As the World Cup draws nearer to its June 11 kickoff, politicians in the U.S. are sounding the alarm on FIFA’s ticket prices.
Fans have protested World Cup pricing since the fall, but FIFA’s recent “limited” ticket drops during its “last-minute” sales window, which began in April, are sparking further outrage. They’ve left fans waiting long hours in the virtual queue to find limited availability for games and high prices, especially for host nations.
During a “limited” drop on Thursday, FIFA had a ticket to the final listed for nearly $33,000 on its official platform.
The mayor of New York City, members of Congress, and even the president are criticizing FIFA for its strategy.
A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s press office tells Front Office Sports that the mayor is in “active negotiations with FIFA” over ticket prices.
New Jersey is hosting eight World Cup matches including the July 19 final across the river from New York City, with serious tournament contenders like Brazil, France, England, Morocco, Senegal, and Germany all coming through during the group stage.
“Working class New Yorkers should not be priced out of one of the biggest sporting events in the world while it’s happening in their own city,” the spokesperson said. “FIFA has set the highest World Cup ticket prices in history. Mayor Mamdani believes we should be ending dynamic pricing and capping resale prices.
“The beautiful game belongs to everyone. That’s why the Mamdani administration is in active negotiations with FIFA to secure affordable tickets for New Yorkers to experience the tournament in person.”
FIFA did not respond when asked to confirm the negotiations.
Even President Trump seems to think the prices are too high. When asked by The New York Post late Wednesday about $1,000 tickets to watch the U.S. Men’s National Team face Paraguay in its opening match in Los Angeles, Trump said “I haven’t seen that, but I would have to take a look at it.”
“I did not know that number,” Trump said. “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you.”
“If people from Queens and Brooklyn and all of the people that love Donald Trump can’t go, I would be disappointed, but, you know, at the same time, it’s an amazing success,” he said. “I would like to be able to have the people that voted for me to be able to go.”
“I know that is extremely successful,” the president said of FIFA’s claims that it has sold 5 million tickets. “Setting every record in the book. They’ve never had anything like it.”
The White House did not respond to questions from FOS on Wednesday about whether Trump or his World Cup Task Force are working with FIFA to bring down ticket prices.
But the head of that group, Andrew Giuliani, told the Financial Times that “the market will dictate the price.”
“We look to FIFA as a private entity here, we don’t really believe in price controls,” Giuliani said. “That’s kind of like what dynamic pricing can do.”
“It actually shows just how sought-after it is to come to the United States for a World Cup.”
Rep. Nellie Pou (D., N.J.), whose district includes MetLife Stadium and has been vocal on several World Cup-related issues, sent a letter to FIFA on Thursday along with Rep. Frank Pallone (D., N.J.). The message blasted FIFA for its dynamic pricing, manufacturing “artificial scarcity” in the market with the repeated “limited” drops, misleading seat maps, and taking a 15% cut from both buyers and sellers on its resale site, and demanded answers to a series of questions by May 22.
When FOS entered FIFA’s ticket drop on Thursday, prices for U.S. matches, excluding ADA-compliant seats, were set at the following levels:
The “Front” tiers are new levels created by FIFA this spring that take precedence over other seats in Categories 1 and 2, which were previously the highest tier of tickets available. The move has been highly criticized by fans who paid for Category 1 and 2 believing they would be getting the best seats in the building, only to be placed behind a new category of seats.
Group stage matches featuring the three host nations have consistently been some of the most expensive of the tournament, and those prices have increased from where they were initially set in the fall. But this strategy has not translated to sales. One user on X posted a screenshot of 132 tickets available in one section alone for the U.S.–Turkey match.
Prices also remained high on Thursday for openers for the Mexican and Canadian teams. For Mexico’s opener against South Africa, the only available non-ADA seat was a $2,985 Category 1 ticket.
Canada’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina was priced at $3,360 in Front Category 1, $2,240 in Category 1, $1,645 in Category 2, and $980 in Category 3.
For the July 19 final in New Jersey, the options were $32,970 for a Front Category 1 ticket, or $10,415 for a Front Category 3 ticket.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the high ticket prices earlier this week, saying “we have to apply market rates,” and that 25% of group stage match tickets cost less than $300.
“You cannot go to watch in the U.S. a college game, not even speaking about a top professional game of a certain level, for less than $300,” Infantino said. (A spokesperson later said he was referring to college football.). “And this is the World Cup.”
Infantino also stressed that it does not control prices on its official resale platform. But prices have actually been falling on secondary resale sites, multiple outlets have reported.
