The 2026 World Cup has driven a whirlwind of controversy leading up to its opening in the past few months. That said, transportation to the event remains one of the most pressing and controversial topics. Discussion and criticism towards the event escalated when the ticket pricing for busing to MetLife Stadium was revealed.
Average tickets were revealed to reach up to $150 dollars a piece, and with a particular World Cup that was expected to be the most expensive in the event’s history, visitors were unsurprisingly not happy with the prices. The distaste was so bad that many foreign visitors were saying that they would rather just walk to the stadium instead.
This outcry, while largely on Twitter/x, sparked backlash from American online users who were trying to dispel the belief that it was easy to walk to MetLife Stadium. The discourse got so prevalent that even event officials began urging travelers not to walk to the stadium and to especially not walk on the I-95 roadway. Not only is the I-95 roadway one of the most congested highways in the entire country, but the MetLife Stadium is also surrounded by industrial parks and protected marshland.
This whole controversy can be boiled down to the insane ticket pricing FIFA is allowing, as well as the results of unprepared public infrastructure. The United States is notorious for its poorly maintained public transportation. After being severely underfunded for decades, its cracks begin to show whenever massive events like the World Cup want to be hosted within the country.
There needs to be more proactive focus on improving American public infrastructure so the burden of these events can be lessened whenever the country wants to host.
