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New Jersey’s transit agency has confirmed it will charge $150 for a return ticket to World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium this summer.
The price for a round-trip ticket from New York’s Penn Station to MetLife Stadium is typically $12.90. Reports this week of the elevenfold increase were met with outcry from fans and sparked a back-and-forth between New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, and world football’s governing body, with costs mounting across the board, including parking priced as high as $225 at the mall adjacent to the stadium.
NJ Transit and the New York/New Jersey host committee on Friday announced their plans for operations during the World Cup, which begins 11 June and runs to 19 July. MetLife Stadium will host eight matches, including the final. The $150 ticket will be a flat cost with no reduced options for children, seniors or people with disabilities. Fans will be required to buy a special NJ Transit World Cup ticket that includes a wristband for return travel, with departures from Penn Station assigned in time blocks and multiple security checkpoints along the route.
A round-trip bus service is also being offered for $80, with pickup from two spots in New York City and one park-and-ride location in New Jersey. That park-and-ride site, in Clifton, is expected to accommodate roughly 2,500 vehicles, with spectators required to complete their journey by shuttle bus. Tailgating will not be permitted at MetLife during the tournament.
This week, Sherrill said it would cost the state $48m to safely transport an estimated 40,000 fans to and from each match, and framed the ticket increases as necessary to avoid taxpayers shouldering those costs.
“In the Fifa World Cup agreement that my Administration inherited, Fifa put zero dollars towards transporting World Cup fans. It also eliminated parking at MetLife Stadium, putting the burden of transporting four times more matchday riders than typical for an event at the stadium on NJ Transit. This agreement will cost NJ Transit at least $48 million, while Fifa is positioned to make $11 billion during the World Cup,” she wrote in a post on Friday.
“As I have said repeatedly, Fifa should cover the cost of transporting its fans. If it won’t, we will not be subsidizing World Cup ticket holders on the backs of New Jerseyans who rely on NJ Transit every day.”
Fifa pushed back on Sherrill’s comments, saying transport issues had been discussed well before the World Cup and that NJ Transit’s pricing model would have a “chilling effect”.
“Ever since the host city agreements were signed in 2018, Fifa has worked in collaboration with the Host Committees and their partners to develop a transportation plan that provides efficient and accessible mass transit options for ticketed fans attending the eight matches at NY NJ Stadium. The goal is to minimize congestion, reduce reliance on private vehicles, and ensure the fan experience is positive and memorable defined by the action on the pitch, not delays on the road,” World Cup chief event operations officer Heimo Schirigi said in a statement first reported by Front Office Sports.
“The NJ Transit current pricing model will have a chilling effect. Elevated fares inevitably push fans toward alternative transportation options. This increases concerns of congestion, late arrivals, and creates broader ripple effects that ultimately diminish the economic benefit and lasting legacy the entire region stands to gain from hosting the World Cup.”
Schirigi also mentioned “our host city partners across the country who embraced this opportunity to showcase their region to visitors by providing low cost and often unchanged rates for mass transit to and from match venues, Fifa Fan Festival locations, airports and other areas critical to a positive fan experience”.
NJ Transit also confirmed that there will be no outbound service from Penn Station available to non-ticket-holders for four hours before the start of the MetLife matches, a move that could impact a wide swath of regular commuters. Four of the eight matches at MetLife will take place on weekdays. Officials said the system is designed to move roughly 40,000 spectators per match, including about 28,000 via Penn Station and another 10,000 on shuttle buses.
To mitigate disruption, NJ Transit said regular riders would be able to use Path trains and buses at no cost on affected days, with additional Path service planned and employers encouraged to allow remote work. Riders affected by service changes on two of the matchdays, 22 June and 30 June, will receive discounts that Sherrill said have been funded by the NJ/NY host committee.
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.
“Commuters in New Jersey should not carry the costs years into the future for a wonderful event, no doubt, but the fans that are going to the games should bear the cost, and that’s all we’re trying to say,” NJ Transit chief executive Kris Kolluri said at a media briefing on Friday, Front Office Sports reported.
With parking opportunities set to be drastically reduced from their typical size at concerts and NFL games, ticket-holders are being encouraged to take public transit to games across the 11 US host cities. In its announcement, NJ Transit noted there would be “no general spectator parking on [MetLife] Stadium property on matchdays”; limited premium parking is listed as available for $225 in an ADA lot or at the American Dream mall next door, a 17-minute walk from the stadium. That pricing will be subject to demand, with availability expected to be limited. Rideshare users will be directed to drop-off points at the Meadowlands racetrack, requiring a walk of roughly one mile to the stadium.
The costs of those trips 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.
Not every host city has followed the same approach. Kansas City earlier this week unveiled plans for $15 bus shuttles to Arrowhead Stadium for matches, while Philadelphia’s transit authority said it would maintain its $2.90 fares for riders going to Lincoln Financial Field.
