{"id":7028,"date":"2026-06-12T22:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=7028"},"modified":"2026-06-12T22:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:44:09","slug":"nyc-mayor-mamdani-criticized-fifas-resale-market-but-his-jersey-drop-created-the-same-dynamic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=7028","title":{"rendered":"NYC Mayor Mamdani criticized FIFA’s resale market, but his jersey drop created the same dynamic"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For two months, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul have been building the infrastructure FIFA wouldn\u2019t. Mamdani negotiated 1,000 World Cup tickets at $50 each with free roundtrip transportation for working-class New Yorkers, after N.J. Transit initially priced a match-day rail ticket at $150 to get to MetLife Stadium.<\/p>\n

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The state then committed $6 million for a free watch party for 50,000 New Yorkers on Central Park\u2019s Great Lawn, plus fan fests in all five boroughs. The city launched its most expansive ferry schedule in NYC Ferry history. All of it amounts to a publicly funded workaround for a tournament whose final tickets climbed to $32,970 on FIFA\u2019s own portal\u2014an event the New York and New Jersey attorneys general are now investigating for allegedly inflating prices by design.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it was so confusing for many New Yorkers when the city seemingly used the FIFA playbook.<\/p>\n

In a GQ<\/em> article published on Thursday, Mamdani announced an exclusive run of New York City-inspired World Cup jerseys. There would be only 1,500 shirts available to the public, and anyone who wanted to grab one had to go in person at the city\u2019s official CityStore when it opened at 9 a.m. on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

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Catherina Gioino for Fortune<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Less than 24 hours after the article went live, New Yorkers began camping outside the CityStore in the wee hours of Friday morning, according to The City Reporter<\/em>\u2018s Katie Honan. Before the store even opened, people had formed a line that snaked around the David Dinkins building (where the CityStore is located) through a plaza behind the storied landmark, then up and around to the federal courthouse located a few blocks away. As the temperatures reached past 92 degrees and the line didn\u2019t get any shorter, the $50 jerseys were selling on eBay for up to $1,150 a 2,000% markup.<\/p>\n

The markup is exactly what Mamdani spent his campaign railing against. In September, the then-candidate launched his \u201cGame Over Greed\u201d petition with three demands of FIFA: end dynamic pricing, cap resale prices, and reserve 15% of tickets for local residents at a discount. He singled out FIFA\u2019s own resale platform for refusing to cap secondary sales. \u201cThat means you can buy a ticket for 60 bucks and resell it for $6,000,\u201d he said in the video announcing the petition, and warned that \u201cthe biggest sporting event in the world is happening in your backyard, and you\u2019ll be priced out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor far too long, FIFA has looked upon these World Cups as opportunities for profit, as opposed to opportunities to extend this to the people who make this game so special,\u201d he said at the petition\u2019s launch in the Bronx. <\/p>\n

When he announced the $50 ticket lottery last month, he promised that \u201cworking people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create.\u201d<\/p>\n

But on Friday, working people were priced out of the jersey commemorating it, and by a resale market the city, like FIFA, left uncapped. Fortune <\/em>was on scene when a CityStore employee informed the crowd the jerseys had sold out.<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s Office did not respond to Fortune\u2019s <\/em>request for comments. In a statement on Friday morning, the mayor said \u201cthere will be another drop\u201d for the jerseys.<\/p>\n

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Catherina Gioino<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

That didn\u2019t stop New Yorkers from complaining on social media. Many questioned why the city would limit the supply to in-person only, at a store that can handle less than a dozen people at a time. Some said they have seen better logistics from a Supreme drop, a brand notorious for the hoards of people who line up outside stores for the latest fashion item.<\/p>\n

A resale market in the making<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s the dynamic economists have been describing all tournament. When supply is artificially constrained and demand is enormous, the supply moves into queues and resale platforms. Wharton economist Judd Kessler calls this the hidden market: a Springsteen ticket priced at $60 gets resold at $4,000, and the difference goes to speculators who add nothing to the production. <\/p>\n

FIFA at least built itself a cut, collecting 30% on every resale through its official exchange. The CityStore gets nothing when a jersey flips on eBay. Those who camped out and resold got the margin.<\/p>\n

FIFA priced its tickets to extract maximum revenue from a captive market, by economists\u2019 accounting. The city priced its jerseys at $50 precisely so regular New Yorkers could afford them, which is the same instinct behind the $50 ticket lottery and the free Great Lawn watch party. <\/p>\n

But a below-market price on a scarce good doesn\u2019t make the scarcity go away, it just relocates the cost into a 1 a.m. arrival time, a 92-degree wait, and a resale listing before the line even died down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#NYC #Mayor #Mamdani #criticized #FIFAs #resale #market #jersey #drop #created #dynamic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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