NJ foots World Cup hosting bill of roughly $350M — NYC gets cheap ticket lottery

⚠️ New Jersey spent $350 million on World Cup hosting tied to MetLife Stadium.

➡️ NYC residents can enter a lottery for 1,000 World Cup tickets priced at $50.

🔴 NJ lawmakers now want answers about how taxpayer money was used.

Some New Jersey leaders are fed up with the state’s lopsided fiscal contributions in co-hosting eight World Cup matches this summer with New York.

Despite being renamed “New York New Jersey Stadium” by FIFA, all eight games including the World Cup final are being played at MetLife Stadium — just west of the Hackensack River not far off the New Jersey Turnpike.

After shelling out $300 million as a public investment to host World Cup matches, New Jersey also contributed $50 million directly to the NYNJ Host Committee.

Now, a lottery is opening only to New York City residents, offering 1,000 World Cup match tickets and free, roundtrip bus transportation for the extremely affordable price of $50 each.

On Thursday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the lottery was offered in “partnership with the NYNJ Host Committee.”

NJ lawmakers demand answers over World Cup ticket deal

New Jersey Republican Assembly Budget Committee members sent a letter to Host Committee Board Chair Tammy Murphy and CEO Alex Lasry, demanding answers.

““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,” Lasry said in the NYC joint release on the ticket lottery.

The four New Jersey Assembly members want an itemized accounting of expenditures, commitments and allocations as they relate to the $50 million of taxpayer money.

They also want to know terms of any agreement that led to the ticket purchase by the Host Committee and “subsequent gift” to New York City — urging a June 6 deadline.

“Unfortunately, in light of this latest revelation we can no longer confidently say New Jersey taxpayer interests are being served, let alone protected,” Budget Officer Brian Rumpf and Assemblymen Gerry Scharfenberger, Al Barlas and Michael Inganamort said in their joint letter.

They added the host committee has an obligation to the state that provided funding.

FIFA transportation dispute already fueled tensions with New Jersey

While Mamdani cited the host committee in announcing the ticket windfall — a likely key factor is FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Such a lottery would need FIFA’s approval, ESPN reported, citing unnamed sources.

Infantino met in-person in March with Mamdani, as reported by Yahoo Sports, surprising Mamdani with a Facetime with a player from his favorite team.

Infantino has never met with current Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

Instead, the two indirectly traded tense words back in April, over FIFA’s lack of funding for public transportation while New Jersey Transit faces an estimated cost of $48 million.

NJ Transit only runs event specific shuttle service between Secaucus Junction and Meadowlands Rail Station in East Rutherford.

Sherrill said her administration inherited the agreement (signed by Gov. Phil Murphy) in which FIFA contributed no money toward transporting up to 40,000 fans to each of the matches.

Read More: NJ's World Cup transport costs spark controversy

“We are quite surprised by the NJ governor's approach on fan transportation,” FIFA said in a statement, saying that traditionally host cities are “required to provide free transportation” for ticket holders.

The price for roundtrip rail service to each World Cup match was ultimately reduced to $98.

Read More: NJ Transit cuts World Cup train ticket prices to under $100

Congress members slam FIFA ticket prices as NJ frustration grows

Two of New Jersey’s Democratic Congress members slammed the New York City ticket lottery as nothing more than a distraction from FIFA’s inflated ticket prices.

“This publicity stunt does nothing to address the cost of tickets,” Congresswoman Nellie Pou,D-NJ 9th District and Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J. 6th District, said in a release on Friday.

Prices for World Cup matches on the FIFA resale/exchange market start at several hundred dollars a seat, while quickly soaring to tens of thousands of dollars for big matches.

FIFA also adds a 15% fee on the sale and another 15% on the purchase on its own marketplace.

“FIFA must respond to our inquiry on their questionable ticketing practices and take broader measures now, right now, to lower ticket prices for all the fans,” Pou and Pallone said in their release.

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