A thousand fortunate New Yorkers will have the opportunity to attend the World Cup at Major League Soccer prices, first-year Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Thursday. Speaking to a crowd in Harlem's Little Senegal neighborhood alongside US men's national team players Tim Weah and Mark McKenzie, Mamdani revealed that the city will receive approximately 150 tickets per game for seven of the eight World Cup matches scheduled at MetLife Stadium. A lottery, open to any of the city's roughly 8 million residents, will determine the recipients of these tickets.
The best part: Lottery winners will pay just $50 for their World Cup tickets. 'To put that into perspective, that is five lattes in New York City,' Mamdani told the crowd in Harlem. More precisely, the $50 tickets represent a roughly 97-percent discount compared to the next cheapest World Cup tickets at MetLife, which are currently hovering around $1,800 for the Norway-Senegal match on June 22.
However, not everyone was on board. Critics took to social media to express their discontent. '9MM people in the city, and this dude is parading around on social media for 1000 tickets,' one critic wrote on X. 'Great use of time.' Another critic baselessly accused the Shia mayor of discrimination, writing, 'They will all go to Muslims only.' Others questioned the legality of using taxpayer money for the initiative.
In many cases, the critics were misinformed. First, New York City did not purchase the tickets. Rather, they were donated from a pool of tickets allotted to the New York-New Jersey host committee, according to Mamdani's office. Many others claimed the tickets would quickly be resold on the secondary market, but Mamdani's office has addressed that concern: All tickets will be non-transferrable.
'We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create,' Mamdani said. The city also has ways to verify residency for lottery participants, Mamdani explained, noting that passes will be distributed as lottery winners arrive at the bus. Ticketholders will also receive free transportation to and from the game.
Despite the tickets and transportation, some Mamdani critics remained unimpressed. 'You didn't get cheaper tickets for New Yorkers, you started a contest to win cheaper tickets,' one critic wrote on X. 'What kind of narcissistic BS is this?'
However, others were more supportive. 'Somehow MAGA is gonna find a way to hate on this,' one Mamdani supporter wrote on X. 'Best mayor in generations, exactly the kind of leadership this city needs.' Another fan joked about the self-described democratic socialist, 'Bloody communist helping improve his city for those that live in it. Disgusting.' One fan described Mamdani's move as 'what football should be about.' 'Making World Cup tickets affordable for regular fans instead of only corporations and resellers is a huge win for the city,' they wrote.
The lottery begins on May 25.
