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President Donald Trump has threatened to move the World Cup out of the New England region if Boston’s Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu doesn’t crack down on crime.
Well, no threat has yet been made to the New York area, which will host the finals on July 19, 2026, and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, whom Trump once called a “communist lunatic,” told Martha MacCallum on Wednesday that he would welcome Trump and his football-loving son Barron to MetLife Stadium.
Trump attended the Club World Cup final at the New Jersey stadium in July.
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Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Democratic mayoral primary debate, at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center studios in New York on June 4, 2025. (YUKI IWAMURA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Last month, Mamdani announced that he wanted to appoint a czar for the games in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and when speaking with MacCallum, he described the czar’s role and how it would be a big win not only for tourists but also for New York residents.
“The World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world, and it’s like no one has been thinking or talking about it here in New York City government. It’s coming to town next summer and we’ll have billions of people watching it,” he said. “The World Cup czar will make sure that this is a tournament that New Yorkers remember too, not just those who visit us. Let it be a tournament that will mean an increase not only in tourism but also in small businesses and exploration of this city.
“For too long, we’ve had these kinds of opportunities that we just squandered. We recently celebrated New York City’s 400th anniversary; most people have no idea, because the city didn’t do anything about it.”
Last month, Mamdani criticized dynamic pricing for the World Cup, calling the “$6,000” tickets “absurd.”
MetLife Stadium displays a record soccer match attendance of 82,262 during a water break during the US summer friendly match between Arsenal and Manchester United at MetLife Stadium on July 22, 2023, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
BOSTON MAYOR RESPONDS TO TRUMP’S THREATS TO WITHDRAW WORLD CUP GAMES FROM CITY AMID SECURITY CONCERNS
“What we are seeing is that FIFA’s approach to the World Cup ticket process is unprecedented in its own administration of previous World Cups and is also an approach that will prevent many New Yorkers from being in the stands,” he said on “Pablo Torre Finds Out.”
Mamdani recently called for 15% of tickets to be reserved at reduced prices for residents and called on FIFA, football’s governing body, to reverse a plan to set ticket prices based on demand.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during an interview Wednesday on Pak Gazette’ The Story with Martha MacCallum, where he discussed the ceasefire in Gaza and said he would uphold an International Criminal Court order against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Pak Gazette)
Tickets will start at $60 for group stage matches and increase to $6,730 for the final, officials said in early September. However, prices could fluctuate under the demand-based pricing model.
