By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
Workers install the pitch at New York New Jersey Stadium, which is temporarily renamed from MetLife stadium, ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Astronomical prices for tickets to the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament have sparked an investigation by the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey.
On Wednesday (local time), New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport jointly announced that they’re subpoenaing documents from tournament organiser FIFA about its pricing practices for matches at New Jersey’s MetLife stadium.
At issue are prices and seating, with the pair saying that “fans may have been misled about the locations of the seats they were purchasing, and FIFA’s public statements and ticket releases may have contributed to soaring prices”.
They will investigate FIFA’s ticketing process and seat maps at MetLife (renamed New York New Jersey Stadium during the tournament) which they say were changed after fans bought tickets. Initially, the stadium was divided into four zones (Categories 1 through 4), with the lower-numbered zones in better areas.
But after ticket sales began, FIFA created “new zones” and added a front section in each category. Fans complained that buyers of tickets for seats in the new zones “were excluded from those seats and instead assigned less-desirable seats, including seats far from the field or behind the goals”.
The exterior of MetLife Stadium is pictured in a May 2026 photo.
Photo: Dustin Satloff/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
FIFA’s ticket prices for group matches in the US began at US$60 for a small number of tickets and went up to more than US$600, according to the New York Times. Face-value tickets for the final were as much as US$10,990.
Fans were already angry about the high prices, which quickly soared exponentially higher on resale platforms – including US$2 million for the final. (In response to the outrage, last week New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani announced an initiative to sell US$50 tickets for city residents).
“Being honest about ticket sales is not complicated,” said New Jersey AG Davenport. “But FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices.”
Her counterpart, AG James, said New Yorkers “deserve a fair shot at affordable tickets” and that “fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive”.
FIFA declined to comment. The organisation previously told CNN that its “pricing strategy spans a broad range of price points and categories, reflecting market demand for each match”.
Earlier this month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta also requested information from FIFA “to assess whether California law may have been violated” during the sales process.
The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, with games played across all three countries, and begins on 11 June. The first match in New Jersey is on 13 June, with a total of 8 matches scheduled including the final on 19 July.
– CNN