May 26 \u2013 New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has secured a rare concession from FIFA, negotiating 1,000 World Cup tickets priced at $50 to be distributed by ballot exclusively to\u00a0local residents, making it the only citywide access programme of its kind at the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tickets cover seven matches at MetLife Stadium in neighbouring New Jersey, including five group-stage fixtures, a R32\u00a0and R16\u00a0tie, but not the July 19 final. At $50, they are the cheapest seats available on FIFA\u2019s primary market, and winners will also receive free round-trip bus travel. By comparison, Category 3 seats for the R32\u00a0match\u00a0were priced at $280 and the\u00a0R16 at $415.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mamdani, as part of his\u00a0mayoral campaign, demanded FIFA abandons\u00a0dynamic pricing, caps\u00a0resales, and reserves\u00a015 per\u00a0cent of tickets for\u00a0local residents\u00a0at a discount. The ballot opened yesterday\u00a0with up to 50,000 daily applicants. Winners, drawn at random,\u00a0may\u00a0purchase\u00a0up to two non-transferable tickets each, issued only on match day to prevent resale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis program exists because the mayor was determined to make sure working New Yorkers would be in the stands when the World Cup comes home to New York,\u201d said Mamdani\u2019s World Cup czar Maya Handa. \u201cA kid in the Bronx, a security guard in Queens, a restaurant worker in Brooklyn or Staten Island \u2014 they are going to walk into the stadium this summer because their city fought for them to be there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sources said FIFA was initially reluctant, wary of setting a precedent allowing local politicians to create parallel discounted markets. The deal also wobbled over the region\u2019s transit costs before host committee CEO Alex Lasry, backed by Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul, helped force them down.\u00a0<\/p>\n