Maya Handa, World Cup Czar: Welcome everybody, welcome. My name is Maya Handa, the New York City World Cup Czar and we are so grateful to welcome everyone here today, including our fantastic mayor; our CEO of our host committee, Alex Lasry; Tim Weah; Mark McKenzie; CM Yusef Salaam; CM Selvena Powers; and so many others. From the first conversations that we had after I came on board, the mayor has been pushing for ways to make the World Cup more affordable to all New Yorkers.
Understanding deeply, as a soccer fan himself, how important it is to be able to experience the joy of the crowd, the group celebrations and the historic nature of the greatest sporting event in the world. This is a really exciting day, and I'm thrilled to introduce the mayor, who has been fighting for a more affordable city, [not only] for our rents and groceries, but also so we can afford the things we love. Please welcome Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. What a delight it is to be here together in Harlem, surrounded by so many soccer [and] football fans of the “world's game,” as we make an enormously exciting announcement. And I want to echo our World Cup czar, Maya Handa's acknowledgments of the CEO of FIFA World Cup 2026 New York-New Jersey host committee, Alex Lasry, who's here with us. We have our World Cup czar who has been intrepid in her fight for the fulfilling of a vision of this tournament that would match the magic that we know it can create. And I want to acknowledge also New York's very own Tim Weah, who's here with us. It is such a pleasure to have you; truly, truly a star, not just in this city, not just in the country, but in the world and to be here with you. It is just such an example of what we want this tournament to be for New Yorkers.
I'm proud to also be here with our City Councilman of this district, City Council Member Yusef Salaam. Our City Council member all the way from Southeast Queens, Selvena Brooks-Powers. And I want to also acknowledge the leaders who are standing alongside us, who are here with us, who are both leaders in our own administration, but also leaders across the city who have been organizing for the city we deserve [and] building the city, we deserve. And also, many of whom represent the African excellence in this city that we deserve. With that, we also want to acknowledge Harlem Tavern for hosting us here today. It's truly a pleasure. And I have to say, as someone who grew up not too far from here, it's lovely to be back at Harlem Tavern. I used to come here to watch soccer sometimes. Now it's great to actually be here to talk about it with all of you.
And, you know, as I've gone through everyone that we're acknowledging, I just want to take an extra moment about Tim Weah, who's here with us, who is someone who cares deeply about making the World Cup more affordable and someone who has given a platform to what so many have been talking and thinking about across the city and across this country. And I want you to know that everybody here in this city is going to be cheering for you in this tournament. We are so excited, truly.
Now, when talking about a World Cup that's only 21 days away, it feels only right that we stand here today in Little Senegal. And we know that if any of the teams are coming to this World Cup with a point to prove from the African continent, we know the Lions of Teranga are right there up there. And I've been told this many times, [but] I have no idea what it means, but "Senegal Rekk.” I pray that is appropriate to have said in this setting. Now I want to recognize all the fans of the West African nations who have qualified. I want to give it up for Côte d'Ivoire, who have qualified for this; for Ghana; for Senegal; last but not least, for Cape Verde. This will be the first World Cup that the Blue Sharks compete in, one of the smallest and least populated nations to qualify for the tournament.
And as I think about the journey ahead for Cape Verde [is] the magic that every New Yorker with Cape Verdean roots will feel, I cannot help but think back to memories of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea, where Senegal was participating in their first tournament. And I was 10 years old at the time, and I remember it as the first time that my father let me be late to school. Because we know that on-time attendance did not stand a chance against Pan-Africanism. And when I remember that tournament, what comes to mind to me is not Brazil lifting the trophy or Ronaldo's incredible haircut as he did so. It was the goal that Papa Bouba Diop scored against France in that opening game. It was Fabien Barthez scrambling to try and keep the ball out but not being able to.
And above all, it was the deafening roar that came from the Seoul World Cup Stadium. That stadium was full of fans, fans who had saved up to travel from Senegal and from France to support their teams. Working-class fans from Seoul who could afford to buy a ticket to the match. The cost of a category three ticket to that match was 150,000 won, or about $120. Not cheap, but within reach for a special occasion. And yet as we prepare to host the World Cup right outside of New York City, we know that ticket prices for this tournament have soared into the thousands of dollars. There are countless New Yorkers desperate to attend the World Cup match, who simply cannot afford to go. Many of them have somehow found my number and asked me if I can help them with Morocco [vs.] Brazil. There's nothing individually I can do for you, brother, but we are here to talk about something that we're proud to do together. Because last year, I said that we would change that. I said we had to make it cheaper for New Yorkers to attend these matches.
