NJ Transit to charge $150 for round-trip train ticket for World Cup games at MetLife Stadium
Fans play with a ball outside the Metlife Stadium prior to the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., in July. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
NEWARK — Fans planning to go to the eight FIFA World Cup games at MetLife Stadium in June and July should be prepared to do two things: spend a lot and plan early.
Officials emphasized during a news briefing at the NJ Transit Board Room on Friday that public transportation is the easiest way to attend the World Cup at MetLife, but it won’t be cheap. Round-trip NJ Transit train tickets from New York’s Penn Station to MetLife Stadium will cost a whopping $150 and go on sale May 13.
The $150 price is more than 11 times the normal round trip of $12.90. NJ Transit will sell only 40,000 tickets for each match, representing a little more than half of the 78,000 spectators that the host committee expects per game at MetLife.
NJ Transit’s total cost of operation for the World Cup is $48 million. The $150 per train ticket means the NJ Transit expects to make $6 million per game and $48 million for all eight games, covering the cost of operation.
“I can’t be any more clear about this, that this isn’t about trying to make a profit or whatever,” said Kris Kolluri, the president and CEO of NJ Transit, which he noted has a $200 million structural deficit.
“We are trying to literally recover our cost, because we don’t think it is right for New Jersey commuters to subsidize this travel by 92% [if the tickets were $12.90].”
The briefing confirmed that there will be no general parking at MetLife, with parking at the nearby American Dream mall — which is connected to MetLife by two pedestrian bridges and is a 0.89-mile, 17-minute walk from the stadium — available for $225. Alex Lasry, the CEO of the New York New Jersey host committee, said there are around 5,000 spots available at American Dream that are “dynamically priced” and “subject to change.”
“The reason for the no general spectator parking is due to the unprecedented security concerns that come with kind of the global nature of the World Cup, especially being in New York, New Jersey,” Lasry said.
He added that the parking lots instead will be used for a fan village to hang out before and after the game, queuing for buses, staging and broadcasts. The only MetLife parking available for purchase is accessible parking in Lot J.
Round-trip shuttle tickets from three spots — two in Manhattan, one at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and another east of Grand Central Station, and a park-and-ride for 2,500 vehicles at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine in New Jersey — will cost $80 and are available for sale now. The shuttle drop-off will be at one of the MetLife parking lots.
A designated rideshare area for pick-up and drop-off will be located at Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment. It will be available as a limited and supplemental option with a pedestrian path to and from MetLife. Lasry said rideshare purchases will be day of game like any other Uber/Lyft option and the price will “probably be market-determined.”
Kolluri said the Long Island Rail Road at Penn Station is expected to operate with no interruptions on matchdays. There will be a four-hour period before each match in which Westbound trains into New Jersey will not run.
A valid World Cup match ticket will be required to purchase any official matchday transportation. Fans must take the same mode of transportation they took to the game from the game, and unique wristbands will be issued by security to ensure that.
Of the 40,000 people expected to travel via NJ Transit, 28,000 will come from New York City. The host committee also expects 10,000 spectators via the shuttles and 6,000 via rideshare.
Of the eight games at MetLife, four are on weekdays. Two of those games, an 8 p.m. game on June 22 and a 5 p.m. game on June 30, will impact peak travel. Kolluri urged people to work from home on those two days, if possible.
He said: “If people are able to work from home those matchdays, it would be extraordinarily helpful to move all the people that will have to go from New York into the stadium for those gamedays and back.”
The New Jersey State Police has been designated as the lead public safety organization for the World Cup at MetLife. David Sierotowicz, a Lieutenant Colonel for the New Jersey State Police, said there are 362 partner agencies – federal, state, local and private – that they are working with. A normal football game at MetLife would have about 350 troopers working, but an excess of 600 will be at each World Cup game.
Sierotowicz said: “This is a public safety effort of the likes we’ve never seen before.”
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
•NJ Transit is charging $150 for round-trip train tickets from Penn Station to MetLife Stadium for the eight World Cup games there. Only 40,000 tickets are available for each game, and the price, 11 times more than the usual $12.90 round trip, will cover NJ Transit’s entire $48 million bill.
•With no general parking at MetLife Stadium, around 5,000 spots are available at the nearby American Dream mall for $225 each. They are “dynamically priced” and “subject to change.”
•The Long Island Rail Road is expected to run without interruption during the eight World Cup matchdays.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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