England fans’ group says cost of train fare to World Cup final venue is unfair
An England fans’ group says the cost of a train to the World Cup final venue from central New York remains “far too high” amid reports it has been reduced.
The Athletic reported on Thursday that NJ Transit had dropped the price of a return journey from Penn Station in New York to the MetLife Stadium from 150 US dollars (£110) to 105 US dollars (£77), thanks to sponsors and other private entities subsidising the cost.
The Football Supporters’ Association’s Fans’ Embassy service for travelling fans said the reduction did not go nearly far enough.
“Now imagine it was announced initially as 105 US dollars, the reaction would still have been the same. It’s still far too high, and this is hardly changing the situation for supporters,” the group said on its Free Lions account on X.
The train fare usually costs just under 13 US dollars (£9.50). NJ Transit’s media department did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Thursday.
The governor of New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill, was insistent last month that taxpayers in her state would not shoulder the 48million US dollar (£35.3m) cost of the World Cup transport and said “FIFA should pay”.
FIFA’s chief events operations officer for the tournament, Heimo Schirgi, responded by saying NJ Transit’s initial pricing risked creating “chilling effect” and would push fans away from public transport and add to congestion.
FIFA initially insisted in the World Cup bidding agreement document that host cities should provide free transport to fans, before updating that in 2023 to stipulate that transport should be provided “at cost”.
As well as the final, the MetLife Stadium will also host England’s final group game against Panama on June 27.
FIFA has faced criticism itself for the cost of match tickets, and for adopting a dynamic pricing strategy.
Its president Gianni Infantino, again defended the approach it had taken at an event in Beverly Hills this week.
“In the US, it is permitted to resell tickets as well, so if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price and as a matter of fact, we have 25 per cent of the group-stage tickets which can be bought for less than 300 dollars.
“You cannot go to watch in the US a college game, not even speaking about a top professional game of a certain level, for less than 300 dollars. And this is the World Cup!”
FIFA opened a further World Cup ticket sales window on Thursday, having opened a ‘last-minute sales’ window on April 1 which it described as the “fourth and final” sales phase which would remain open until the end of the tournament.