In addition to high ticket prices, New Yorkers traveling to games at MetLife Stadium are shelling out on transportation. Fans have two main ways to attend the game: they can ride the host committee’s $80 bus, or take New Jersey Transit for $105 round-trip. Other host cities with high World Cup transit costs include Boston, whose train will be $80, and Miami’s Brightline, which will be $151.
Mamdani has been an outspoken critic of FIFA’s pricing for the World Cup since before taking office in January. In September, the then-candidate said FIFA should get rid of dynamic pricing, put a cap on resale tickets, and set aside 15% of tickets for locals.
“We know that FIFA, they’re supposed to be stewards of the world’s game, and yet for them, it has increasingly just become a question of profit,” Mamdani said in an interview with FOS last year.
Also on Thursday, FIFA released the first batch of “host city jerseys” with artful designs paying tribute to the hosting regions that also feature a Non-Fungible Token component. The jerseys are priced at $375 each.
The post Politicians From Mamdani to Trump Furious at World Cup Prices appeared first on Front Office Sports.
A proposed bill moving through the North Carolina General Assembly would limit how much the public can learn about name, image and likeness, or NIL, funding available at the state's public universities.
Lawmakers discussed Senate Bill 229 on Wednesday during a meeting of the Higher Education House Standing Committee. While current law already prevents public access to individual student-athlete NIL contracts, the measure would go further by restricting access to information on how much NIL money UNC System schools have available overall.
"Sports are not a partisan issue," said Rep. Wyatt Gable, a Republican who represents Onslow County.
Gable said the legislation is aimed at protecting state schools in an increasingly competitive recruiting landscape.
"If (opposing schools) were able to see how much money you're spending but you can't see their (spending), you're obviously at a disadvantage right there. Really, this is trying to make an even playing field and do the best we can for our universities here," Gable said.
Gable noted the bill focuses on private donations made to NIL collectives.
"Say an NIL fund gets in a million dollars, people can easily say they're probably going to spend X amount on football, basketball, and baseball, and they'll still have a sense of it. That still puts (North Carolina public schools) at a disadvantage, especially when you look at other states where they're hidden or a private university where it's hidden as well. They don't have to disclose it," Gable said.
There are five FBS schools in the UNC System: Appalachian State University, East Carolina University, NC State University, UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Craig Dye, the CEO of Ahead Sports Group, said limiting public disclosure could also benefit student-athletes.
"Exempting it from the public records for the public schools is better for the athlete because that gives them a clean slate in negotiating with another school," Dye said.
Outside the NIL section, the measure would also allow graduate student-athletes who are from out-of-state to be considered residents for the purposes of full scholarships. Ultimately, a school's respective Board of Trustees would need to elect to do so.
Further, the bill would expand the permitted sale of alcoholic beverages in connection with college sports events and remove limitations on certain raffles conducted by the University of North Carolina or nonprofit organizations affiliated with a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina.
SB 229 passed out of the Higher Education House Standing Committee and was referred to the Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Standing Committee.
Critics feel the information surrounding NIL funding should be publicly available, citing the high value of some of these deals.
"It could be soon that the highest-paid people on the campus and otherwise are going to be student-athletes. And we don't have any exemptions for coaches' contracts," said John Bussian, Legislative Counsel to the NC Press Association, who delivered public comment during Wednesday's committee hearing.
This proposal comes as NIL deals continue to reshape college athletics, with increasingly expensive rosters, especially in football and men's basketball.
"It's not a game anymore. It's a business," said Kevin Gibbs, a former college basketball player who now coaches at IV Greatness Academy.
Gibbs said the effects of pay-for-play are also being felt beyond college campuses.
"On a youth level, parents are investing a lot more, and because they're investing a lot more, they're expecting a lot more from their kids. And so they're putting a lot of pressure on coaches, trainers," Gibbs explained.
Gibbs said parents would benefit from a clearer understanding of how NIL works and how few athletes ultimately receive such opportunities.
"The reality is, there's less than 3% of kids that's actually even going to play NCAA basketball and much less than that's even going to get NIL," Gibbs said.
According to the NCAA, from January to July 2025, the average disclosed value of a NIL deal was $3,995, while the median disclosed value was $48. Separately, the average total athlete earnings were $21,082, while the median total athlete earnings were $703.
Gibbs encouraged student-athletes to focus on the bigger picture.
"Maybe you just get into a small (Division) III college or a junior college. That might be your path to success to articulate yourself. Find out what it is that you want to do in life and who you want to be," Gibbs said.
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