Countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup: New York and New Jersey prepare
NYNJ Host Committee Executive Director Alex Lasry discusses the countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in New York and New Jersey. It details plans for free fan experiences in five counties and New Jersey, emphasizing public transportation solutions for 1.2 million fans. Lasry confirms that real grass will be installed at MetLife Stadium for the event, highlighting global enthusiasm for this major sporting event.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday that New York City, in partnership with the NYNJ Host Committee, has secured 1,000 affordable World Cup tickets for New York residents, which can be purchased for $50 each.
At the time of this publication, the cheapest Ticketmaster offer for a MetLife Stadium group stage match was $535 for the Norway-Senegal match on June 22.
Ticket holders will also receive free bus transportation to and from the stadium and New York; the committee had recently announced that such a ride would cost $80, while NJ Transit tickets originally cost $150 before private funding reduced them to just under $100.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has backed a proposal to tax luxury second homes owned by non-residents, targeting ultra-wealthy homeowners. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“A World Cup is coming to our backyard and we want to ensure that working-class New Yorkers have the opportunity to be a part of it,” Mamdani said at a news conference in Harlem on Thursday. “We sat down with the Host Committee to make sure this tournament belongs to the people who make this city what it is. Today, 1,000 New Yorkers will climb into those stands for fifty dollars and a free bus ride. I’m proud that New York City is leading the way.”
“This program exists because the mayor was determined to ensure that working New Yorkers would be in the stands when the World Cup returned to New York,” said New York City World Cup Czar Maya Handa. “A kid in the Bronx, a security guard in Queens, a restaurant worker in Brooklyn or Staten Island… they’re going into the stadium this summer because their city fought to get them there.”
Transit officials are preparing for unprecedented numbers of riders during World Cup games this summer. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
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“Mayor Mamdani’s commitment to making the World Cup accessible to everyday New Yorkers… is exactly what it looks like when a city governs for the people,” added Council Member Yusef Salaam.
Tickets will be awarded to the winners of a lottery system that will run from May 25 to 29.
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mamdani’s announcement.
Mamdani has already criticized the “absurd” World Cup prices.
“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 cost so many New Yorkers to be in the stands,” he said last September.
Fireworks light up the sky over Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, ahead of the Club World Cup final between Chelsea and PSG on July 13, 2025. (Matt Slocum/AP)
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Tickets, which cannot be resold, will be divided among the first seven games at MetLife before it hosts the final on July 19.
