Word that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has secured 1,000 FIFA World Cup tickets to offer locals at a reduced rate of just $50 per seat has residents of other host cities wondering if a similar discount could be in the offing. In Vancouver, the municipal government holds approximately 9,000 match tickets that range from general admission seats to suites, according to the city’s host committee. “Of these, approximately 1,600 were provided to the city by FIFA as part of the Host City Agreement, and 7,400 were purchased by the city,” a committee spokesperson told CTV News in an email. No elected officials—including Mayor Ken Sim—will be receiving complimentary tickets from the committee, nor will any city staff members, the spokesperson noted. But how will those thousands of tickets be used? According to the committee, the majority are being sold via the FIFA World Cup 2026 Sponsorship Program, which was set up to provide “revenue opportunities through host city supporters and champions” to help offset costs. Vancouver’s portion of hosting costs was estimated at between $261 million and $281 million as of last summer, and no update has been provided since. Asked how much the city is selling tickets for through the program, the spokesperson said that information is “commercially sensitive,” and therefore confidential “at this time.” Official supporters of Vancouver’s host committee include Coca-Cola, Concord Pacific, the Pacific National Exhibition, and the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations—as well as Bell Media, which owns CTV News. Asked about Mamdani’s announcement, the committee spokesperson confirmed Vancouver “currently has no plans to offer FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets at a reduced price,” but noted that hundreds are being made available for free to children and youth in need through the B.C. Place Community Benefits Program. That program is providing up to 350 tickets to the June 21 and 26 matches for young people facing barriers, according to B.C.’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. New York’s $50 tickets are being distributed to residents through a lottery system that began this week, offering a chance to attend local matches after resales sent prices for some seats soaring into the thousands of dollars—as has been the case in Vancouver. “There are countless New Yorkers desperate to attend the World Cup match, who simply cannot afford to go,” Mamdani said at a news conference last week. “We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create.” The tickets are non-transferable to prevent lottery winners from reselling them for a profit.