And today, I'm so proud to stand here alongside so many leaders in our city and in our region. To make it clear that we are doing exactly that. We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create. And that is why we stand together today to say that we have partnered with the New York-New Jersey Host Committee to secure 1,000 affordable tickets for New Yorkers to the World Cup. These 1,000 tickets are going to be split into batches of 150 tickets for each of the five group stage matches and two knockout round matches in New York-New Jersey, and tickets will cost only $50 bucks. To put that into perspective, that is five lattes in New York City.
And since it is not just ticket costs that make this tournament unaffordable, but the cost of travel as well, we will be providing free round-trip bus transportation to MetLife for those who get a ticket. I want everyone to understand your chance of getting these tickets is not impacted at all by who you know. We will be distributing these tickets through a lottery that opens this coming Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. New Yorkers may enter once a day and will cap it at 50,000 entries per day. This will be over the course of a few days. Now, I know that Philly fans may try to crash this lottery and get revenge for home games that the Knicks won. But New York is actually a sports town, and we are giving our tickets to sports fans. So, we will verify eligibility using a variety of methods to make sure that only New Yorkers are purchasing these tickets.
We want to open the tournament to working people who couldn't otherwise afford it, not to scalpers. That's why we're making tickets non-transferable, and we'll dispense them directly to winners at the bus boarding location. Brazilian New Yorkers are going to sit next to Moroccan New Yorkers. Ecuadorian fans are going to try and convince their German counterparts that Piero Hincapié can defend Serge Gnabry.
Our city will watch together, celebrate together, shout at referees together, respectfully, and share this tournament together. We are the first host city to organize an initiative like this. City Hall's commitment to tackling the cost-of-living crisis isn't limited to making it easier to afford home or childcare. It extends to making it possible for every New Yorker to take part in the things that make us human. Rest, joy [and] celebrating the French conceding from crosses in the box. On June 16, we will see Senegal play France yet again, this time just across the Hudson River. This will be the first time [the] two teams have competed since that match in 2002.
Somewhere in the world, a 10-year-old will be watching. It will be the first football match they remember when they are older. And when they remember that match, they won't only remember the goals that are scored, the tackles that are made, the saves that felt impossible. They'll also remember how loud the stadium sounded, how people cheered together, jumped up and down together [and] shared the beautiful game together. They'll remember a sport that felt like it belonged to everyone and felt like it could also belong to them. That is what we are delivering today, my friends. Thank you so much.
Now I know that our World Cup czar is emceeing this, and I will allow her to emcee the rest of this but I do want to just take the privilege for this next individual because, truly, this is a day that is only possible thanks to the partnership of the host committee and we are so appreciative of the meetings, the conversations, the phone calls [and] all of the time and effort that went into this because without you, we would not be able to announce this, so please join me in welcoming the New York-New Jersey host, CEO Alex Lasry.
Alex Lasry, CEO, New York-New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee: Well, thank you, mayor. This is a truly exciting day for the host committee, for the World Cup and I think for the region. I really want to start by thanking the mayor for his continued commitment to making this World Cup as accessible across our communities as possible. From the beginning, even before he took office, him and I spoke about the need to make sure that this World Cup was affordable and accessible to all New Yorkers. And today, the mayor is delivering on that promise, and we are excited to be a part of this and stand with him as he makes sure that all New Yorkers are able to experience the game that we love.
I also really want to thank Maya Handa, the “czarina” of the World Cup, for all that she's done. This and everything that we're doing wouldn't be possible without her, so I want to thank her and her entire team for everything that they've been able to do. I feel like I'm on enemy territory here in Little Senegal as a Moroccan. I do want to officially claim the AFCON championship is in its rightful home. See, thank you, thank you. And this is the fun of the World Cup. This is what it's supposed to be about. It's why we are so excited to make sure that New Yorkers are able to participate in what is going to be an exciting time.
In just under three weeks, we will be welcoming the world to our shores. We're expecting over 1 million people to come, over $3 billion of economic impact, and we have always strived to make sure that these experiences all across the region, whether [they’re] inside the stadium or outside, [are] going to be fun, affordable and accessible. And today, being able to announce the fact that we'll be able to provide 1,000 New Yorkers the chance to go to these games in an affordable and accessible way is very exciting, and something that we cannot wait to see the winners of and to be able to participate in this.
This has been something that we have been working on for a while, and we are very excited to be able to announce and bring this to life. So again, I want to thank the mayor. I want to thank his team. And I want to thank everyone who is looking forward to an incredible World Cup and who is going to make this the greatest World Cup that we've had. So, thank you guys. I'm looking forward to seeing you all in a few short weeks.
