Mamdani, Hochul plan joint announcement on World Cup today

A war of words between FIFA and New York/New Jersey has played out publicly in recent weeks, with the governors of both states demanding that the soccer group foot some of the bill for World Cup transit costs.

FIFA says that’s never been part of the host cities’ agreement.

NJ Transit, facing an estimated $48 million in World Cup-related costs, got Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s permission to raise its fares — to $150 for a round-trip ticket from the city to MetLife Stadium.

There are eight matches and the final is on July 19. The starting price for those tickets topped $10,000 — and that’s for the cheapest seats. Four tickets to the final on FIFA’s resale website are listed at over $2 million.

New York’s governor and New York City’s mayor have also disapproved of the “awfully high” ticket costs, as Hochul said when the $150 was not yet confirmed. The two, Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani, are appearing together at a World Cup-related press conference on Staten Island later Monday.

The nature of their joint announcement wasn’t immediately clear.

FIFA is expected to rake in nearly $11 billion from this summer’s World Cup, government officials have said.

Can’t anything be cheap?

FIFA’s prior host cities agreement required those cities to provide free access for fans to all matches, the organization pointed out, amid a social media back-and-forth with Sherrill. It wasn’t until 2023, FIFA says, that to lessen the burden on host cities, it modified the agreement to require they merely secure transit access.

New York/New Jersey isn’t the only host city where the cost of transit to the games has become an issue.

In Boston, a round-trip ticket for the bus will cost $95, more than the MBTA’s special express train service, which already prompted an outcry, since the $80 fare to get to the stadium in Foxboro and back is several times higher than it typically is.

But in Philadelphia, a spokesperson for SEPTA said there would be no increase in fares to get to the World Cup games there, adding that most, if not all, of the added operating costs would be “covered with a recently awarded federal grant.” Atlanta is also offering affordable public transportation to the games played there.