The New York and New Jersey attorneys general have subpoenaed FIFA over concerns about misleading ticketing practices that have led to exorbitant prices for matches that will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The announcement from New York attorney general Letitia James and New Jersey attorney general Jennifer Davenport comes as part of a probe into how FIFA has been handling ticket sales for the men’s World Cup. Specifically, the AGs are looking into ticketing practices for the eight matches that will be held at MetLife, including the World Cup final on July 19. They are also looking into FIFA’s use of a dynamic pricing model, under which the cost of tickets change in real time based on demand and availability. The AGs are being supported in their investigation by the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
“New Yorkers have been waiting years for the World Cup to come to their backyard, and they deserve a fair shot at affordable tickets,” James said in Wednesday’s statement announcing the probe. “No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive.”
“Being honest about ticket sales is not complicated,” added Davenport. “But FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices – all at the expense of consumers and hardworking New Jerseyans.”
FIFA has come under fire from fans and politicians—even U.S. President Donald Trump suggested prices are too high when asked by the New York Post this month about $1,000 tickets to watch the U.S. men’s national team face Paraguay in its opening match in Los Angeles.
During a “limited” drop a few weeks ago, FIFA had a ticket to the final listed for nearly $33,000 on its official platform. Those limited drops, which began in April, have left fans waiting long hours in the virtual queue to find limited availability for games and high prices, especially for host nations. Fans have also reported being misled about the locations of the seats they were buying, the AGs said.
Citing “press reports,” they said between October 2025 and April 2026, FIFA “raised the price of tickets for more than 90 of the 104 World Cup matches, with prices for the three main ticket categories rising on average by 34%.”
Amid the soaring prices, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced last week that he negotiated 1,000 tickets from FIFA that will cost residents only $50 each. Those represent the cheapest tickets for the entire World Cup distributed through FIFA (not a secondary resale site), and the only cheap-ticket program negotiated by a host region’s government for the 2026 tournament. In past World Cups, FIFA allocated a portion of affordable tickets to local residents.
FIFA declined to comment.
