NEWARK: World Cup fans will have to pay $150, more than 10 times the normal price, for the fast round-trip train between New York and the Meadowlands stadium when it hosts the tournament’s final and seven earlier games, local officials said Friday, sparking outrage.
The 36-mile (56 km) round trip for visitors to the sports complex in New Jersey, just outside New York City, normally costs just $12.90.
“We’re going to charge $150 for our round trip on our system. So from New York to MetLife, MetLife back to New York,” said Kris Kolluri, president and CEO of NJ Transit, using a different name for the stadium.
Only 40,000 train tickets will be available for the eight games at the stadium, which usually hosts the New York Jets and Giants NFL teams.
But it will be even more expensive to drive.
Limited parking options at $225 a space will be available at the stadium for fans with disabilities and at an adjacent shopping center for other supporters, according to the Just Park website.
New York resident Guy Dixon, 42, told AFP “I feel it’s an embarrassment and a shame and it’s taking advantage of the fans.”
Trade debt
New Jersey’s newly sworn-in governor Mikie Sherrill defended the state transit agency’s policies, saying on X Friday that “Fifa put zero dollars into transporting World Cup fans.”
The deal between Fifa and the former New Jersey management “eliminated parking” at the stadium, requiring 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 is positioned to earn $11 billion during the World Cup.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also took to social media on Tuesday as the first reports emerged in The Athletic that Fifa would foot the bill for transport costs to World Cup venues.
But FIFA, which is already facing serious criticism over the skyrocketing cost of many match ticket prices, called New Jersey’s move “unprecedented”.
FIFA’s World Cup chief Heimo Schirgi said the move to “arbitrarily set inflated prices and demand that Fifa absorb these costs is unprecedented.”
“No other global event, concert or major sports organizer has faced such demand. While Fifa is expected to generate approximately $11 billion in revenue, not profit as the governor falsely claims, Fifa has always been a non-profit organization,” he added.
Fifa previously said the original host city agreements “required free transport for fans to all matches.”
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, fans could use the Doha Metro for free with their matchday tickets.
A renegotiation stipulated that transport would be offered “at cost” on match days, Fifa added earlier.
‘Insane’
A French supporters’ group called the award “absolutely insane”.
“Every day there is bad news about transport – you really have to wonder how far this madness will go,” said Guillaume Aupretre, a spokesman for the fan organization “Irresistibles Francais”.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul also took aim at the reported price increase.
“Charging over $100 for a short train ride sounds awfully high to me,” Hochul wrote on X.
About $100 million in U.S. federal funding has been awarded to host cities for transit network costs, including $8.7 million for Boston and Massachusetts, and $10.4 million for the New York-New Jersey area, according to local media.
This was told by the head of England’s Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), Thomas Concannon BBC “Every single thing that’s come out of this tournament so far is just fans getting fleeced.”
“The price is obviously astronomical compared to what you would expect to pay for a match,” he said on Friday.
“We didn’t expect to be hollowed out.”
