prices.
"This is the moment to make sure that everybody is included, that everybody is lifted up," said New York City Councilman Yusef Salaam.
Lottery winners may purchase up to two tickets each.