MW NYC's Mamdani boasts new $50 World Cup ticket program: 'That is five lattes in New York City!'

By Weston Blasi

World Cup ticket prices are down 22% over the past 60 days, according to one ticket-tracking website

FIFA World Cup tickets are expensive. But if you live in this lucky city, you might be able to get them for $50.

Soccer fans excited about the 2026 World Cup coming to the U.S. this summer have seen more headlines about ticket prices than legends like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland playing stateside. But New York City gave fans some good news Thursday.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the city has secured 1,000 tickets to upcoming World Cup matches at the nearby MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that will be just $50 each. The tickets will be spread across group-stage matches as well as knockout-round matches (excluding the tournament final), and will be up for grabs in a random lottery that New Yorkers ages 15 and up can enter.

Those $50 tickets are well below the current market price for matches in New Jersey, which range between $460 and $1,400 for the cheapest prices.

"As we prepare to host the World Cup right outside of New York City, we know that ticket prices for this tournament have soared into the thousands of dollars" Mamdani said at a press conference on Thursday. "There are countless New Yorkers desperate to attend a World Cup match, but who simply cannot afford to go."

The tickets will be given out through a multi-day lottery beginning on Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. Eastern. New Yorkers can enter the lottery once per day (capped at 50,000 total entries per day) at regnyctix.com, and the ticket cannot be sold or transferred, as the physical tickets will be given to fans on the day of the game.

Lottery winners will also be given free round-trip bus travel on gameday. Full-price bus tickets from Grand Central Terminal or the Port Authority bus terminal in New York to MetLife Stadium were recently reduced to $20 from $80 after fan outcry over the inflated prices.

While certain transit discount programs have been rolled out at some U.S. host cities, no cheap-ticket program like this has been announced anywhere else yet.

Read more: Prices for World Cup public transportation range from free to $150. Here's what's going on.

"We are making sure working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create," Mamdani added. "To put that into perspective, that is five lattes in New York City."

U.S. men's national team player Tim Weah also was present at the Mamdani press conference. Weah, 26, who was born in Brooklyn and plays for France's Ligue 1 club Marseille, said making these tickets more accessible is important for the next generation of fans, and makes it "easier on anyone" trying to enjoy the sport.

Mamdani had a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino at City Hall in Manhattan in March where he raised the issue of World Cup ticket prices. And along with the host committee for New York and New Jersey, he was able secure approval from FIFA for this discount-ticket program.

The program's announcement comes as the World Cup is just weeks away. The tournament runs from June 11 through July 19 and is being hosted in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, marking the first time the U.S. has hosted since 1994.

Much of the conversation around the World Cup has been around the high ticket prices, and FIFA's dynamic-pricing ticketing system.

Demand for the pricey tickets has been tepid so far, at least at the listed prices. Dozens of games have yet to sell out, notably Team USA's game against Paraguay on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

This has led to some price decreases over the past few weeks as the tournament draws closer. Tickets for some matches in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., dropped from $900 to $140. According to ticket-analytics website TicketData, World Cup ticket prices are down 22% over the past 60 days.

Christopher Anderson, a professor at Cornell's SC Johnson College of Business who has researched event operations and dynamic pricing, told MarketWatch there's a chance that prices could go back up in the near term, before falling again right before the World Cup begins.

"Most firms that use dynamic pricing have some U-shaped price history," he said. "Prices tend to be higher early on. In the middle is when there are deals to be had because there is a mismatch of supply and demand. Then prices get higher closer to the event, and in some cases prices may drop last-second, right at the tail."

As of publication, there were no 2026 World Cup tickets available for less than $150 on major resale platforms.

Read on: This Philly man has spent over $18,000 buying almost 100 Sixers-Knicks tickets for out-of-town basketball fans

-Weston Blasi

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May 21, 2026 16:01 ET (20:01 GMT)

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