Limited parking options at US$225 a space will be available at the stadium for fans with disabilities and in an adjacent mall for other supporters, according to the Just Park site.
New York resident Guy Dixon, 42, told AFP: “I feel like that’s an embarrassment and shame, and it’s taking advantage of the fans.”
Trading blame
New Jersey’s recently sworn-in Governor Mikie Sherrill defended the state transit organisation’s policies, saying on X today that “Fifa put zero dollars towards transporting World Cup fans”.
The deal between Fifa and the previous New Jersey leadership also “eliminated parking” at the stadium, requiring the rail service to transport four times as many fans as it usually does, she said.
“This agreement will cost NJ TRANSIT at least $48 million, while Fifa is positioned to make $11 billion during the World Cup.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also wrote on social media on Wednesday, as initial reports emerged in The Athletic, that Fifa should foot the bill for transport costs to World Cup venues.
But Fifa, which is already facing severe criticism over the sky-high cost of many match ticket prices, called New Jersey’s move “unprecedented”.
The football world governing body’s World Cup chief operating officer Heimo Schirgi said the move to “arbitrarily set elevated prices and demand Fifa absorb these costs is unprecedented”.
“No other global event, concert or major sporting promoter has faced such a demand. While Fifa is projected to generate approximately $11 billion in revenue, not profit, as the governor incorrectly claims, Fifa has always been a not-for-profit organisation,” he added.
Fifa said previously that the original host city agreements “required free transportation for fans to all matches”.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, fans could use the Doha Metro for free with their matchday tickets.
A renegotiation stipulated that transport would be offered “at cost” on match days, Fifa added previously.
‘Insane’
A French supporter group called the pricing “completely insane”.
“Every day there’s bad news about transportation – you really have to wonder how far this madness is going to go,” said Guillaume Aupretre, a spokesman for the “Irresistibles Francais” fan organisation.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul also took aim at the reported price hike.
“Charging over $100 for a short train ride sounds awfully high to me,” Hochul wrote on X.
Some US$100m in US federal funding has been allocated to host cities for transit network costs, including $8.7m for Boston and Massachusetts, and $10.4m for the New York-New Jersey area, according to local media reports.
England’s Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) chief Thomas Concannon told the BBC “every single thing coming out of this tournament so far is just fans getting fleeced”.
“The price is obviously astronomical in terms of what you would expect to pay going to a match,” he said today.
“We weren’t expecting to be gouged.”
– Agence France-Presse