NYC residents can enter lottery for $50 World Cup tickets
Mayor Mamdani announced the initiative in Little Senegal in Harlem. Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday announced that his administration had secured 1,000 World Cup tickets, which will be made available to New Yorkers for $50 through a lottery system. As first reported by The Athletic, 150 tickets will be distributed for each of the five group stage matches and two knockout round matches at MetLife. The $50 ticket includes free round-trip bus fare to the stadium. The lottery opens May 25 at 10 a.m. and closes May 30 at 5 p.m., with up to 50,000 entries accepted daily. Winners will be able to purchase up to two tickets each.
“A World Cup is coming to our backyard, and we want to ensure working-class New Yorkers have the opportunity to be part of it,” Mamdani said.
“We sat down with the Host Committee to make certain this tournament belongs to the people who make this city what it is. Today, 1,000 New Yorkers are going to get into those stands for fifty dollars and a free bus ride. I’m proud that New York City is leading the way.”
The tickets will be the cheapest offered for the entire tournament and the only affordable ticket program negotiated by a host city for this year’s competition. They will be located in the upper bowl of the 82,000-capacity stadium. Fans will not be required to provide income information, only proof that they live in the five boroughs.
Tickets will be valid for five group-stage matches on June 13, 16, 22, 25, and 27, as well as a Round of 32 match on June 30 and a Round of 16 match on July 5.
Mamdani, a lifelong soccer fan, has been a critic of the high ticket prices for the tournament. As reported by Front Office Sports, FIFA has listed tickets for the July 19 final on its official platform as high as $32,970.
On the campaign trail in September, he said FIFA was prioritizing revenue over accessibility, adding that the costs have a “real impact on the potential for the atmosphere of the World Cup,” according to The Guardian.
The initiative is being framed as a collaboration between the Mayor’s Office and the New York/New Jersey World Cup host committee, led by CEO Alex Lasry, rather than FIFA.
“This 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,” NYC World Cup Czar Maya Handa said.
“A kid in the Bronx, a security guard in Queens, a restaurant worker in Brooklyn or Staten Island—they are going to walk into the stadium this summer because their city fought for them to be there.”
FIFA has responded to criticism over ticket prices by releasing a limited batch of $60 tickets, accounting for roughly 1.6 percent of total tickets for sale. The federation had originally set $60 as the lowest price for World Cup tickets, but dynamic pricing has since driven costs significantly higher.
The cost of attending World Cup matches has not been the only financial concern tied to the tournament. When it released its final transportation plan, NJ Transit initially priced round-trip train fares to MetLife Stadium at $150. After the backlash, the agency reduced the fare to $105, and later to $98.
NYC has also reduced costs for round-trip bus tickets to the tournament. Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that, with financial support from the state and other sponsors, round-trip fares will cost $20, down from the previously announced $80.
The lottery opens at www.regnyctix.com on Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. and closes Saturday, May 30, at midnight. New Yorkers ages 15 and older can enter once per day for a chance to purchase tickets. To prevent scalping, tickets will be nontransferable and distributed directly to winners at the official boarding location on each matchday.
Randomly selected winners will be notified by email on June 3. Winners will have 48 hours to purchase tickets.
“Mayor Mamdani has been unwavering in his commitment to making sure New Yorkers could be part of this historic moment in a real and meaningful way,” Alex Lasry, CEO of the FIFA World Cup 2026 NY/NJ Host Committee, said.
“From the beginning, we pushed for a program that prioritized affordability and access for New Yorkers and worked closely together to help make that possible,” he added. “The World Cup will bring the eyes of the world to our region, and it was important to all of us that the people who define NYC could experience it firsthand.”
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