FIFA condemns the rise in transportation prices in New Jersey during the World Cup

FIFA denounced, on Friday, the high price of a round-trip train ticket, which amounted to 150 US dollars, to reach MetLife Stadium from New York during the 2026 World Cup, considering that this price was set “arbitrarily” and will have a “deterrent effect” on the fans.
The Director of Operations at the World Cup, Heimo Shergi, said in a statement that “setting arbitrarily high prices and demanding that FIFA bear the cost is unprecedented,” noting that “any organization organizing a global event, concert, or major sporting event has never faced such a demand before.”
He added that the “pricing model” adopted by the New Jersey Public Transportation Authority, which raised the price of a train ticket tenfold during the tournament, “will have a deterrent effect,” explaining that “this increase in prices will inevitably push fans to resort to alternative means of transportation.”
The trip between Penn Station and the stadium, a distance of approximately 30 kilometers, takes about half an hour.
For her part, the new governor of New Jersey, Mickey Sherrill, said that FIFA, which expects to generate revenues of up to $11 billion from the World Cup, “should bear the costs of transporting its fans.”
Shergi responded, saying, “FIFA is expected to achieve about $11 billion in revenues, and not in profits, as the governor incorrectly claims,” stressing that the international body is a “non-profit organization,” and that World Cup revenues “are reinvested in the development of football, especially for the benefit of youth and women, in various parts of the world.”
In its statement, FIFA also published a “sample” of train or metro ticket prices in other host cities, which ranged between $1.25 and $15. However, some cities, such as Atlanta and Philadelphia, are distinguished by the proximity of their stadiums to the city center.