Last week, Democratic Mayoral candidate for New York City, Zohran Mamdani, released a video highlighting the international governing body of Football (Soccer), FIFA’s (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) ticketing plan for the 2026 World Cup. The premier international Men’s Football tournament will take place next summer in 16 cities around Canada, Mexico, and the United States with NYC designated as one of the ‘host’ cities for matches being played across the Hudson River in East Rutherford, NJ. In the roughly minute long video, Mamdani is seen dribbling around a caged pitch in the city outlying FIFA’s plans, as reported in various legacy media sources to: introduce dynamic pricing to increase ticket prices with ‘demand’, funnel ticket re-sale through an official FIFA platform without a price cap and the elimination of setting aside some portion of tickets for local fans. The candidate here is equal parts Sunday league player and fan, asking viewers to sign a petition to reverse this new ticket sale rollout.
New York City, in particular, is no stranger to expensive sporting events, with local teams like the Knicks and Yankees seeing astronomical entry prices for meaningful games. Just a few weeks back, the U.S. Open drew headlines and social media buzz for the corporatization and lavish indulgence of ritualistic consumption that rivaled that of the on-court competition. Atmospheres for most of the matches were devoid of engaged fans, a phenomenon that FIFA will likely try to replicate to avoid the scenes of the 2025 Club World Cup. Featuring some of the most historic and followed domestic football clubs from countries spanning the FIFA governing world, the Club World Cup was brought to the United States as a sort of preview and trial for 2026. The Football world could not help but notice the empty seats that littered most of the tournament. FIFA was forced to ‘dynamically’ lower ticket prices from almost $500 to less than $15 over the course of 3 days for the Chelsea and Fluminense football clubs’ semi-final at MetLife Stadium, home of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final. This is in stark contrast to the game most fans watch when taking place domestically outside of the United States. Atmospheres reverberate through screens and speakers as fans can make out and sing along with crowd chants at home from their couches. FIFA and its European continental sub-body UEFA often receive pushback from fans regarding ticket prices and allocations for Champions League matches, with the expectation that many fans will travel across borders to support their clubs/countries in person, filling stadiums on weeknights.
New York is also no stranger to politicians speaking on the plight of local fans who want to cheer their favorite teams and athletes on in person. New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, released a consumer alert, advising Knicks fans to steer clear of non-authorized (unofficial) ticket resellers to avoid being ‘scammed’. The overwhelming issue for working-class fans here is not actually potentially being scammed. It is the seemingly insatiable appetite of corporate interests and collaborative governing bodies of sports and sports teams to extract the absolute top dollar amount from fans. The results are dull or inappropriate atmospheres that dually affect the TV/streaming viewing experience. With profitability and payouts in sports higher than ever because of TV/streaming and marketing deals, to the point of FIFA giving the rights to Fox and Telemundo without any bidding process, the question is whether any of this actually matters to those setting ticket sale plans and marketing the game. Mamdani’s attempt to mobilize local New York City area fans and potentially the country’s football (soccer) fans is a necessary first step in getting an answer to that question.
Julian Lattimore is a project manager at RLS–NYC, focusing on labor, racial justice, and housing rights.
Top photo: Zohran Mamdani’s campaign
