FIFA's 2026 World Cup ticket prices face pushback from NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani

NEW YORK – New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani criticized FIFA's ticket pricing strategy for the 2026 World Cup, calling for reforms to make the event more accessible to local fans. Mamdani launched the "Game Over Greed" campaign during a press conference at St. James Park in the Bronx, targeting FIFA's dynamic pricing scheme and other strategies on Wednesday -- the very day the ticketing process for the 2026 World Cup officially began.

Mamdani issued three demands -- that FIFA end the dynamic pricing scheme, place a price cap on the official resale platform that world soccer's governing body will use for the World Cup, and that 15% of all tickets be designated for local residents at a discount.

"This is all quite precedented," Mamdani said. "This is all in the way that they used to run their World Cups."

Fans interested in purchasing tickets for the World Cup can enter a presale draw that runs through Wednesday until Sept. 19. Only Visa cardmembers are eligible to join the first wave of the presale draw -- a detail Mamdani mocked in a Tuesday video to tease Wednesday's announcement. The issue hits close to home for residents of New York, a host region set to stage eight matches at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, including the July 19 final.

In a media briefing last week, FIFA said tickets would begin at $60 but the most expensive non-hospitality ticket for the World Cup final could be as high as $6,730. The cheapest ticket is not much more expensive than the price attendees had for a corresponding ticket at the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., which was $54.36 when adjusted for inflation. It is also on par for the opening price at the previous World Cup in Qatar, when prices began at $55.

FIFA hasn't disclosed how many tickets will be sold at the lowest price point, and the jump in pricing from 1994 and 2022 compared to next year's tournament is stark. The most expensive ticket for the 1994 final at the Rose Bowl was $1032.75 when adjusted for inflation, while the figure was $1607 at Lusail Stadium. That's without considering FIFA's new dynamic pricing scheme, which could see ticket prices increase even further.

"Unlike so much of what we've seen with dynamic pricing, this will not be algorithmically determined," Mamdani alleged. "This will be manually determined by FIFA. We are talking about fans who will get on a waiting list to buy a ticket and when they enter that waiting list, the price will be one amount and by the time they actually get to the point they can purchase the ticket, it could be two, three, four, five, six times as much."

Mamdani also used previous World Cups as an example on his other two demands. FIFA has previously allocated discounted tickets to locals and noted that in Mexico, resale prices will be capped because of local regulations.

"The announcement that FIFA would, for the first time in its history, use dynamic pricing is just one more example of how the world's game is now pricing out the very people that make it so special," he said. "What we are asking for in our Game over Greed campaign is just for FIFA to return to its own roots of selling tickets that have a little bit more to do with what people can actually afford than increasing their potential revenues by 400%."

A FIFA spokesperson told CBS Sports the ticket pricing reflects U.S. market norms and emphasized that the "resale platform will provide fans looking to sell or purchase tickets on the secondary market with a safe and secure method to do so, as permitted by U.S. legislation." FIFA has plans to reinvest over 90% of World Cup revenue into global football development, with the spokesperson noting that "without FIFA's financial support, more than 50% of FIFA's member associations could not operate."

The assemblyman said thousands have already signed a petition on his campaign website that went public on Tuesday evening, hoping the negative feedback will inspire FIFA to change course.

"A good friend of mine, assemblywoman Phara Souffrant Forrest, always reminds me that closed mouths don't get fed. If we don't demand that which people deserve, then we will simply allow greed to become the norm of not just sporting events but so much of what has characterized the joyful moments in people's lives ," Mamdani said. "I'm hopeful of the fact that these demands are not only going to reflect the broad support and popularity that they have across so many people but also show to FIFA that this World Cup could be far more than just a celebration of greed but instead a celebration of the game."

The mayoral candidate said this may only be the first step in his plans for the World Cup, should be be elected mayor of New York in November. A new New York Times and Siena College poll found that 46% of likely voters plan to vote for Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, in a four-way race, more than 20 points ahead of former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo, who is second in that poll.

"I've long been excited at the prospect of leading this city during the course of the World Cup and there are a number of plans that we'll be putting forward as to what the World Cup experience can mean for so many who come to visit us as well as those who already call our city their home and I will continue to push this campaign of game over greed amidst all of those proposals because we have to ensure that this something that people can actually afford to attend."

Mamdani, a lifelong soccer fan, fondly recalled attending the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as a fan, both in terms of the in-stadium and out-of-stadium experience, and cited that as an example he can pull from should he be elected mayor. He also believes that by pricing people out, the in-stadium experience will suffer.

"I am a lifelong soccer fan that has had the luck of attending a number of games and both in my own experiences but also in the experiences of others, just reading about how what used to be cauldrons of noise have now, at times, become libraries because of the ways in which so many of the most passionate fans have been priced out of being able to attend. And my fear is that FIFA's approach is one that will replicate that tendency that we've seen across the world," he said. "These are practices that are now taking place across sports and entertainment, practices of pricing people out and it's time for us to actually stand up and demand the game that people can afford to watch."