Sticker shock is still setting in over the sky-high ticket costs for trains and buses to this summer’s World Cup games in the Meadowlands.
NJ Transit is charging $150 for round-trip train tickets to MetLife Stadium for spectators. State leaders say the costly trips are needed to ensure tourists, not New Jersey taxpayers, are shouldering the $48 million they say it will cost to move people to and from the eight games in the Meadowlands.
Now a quartet of area Democratic congressmembers have joined growing calls for FIFA to help pick up the tab.
Rep. Nellie Pou and Rep. Rob Menendez of New Jersey joined Rep. Jerry Nadler and Rep. Dan Goldman of New York in writing a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino demanding the organization subsidize the transit costs in New Jersey.
“While we are eager to welcome the tournament to New York and New Jersey, the tournament’s success depends on access to our transit infrastructure, the cost of which is becoming prohibitive for too many spectators,” the letter reads. “Given the revenue that FIFA will generate from these games, it is incumbent on the organization to subsidize transportation costs to allow global citizens to take in the most popular sporting event in the world.”
FIFA, a nonprofit, expects to bring in more than $11 billion in revenue from this year’s World Cup. The organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has led demands for FIFA to chip in on transit costs.
“When it comes to moving people into the game at the FIFA World Cup, and FIFA intends to make about $11 billion on this, they need to defray some of this cost,” Sherrill said earlier this month on WNYC’s “Ask Governor Sherrill” call-in show.
The organization previously told Gothamist it was surprised by the high ticket costs set out by NJ Transit, and by demands that it subsidize trains and buses. FIFA has noted that the initial hosting agreement signed in 2018 required free transit to all matches for fans, and that was amended in 2023 to require transit be provided at cost.
NJ Transit officials have said that the announced prices are the cost for serving the event.
The New York New Jersey Host Committee is providing shuttle bus service to the games for $80 per round-trip ticket. The committee is also putting up money to cover discounts on NJ Transit tickets for commuters on game days, when travel between New Jersey and the city is expected to be severely disrupted.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect which organization is selling shuttle bus tickets for the World Cup games.