World Cup Czar Handa: Thank you, Alex, and we'll echo [that]: thank you so much to the host committee. And now I wanna welcome U.S. Soccer Star Tim Weah. Thank you so much.
Tim Weah: I just want to thank God first. I think this opportunity is really healthy for the community and for New York in its whole. I think as athletes, it's important to have a voice because we are the pillars of this community. We're the leaders of the next generation. And, you know, I think, you know, as a kid, it was always a dream to be up here and to be in stadiums playing. And if I can help the next kid get to that stage, I think it's a wonderful feeling. And the mayor has done an amazing job with making these tickets accessible to New Yorkers. And my job is to bring joy and to put smiles on faces. So, I'm going to do exactly that while standing by his side and making sure that we can make it easier on anyone. So, I am really happy to be here and thank you to you all for coming out.
World Cup Czar Handa: Now, we want to welcome CM Yusef Salaam.
Council Member Yusef Salaam: You know, may the peace, mercy and blessings from the owner of all peace, mercy and blessing be upon each and every one of you and your families. I was standing here, and it really was a moment for me because as a child, of course, everybody wanted to be Pelé. And back then I used to write hip hop songs about kicking my soccer ball all around the USA. And of course, having that joy interrupted by going to prison and being laid dormant for years, decades in fact. I couldn't help but realize that my son, Yusef Jr., who does not wanna learn how to play soccer officially. But let me tell you, he has a kick that is bananas. He loves soccer. He doesn't want to learn it. It's like in his DNA.
And the beautiful thing about welcoming this moment while I'm in office this term, wow. It's a moment. It's the moment that brings cultures together. It's a moment that brings issues together. We know that this is the greatest sport in the world, and therefore this is greatest stage to be on. And so, as a Councilman for this very district, representing Little Senegal, but not just Senegal. We are really the melting pot of a lot of Africans in our community [who] have oftentimes gone unseen. And let me tell you, they are excited; they've been calling our office, they wanna participate in watch parties, all of that good stuff and I believe that this is the moment to make sure that everybody is included, that everybody's lifted up and I'm just honored to really be here to say a few words. So, thank you, and may the peace, mercy, and blessings from the owner of all peace, mercy, blessings be upon you and your families. Thank you.
World Cup Czar Handa: Thank you so much. And now, representing the Rosedale Rockets, we want to welcome Council Member Brooks-Powers.
Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers: Good morning, everyone, it is such a pleasure to be here standing alongside Mayor Mamdani as well as our “czarina,” I think we've coined her now, Maya. As the young kids say, “clock it,” that's what they do these days, but it is truly a full circle moment here to be a part of this announcement in New York City, where we see the rising cost of living has continued to push out many families from the City of New York. We now have a mayor that has centered that conversation unapologetically. And from every corner and every conversation, it is front and center, including ensuring that New Yorkers can enjoy sports, right? We wanna make sure that when we host these major sports events, New Yorkers can be able to take full participation as well. And we know that soccer and what some people may call football, like in my parents' native land of Jamaica, West Indies.
We know how passionate people are about sports and, as it was said before, how people come together. And it's such a joy to have one of our own out of Rosedale representing the Rosedale Rockets and Timothy Weah. I know his family is here on this side: his proud uncle, Michael Duncan, his mom is here. This is a family celebration for the 31st Council District, and we are going to be rooting for our team all the way through and for all of the players that are bringing center stage in amazing sports. So, Mr. Mayor, thank you for continuing to center affordability and for making it attainable for 1,000 people in the city of New York. Thank you everyone.
Mayor Mamdani: But before we open it up to questions, I just want to take a moment to recognize all of the different jerseys that we have here, because it just gives you a glimpse into what this tournament means to New Yorkers, right? We have we have the Egyptian national team represented over there. I see the Tanzania national team. I see that Uganda national team, [and] the Kenyan national team. We have the Moroccan national team. Brother, what we got right here? The Eritrean national team over here. We got Bangladesh over here. We got Cameroon.
[Crosstalk.]
So, it's been a long, long time, and I just think, you know, what you can see and feel in so many New Yorkers are the memories that we have of World Cups from our youth. You know, I remember being a young kid in Kampala, Uganda, picking up a copy of the New Vision newspaper, the Daily Monitor newspaper, looking for the coupons, that if I collected eight of them, I would get a limited-edition World Cup ball from the nearby gas station. These are the kinds of things — when you're thinking about the Panini stickers, when you're thinking about all of the ways in which this tournament has been remembered by so many — that is what this summer offers for a new generation. And we heard it from one of the stars of our national team, that this is an opportunity to bring the next generation into the game. And as someone who grew up playing soccer in the city, we know that too often, there are too many cost barriers, not just to watching soccer, but even playing soccer. And we wanna make it as easy as possible for The World's Game to be enjoyed by everyone across the five boroughs. So, I just can't thank all of you enough for being here. I know now we will open it up to some questions.
