FIFA promised NJ free rides, paid nothing, and now wants to lecture us

The World Cup is coming to New Jersey this summer and I am supposed to be excited about it.

I have been waiting for someone in my life — a friend, a coworker, a listener — to tell me they are going. That they got tickets. That they cannot wait. I am still waiting. Maybe it is a generational thing. Maybe I am running in the wrong circles. But I have yet to meet a single person who is genuinely fired up about the World Cup coming to MetLife Stadium.

What I have met is plenty of people who are fired up about what it is costing us.

$150 for a 15-minute train ride

Let me make sure I have this right. A round trip train ticket from Penn Station to MetLife Stadium — a 15-minute, nine-mile ride that normally costs $12.90 — will run you $150 during World Cup matches. That is nearly twelve times the regular fare. No stadium parking is available. The shuttle bus option from Midtown will cost you $80 round trip. And if you want to park at the American Dream Mall nearby — already being presold at $225.

So before you have bought a hot dog or a warm flat beer at the stadium, you have spent somewhere between $150 and $300 just getting there and back. For a soccer game.

I can think of about a hundred things I would rather spend $300 on in New Jersey this summer. A great night in Cape May in July is one of them.

SEE ALSO: World Cup shocker: NJ Transit riders could get slammed with $100 train fares

How we got here

This mess has a history and it starts with FIFA — the organization that generates billions of dollars running the world's biggest sporting event every four years. When New Jersey agreed to host World Cup matches back in 2018, the agreements signed at the time called for free fan transportation to all matches. FIFA contributed zero dollars toward making that happen.

Zero.

The Phil Murphy administration signed those agreements. Now Governor Sherrill is holding the bag — a $48 million bag — with only $14 million covered by outside grants. NJ Transit, which is already chronically underfunded and financially troubled, is looking at a $48 million operational cost to move fans to and from MetLife for eight matches including the final.

Sherrill's position is actually defensible. She said NJ commuters should not subsidize World Cup ticket holders. That New Jersey taxpayers should not be left in debt for years because FIFA wanted a free ride. When she asked FIFA to cover the transportation costs — a completely reasonable request given the billions they generate — FIFA reacted with what their own spokesman called "displeasure." They said no other global event promoter had ever been asked to cover transportation costs.

Maybe that is because no other global event promoter promised free transportation and then paid nothing toward it.

NJ Transit and a crowd of 78,000

Here is what concerns me practically, beyond the money. MetLife Stadium holds 78,000 people. When the Super Bowl was played there in 2014 under similar no-parking conditions, NJ Transit struggled badly to move an estimated 33,000 passengers after the game. Platforms jammed. People waiting hours. It was a mess.

The World Cup expects 78,000 fans per match. Eight matches. Including the final on July 19.

If 2014 with 33,000 people was chaotic, do the math on 78,000 in the summer heat with fans from around the world who have never navigated NJ Transit in their lives.

Whose World Cup is this anyway

I understand the economic argument for hosting. Hotels fill up. Restaurants do well. The region gets exposure. Fine. But the people of New Jersey — the commuters, the taxpayers, the residents who never asked for this and had no say in the 2018 agreements that set this whole mess in motion — are the ones absorbing the cost and the disruption.

FIFA is making billions. They promised free rides. They paid nothing. And now they want to lecture New Jersey about a "chilling effect."

Save it.

My summer plans involve Cape May, Wildwood Crest and Strathmere. No $150 train rides required.