Even the train to the World Cup is expensive

 Even the train to the World Cup is expensive

Nick Iluzada

Oh, now everyone cares about going to New Jersey. NJ Transit’s plans to ratchet up the price of a round-trip ticket from New York’s Penn Station to New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium to ~$150 during this summer’s FIFA World Cup has sparked an outcry, according to The Athletic. The 18-mile rail journey normally costs $12.90 for a return ticket, so the roughly 1,163% price hike has shocked fans, who have few other options to get to and from the eight games hosted at MetLife Stadium—including the championship. Now, it’s political: NJ Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who inherited the FIFA contract when she took office in January, released a video yesterday accusing FIFA of taking advantage of the state’s transit system by providing $0 to help offset the $48 million added cost for the event. But FIFA doesn’t typically help pay for transportation costs. Big picture: The hundreds of thousands of World Cup fans expected to descend on the area in June and July are already feeling stretched thin by FIFA’s non-transparent, sky-high ticket prices. Even with nearly a third of tickets unsold, prices have reached record-breaking levels—with seats at some desirable games going for as much as $10,000 each.