Question: I'm wondering if you can talk about the application process, what it's going to look like, if there are questions — why people want to attend, where they land, that sort of thing — and then also how the spouse tickets are going to be, how the winners are going to be picked out of the production.
Mayor Mamdani: So, I'll just go through kind of the overall of it. So, these are 1,000 tickets. They'll be split into batches of 150. Those 150 will be for the five group games and then the two knockout round games in New York-New Jersey. Now, this will be open starting Monday at 10 a.m. until midnight for six days. You can sign up once a day for the lottery. We are capping each day's sign-ups at 50,000 [entries]. The only people that can sign up are New Yorkers. And we will verify that they are New Yorkers through a process that we have full confidence in. Each of these tickets will be $50. If you win the right to purchase this ticket, you will also win the rights to purchase an additional ticket.
So, it will be two tickets for you and a family member or a friend, whomever you wanna go with, and that is all going to be determined by anyone who enters this lottery. We are going to ensure that there is representation from each borough. Across the five boroughs. Otherwise, this is just simply a question of chance. And we want it to be something where every New Yorker knows that they don't need to have the number of an elected official or someone else that they view as closer to the World Cup.
This is just a question if you sign up and then it's just a question of crossing your fingers. And it's going to be also something that we're coupling with free round-trip bus transportation, because we know that the issues of cost when it comes to this World Cup have not been exclusive just to the question of the cost of the ticket, but also the cost of transit. And we're so excited, frankly, because we know that there are so many New Yorkers who thought that there was no way they could afford to go to this tournament, and now there is that glimpse of an opportunity. And we cannot wait to see who will win and who will be purchasing these tickets, because they will also show the magic of this tournament across the five boroughs.
Question: How much did the host committee pay for these tickets?
Mayor Mamdani: These are part of the conversations that we've been having with the host committee and the partnership that we built with the host committee over this time. I can tell you that there's no taxpayer funding going toward the allocation of these tickets. These are something that I really do want to attribute the work of so many for actually bringing to a realization.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: This is something that is part of those conversations, not any taxpayer funding.
Question: [Inaudible.] And then also, can you talk a little bit more about the eligibility checks that you're doing, because in the previous [inaudible] the problem, it seems like this, [you] are not able to verify how you are going to do that.
Mayor Mamdani: This is going to be a full process that we will be running through the link of this process just for New Yorkers, and don't worry, we will distribute this widely for everyone to know, is regnyctix.com, and what we are going to see there is just a verification process using standard verification procedures to ensure that someone is in fact a New Yorker. Part of the way in which we can also fight back against ticket scalping is that you can only receive your ticket in person before you board the bus. So, these are non-transferable tickets. These are not tickets that can then be bought and then flipped for a different price. I haven't spoken to anyone at Arsenal in the last few days. I can tell you, however, that as an Arsenal fan, I am still struggling to process that this has actually happened.
I spent a lot of hours at the end of the workday, looking at every video I could find of everyone celebrating outside of Emirates Stadium, seeing Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze, Jurriën Timber outside of the Emirates stadium at 5 a.m. celebrating with fans. So many people across the city were just overjoyed. And we might be all the way here in New York City, but I saw so many Arsenal fans with their jerseys. We didn't exchange any words. We just embraced. And that's the feeling. And I know that's the beauty also of sports. We're also chatting here about the World Cup, tonight's game too. We're all saying, “Let's go Knicks,” and I see I think we got a Knicks jersey in the crowd.
Question: I feel like you rigged this — Knicks, Arsenal — this is just your moment right now. I had an additional question about, the other component is also, this is such an amazing opportunity for New Yorkers everywhere, not just Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, everywhere. How are you preparing as well for the influx of tourists coming, and how can we do better to support small businesses as they get ready for that as well?
Mayor Mamdani: Absolutely. You know, I think you've said it best, which is that we want this a tournament — we want this to be a tournament for the entirety of New York City. And so, we are doing everything to ensure that when tourists come to this city, we are providing them with a map of the entirety of the way that they could experience the breadth and the beauty of the city. We put together a cultural passport that is going to be shared with tourists who come here to give them a sense of all of the different places they can go. It's not just Little Senegal. It's also Little Egypt. It's all of the littles, Little IT, it's everywhere across the five boroughs. And we also want them to understand that the magic of this tournament is one that we're going to be investing in elsewhere, so you can see our Fan Fests — they're going to one in each borough.
