September 10 – Leading New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has called on FIFA to abandon dynamic ticket pricing at the World Cup with a ‘Game Over Greed’ petition.
FIFA starts the first phase of World Cup ticket sales today, applying dynamic ticket pricing, but Mamdani, the rising star of leftwing politics in the United States, has launched a petition to demand FIFA abandon that pricing strategy.
The petition says: “The biggest sporting event in the world is happening in our backyard and the vast majority of New Yorkers won’t be able to see it.
“The FIFA World Cup is coming to New York City next year. It’s an incredible opportunity for economic growth and community spirit in our city – but only if working class New Yorkers can actually attend the matches.
“This year, for the first time, FIFA is using dynamic pricing for ticket sales. They can raise prices, in real time, depending on how much profit they think they can make off of us. Those tickets can then be resold on an official FIFA platform with NO price cap – yet another method of gatekeeping the game. And to make matters worse, unlike for the past three World Cups, there are no seats set aside for residents.”
Dynamic ticketing sets the prices based on the demand shown by fans, but last summer the strategy yielded mixed results for FIFA at the Club World Cup with some tickets prices dropping as low as $13.40. The world governing body expects to make $3 billion in revenue from the 2026 World Cup ticket sales.
The Mamdani petition demands that FIFA abandon dynamic pricing, reinstate a cap on ticket resales and that 15% of tickets would be set aside for local residents at a discount.
The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey/New York will stage eight matches during the 2026 World Cup, including the final. FIFA revealed that tickets will start at $60 for the group stages but will cost up to $6,730 for the final.
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