NEWARK: World Cup fans will have to pay $150, more than 10 times the normal price, for the round-trip fast train between New York and the Meadowlands Stadium, which will host the tournament final and seven previous matches, local officials said Friday, sparking outrage.
The 35-mile round trip for visitors to the New Jersey Sports Complex, just outside New York City, usually costs just $12.90.
“We’re going to charge $150 for our round-trip ticket on our system. So New York to MetLife, MetLife back to New York,” said Kris Kolluri, president and CEO of NJ Transit, using another name for the stadium.
Only 40,000 train tickets will be available for eight games at the stadium, which usually hosts the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants.
But driving will cost even more.
Parking options limited to $225 per space will be available at the stadium for disabled fans and at an adjacent shopping center for other fans, according to the Just Park website.
Guy Dixon, 42, a resident of New York, said AFP “I feel like it’s embarrassing and shameful, and it benefits the fans.”
Commercial blame
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, newly sworn in, defended the policies of the state’s public transportation organization, saying on Friday that “FIFA has not dedicated a single dollar to transporting World Cup fans.”
The deal between FIFA and New Jersey’s previous leaders also “eliminated parking” at the stadium, forcing the rail service to transport four times as many fans as it usually does, she said.
“This deal will cost NJ TRANSIT at least $48 million, while FIFA stands to make $11 billion during the World Cup.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also wrote on social media Tuesday, as first reports appeared in The Athletic, that FIFA should foot the bill for transportation costs to World Cup venues.
But FIFA, which already faces harsh criticism over the exorbitant cost of many match tickets, called New Jersey’s decision “unprecedented.”
Heimo Schirgi, chief operating officer of the FIFA World Cup governing body, said the decision to “set arbitrarily high prices and demand that Fifa absorb these costs is unprecedented.”
“No other major global event, concert or sports organizer has faced such demand. Although Fifa is expected to generate around $11 billion in revenue, not profits, as the governor falsely claims, Fifa has always been a non-profit organization,” he added.
Fifa previously said initial agreements with host cities “required free transport for supporters to all matches”.
During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, fans could use the Doha Metro for free with their day tickets.
A renegotiation stipulated that transport would be offered “at cost price” on match days, Fifa had previously added.
‘Mad’
A group of French supporters described the price as “completely crazy”.
“Every day there is bad news about transport. We really have to wonder how far this madness will go,” declared Guillaume Aupretre, spokesperson for the “Irrésistibles Français” supporters organization.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul also took aim at the reported price hike.
“Charging over $100 for a short train ride seems awfully high to me,” Hochul wrote on X.
According to local media, some $100 million in U.S. federal funding has been allocated to host cities to cover transit system costs, including $8.7 million for Boston and Massachusetts and $10.4 million for the New York-New Jersey region.
The head of the Football Supporters’ Association of England (FSA), Thomas Concannon, told the BBC “Everything that has come out of this tournament so far is just fans getting ripped off.”
“The price is obviously astronomical compared to what you would expect to pay for a match,” he said Friday.
“We didn’t expect to get ripped off.”
