Bigger government is his gooooooaaaaaaal!
Zohran Mamdani unveiled a controversial petition Wednesday demanding that FIFA end dynamic pricing on World Cup tickets, reinstate a cap on resales and reserve 15% of tickets for local residents at a discount — calling it a big win for working class soccer fans.
“For far too long [FIFA] has looked upon these World Cups as opportunities for profit, as opposed to opportunities to extend this to the people who make this game so special,” the Big Apple mayoral race frontrunner said at a press conference.
“My commitment is to bring the world’s game to the people,” he said, speaking in the rain at a soccer field at St. James Park in The Bronx.
The Queens assemblyman first announced the balls-to-the wall plan Tuesday night ahead of next summer’s World Cup in New Jersey, which will feature a thrilling final game slated to be played at MetLife Stadium.
His petition, dubbed “Game Over Greed,” has drawn thousands of signatures since it went live Tuesday evening, according to the 33-year-old lawmaker.
The Democratic socialist soccer buff — who has also called for free childcare, free buses and rent freezes — held the press conference Wednesday linking sky-high ticket prices to his broader campaign message about the rising cost of living that’s driving residents out of New York.
“This is part and parcel of a larger affordability crisis in this city,” Mamdani said. “Whether we’re talking about soccer or talking about rent, it’s how do we put working people before the greed of corporations?” Mamdani said.
Mamdani’s push came the same morning FIFA opened registration for its Visa World Cup presale tickets, and the week after FIFA announced seats for the event will be sold using dynamic pricing.
The pricing model offers tickets that fluctuate with demand, which critics say could jack up the cost of prime seats to $6,700 each — roughly four times the price of 2022 final seats in Qatar.
Mamdani accused FIFA of prioritizing profit over access, noting the organization recently opened a new office in Trump Tower. He said FIFA’s record breaking revenue proves the organization is more focused on greed than safety.
“This is about greed at this point,” Mamdani said. “For FIFA to say that because ticket scalpers are going to be charging way above face value, let’s make sure that we can just become the ticket scalpers ourselves, I think it is a betrayal of the responsibility they have as stewards for the world’s game,” Mamdani said.
But Dana McClean, vice president and co-founder of the Coalition for Ticket Fairness, argued price caps push buyers and sellers into unregulated markets.
“In other markets especially you can see it consistently harms consumers and operators by driving tickets to unregulated markets,” McClean told The Post.
McClean said allowing resale platforms to set their own prices ensures safer transactions.
“Tickets will get resold whether you tell them 10% above or not,” she said.
— Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden
