New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, has hit out at Fifa after reports her state’s transport system will charge $100 for a return ticket to World Cup matches this summer.
New Jersey Transit lists the price for a round-trip ticket from New York’s Penn Station to MetLife Stadium, which will host eight World Cup matches this summer, including the final, as $12.90. The new pricing, reported by The Athletic earlier this week, puts the return ticket at more than $100 with no reductions for children, seniors or people with disabilities. NJ Transit told Fox 5 New York that the price has not been finalized. A decision is expected in the coming days.
On Thursday, Sherrill did not clarify the cost of transport during the World Cup but blamed Fifa for any price rises.
“You may have seen some recent headlines about transportation costs for World Cup games in New Jersey,” Sherrill said in a post on social media. “So let me tell you exactly where things stand.
“Our administration inherited an agreement where Fifa is providing $0 for transportation to the World Cup. Zero. That leaves New Jersey Transit with a $48m to safely get 40,000 fans to and from every game. At the same time, Fifa is making $11bn off of this World Cup, and charging fans up to $10,000 for a single ticket for the final. I won’t stick New Jersey commuters for that tab for years to come, that’s not fair. So here’s the bottom line: Fifa should pay for the rides, but if they don’t I’m not going to let New Jersey commuters get taken for one.”
Sherrill said she would approve the fare increase if Fifa doesn’t intervene during her weekly radio call-in show on WNYC.
“I will, if that’s what it takes, because I’m not putting it on the back of New Jerseyans,” she said.
NJ Transit officials moved to formalize that position on Wednesday, when the agency’s board unanimously approved a resolution empowering chief executive Kris Kolluri to set World Cup rail fares at levels sufficient to “cover any and all costs” associated with transporting an estimated 40,000 fans to each of the eight matches.
“The governor said whatever the fare will be, it will not be cross-subsidized by our regular commuters,” Kolluri told NJ.com. “I’d think every NJ Transit customer would stand behind that. It will cost us $48m. We will charge Fifa fans for those tickets, and it will not be subsidized by our commuters.”
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani backed Sherrill’s stance in an interview with WPIX-11.
“It is part of a larger fact, which is that Fifa does offload a lot of its costs on to local municipalities, cities and states, and these are some of the kinds of measure they take,” Mamdani said. “I think that there a lot more that we could be doing in partnership with Fifa to make this a more affordable experience for everyone.”
Fifa pushed back on Sherrill’s comments, saying transport issues had been discussed well before the World Cup.
“We are quite surprised by the NJ Governor’s approach today on fan transportation. The original Fifa World Cup 2026 Host City Agreements signed in 2018 required free transportation for fans to all matches. Recognizing the financial strain this placed on the host cities, back in 2023 Fifa adjusted the Host Agreement requirements across all host cities as follows: All Match Ticket holders and accredited individuals shall be able to access transport (public or additionally planned transport) at cost to allow travel to Stadiums on match days,” Fifa said in a statement.
“Fifa worked for years with host cities on transportation and mobility plans, including advocating for millions of dollars in federal funding to support host cities for transportation.”
Sherrill, a Democrat, was elected New Jersey governor last year. Affordability was a key issue during her election race, and she has already announced the cancellation of the planned $5m fan festival at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. The funds will instead be used to stage smaller watch parties and events throughout the state.
Transit costs at this year’s World Cup have been widely discussed, alongside the sky-high prices of match tickets. The Massachusetts transit authority has raised its prices for travel from Boston to Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium from $20 to $80.