And I'll tell you, I think it was [in] the 2010 World Cup, I had the privilege of going to South Africa to watch a number of games, but before I went I was here in New York City, and there was a map that the New York Times put out of different places to go and watch the game if you wanted to watch it at a cafe affiliated with one of the games playing. The experience — it's just fundamentally different. That's what we want to unlock for so many here. We want this to be, as we heard from Alex, not only an economic opportunity for the region as a whole, but also for those small businesses. So, that cultural passport we're incredibly excited about, we're gonna be rolling out additional things in the days and weeks to come to keep people going everywhere.
Question: Could you tell us a little bit about the meeting with Gianni Infantino? Did you make this — I know you're trying to make this World Cup accessible for working-class New Yorkers. Is this something that came up in the meeting, and did you express the frustrations about the ticket prices, the price to the public transport in New Jersey? Is that something, can you give us any insights on how the conversation might go?
Mayor Mamdani: I've shared both publicly and privately my belief that the World Cup needs to be something that is affordable for working-class New Yorkers and working-class people in general. And I appreciate the work of FIFA and the host committee in ensuring that we are able to realize that not simply in these 1,000 tickets, but frankly also in the fact that we've been able to make these Fan Fests free. Initially these were going to be events that would be charged for attendance. We want these to be moments where New Yorkers can experience the thrill of the game. I was just speaking about going to the World Cup in 2010.
Some of my favorite memories are not crying when Luis Suárez stopped the goal-bound shot of the Ghanaian national team. Rather, it was when I was playing beach soccer with my friends at the Fan Fest in Durban, or as Winner Stays On. It was listening to K'naan's Wavin’ Flag mixed with Shakira's Waka Waka. These are all the Fan Fest experiences. So, we want to continue to unlock this tournament, and we appreciate any and all partnership to that end.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: So, I'll start on your first question, and then I'm going to go into your second one. On the first, we're talking about a summer here that is generational in many ways, not only in our city's hosting of the World Cup, but also the 250th anniversary of our nation that will be celebrated across a number of different events at its highest point on July 4. And I believe that any and all preparations the police are taking to that end are important, they are necessary, because what we want is not just that this be a fun summer, but also that this a safe summer and this be summer that we are fully prepared for, and I am confident in the preparations thus far. And to your second question about—
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: So, when it comes to the Charter Revision Commission, my administration and Law Department are continuing to consider all options. And we know that in Albany, we are reaching the finalization of this budget, and that will be part of the consideration as well.
Question: Just a quick follow-up, this specific option seems like it's on the table for you about the zombie [commission]. If that passes, just give us a sense, would that be something you'd take advantage of if the state [inaudible]?
Mayor Mamdani: I think it'll really just be something that we'll consider as part of a lot of the additional options the Law Department has been looking through when it relates to this revision commission.
Question: Can we get your reaction to the Council yesterday? Speaker Menin said she's going to advance this school buffer bill. Just again, can you walk us through your objections to the initial one? Is there a version if she removes some of those that you can support?
Mayor Mamdani: My objections to [Intro] 175B were grounded in constitutional concerns around the legislative language of that bill, as well as concerns that were raised by organized labor and a number of community groups across the city around the impact that it would have to their work, whether it be their organizing or their mobilizing; and a desire to both ensure that students are safe to access in and out of educational institutions and also that protest is sacrosanct; and a worry that the definition in some of the language was so sweeping that while we were extensively discussing educational institutions, it could also incorporate libraries, museums, teaching hospitals, things of that nature. When it comes to any new legislation, I haven't seen any specific language, and I would have to review that before coming to an assessment of it. I look forward to doing so. And I would also share that my commitment is to ensure that this remains a city where students are safe as they go to learn and that protest is something that continues to be protected in the city.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I've made very clear to our DOT that I want our streets to be the envy of the world. I want this to be a city where New Yorkers live and where others come and visit and they appreciate the ways in which we've made it easier to get around this city. And so that is a directive I've given. I think the proposals that our DOT continues to put forward across the five boroughs are ones that help to realize that. And I'll also say that that isn't actually an entirely separate topic from that of the World Cup, because we're also looking to make a number of investments in our street infrastructure that will be ready in time for the tournament, but will also last for weeks and months and years to come.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: I support my DOT across proposals across the five boroughs.
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