Oh, now everyone cares about going to New Jersey. NJ Transit’s plans to ratchet up the price of a round-trip ticket from New York’s Penn Station to New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium to ~$150 during this summer’s FIFA World Cup has sparked an outcry, according to The Athletic.
The 18-mile rail journey normally costs $12.90 for a return ticket, so the roughly 1,163% price hike has shocked fans, who have few other options to get to and from the eight games hosted at MetLife Stadium—including the championship.
Now, it’s political:
- NJ Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who inherited the FIFA contract when she took office in January, released a video yesterday accusing FIFA of taking advantage of the state’s transit system by providing $0 to help offset the $48 million added cost for the event.
- But FIFA doesn’t typically help pay for transportation costs.
Big picture: The hundreds of thousands of World Cup fans expected to descend on the area in June and July are already feeling stretched thin by FIFA’s non-transparent, sky-high ticket prices. Even with nearly a third of tickets unsold, prices have reached record-breaking levels—with seats at some desirable games going for as much as $10,000 each.—MM
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