New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is once again calling for cheaper tickets to the World Cup.
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, appeared on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast last week, where he discussed the ticket prices for World Cup games in New York City, one of the host cities for the finals.
“What we’re seeing is that FIFA’s approach to the ticket process of the World Cup is both without precedent in their own administration of previous World Cups and is also an approach that will price out so many New Yorkers from actually being able to be in the stands,” he said.
Mamdani, a self-professed fan of the Arsenal Football Club in England, noted that a ticket to the final game when the global soccer tournament was last in the United States in 1994 cost less than $200 in today’s dollars.
“We are now, at face value, seeing tickets for more than $6,000,” he said. “It’s absurd.”
Mamdani recently called for 15% of tickets to be set aside at discounted prices for residents and asked FIFA, soccer’s governing body, to reverse a plan to set ticket prices based on demand.
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Fox News Digital reached out to FIFA for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The World Cup will be played across 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Eight matches, including the final, will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from New York.
FIFA’s plan to adopt a dynamic pricing model has sparked backlash among some fans, The Associated Press previously reported.
Tickets will start at $60 for group-stage matches and increase to $6,730 for the final, officials said earlier this month. However, pricing could fluctuate under the demand-based pricing model.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
