r/nyc

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has secured a rare concession from FIFA after negotiating 1,000 tickets to matches at the upcoming World Cup finals priced at $50, which will be distributed by ballot to local residents.

The 1,000 tickets include five group-stage fixtures, a round of 32 tie and a round of 16 game, but not the final on July 19. It is the only citywide access program of this kind that has so far been announced for the tournament.

The $50 seats are the cheapest available for fans to purchase through the primary ticket market at the World Cup. Buyers will also receive free round-trip bus travel to attend.

The tickets will be apportioned via a ballot and will only be available to New York City residents, following on from Mamdani’s campaign demand during his mayoral run for locals to be given greater access by FIFA to this summer’s tournament.

The Athletic has learned, via sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations, that Mamdani raised the issue directly with FIFA president Gianni Infantino during a meeting at City Hall in Manhattan in March — a meeting in which Mamdani, a lifelong fan of new Premier League champions Arsenal, was also introduced via FaceTime to Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and now FIFA’s chief of global development.

Mamdani secures $50 World Cup tickets for New Yorkers after negotiations with Infantino - The Athletic

Residents in our Northwestern Bronx co-op buildings are facing something most people outside of co-op housing don't realize is possible: we're being hit with massive, simultaneous compliance costs that we can't pass on to anyone else.

Local Law 97 requires energy retrofits. Local Law 11 requires façade inspections and repairs. Both have strict deadlines and real penalties. For many of us—retirees, working families, long-time New Yorkers—this means assessments totaling tens of thousands of dollars per apartment. We support the goals of these laws. Building safety and environmental responsibility matter. But the city didn't account for how co-ops actually work: we can't raise capital the way condos do. We can only assess our shareholders.

Some neighbors are selling because they can't afford it. Property values are dropping. And it's hitting the exact people co-ops were supposed to protect—middle-class and senior residents who've lived here for decades.

We're asking our City Council to consider targeted relief: grants, property tax credits, hardship programs, or low-interest financing specifically for co-ops facing these overlapping mandates. This isn't about avoiding responsibility—it's about making compliance possible without displacing people.

If you live in a co-op or know someone who does, does any of this sound familiar? Have you seen assessments like this? We started a petition asking for relief, and I'd genuinely like to hear if others are dealing with the same thing. If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing it.

2 competing views:

West coast: 18 months, 100% of all white-collar jobs in NYC gone. Vaporized. And Wall Street shareholders will cheer that on. People are a pain. They actually want to be paid and take vacations.

East coast: The city lacks the fiscal cushion to weather the short-term job losses and sector-specific disruption AI could bring over the next three to five years.

They seem to be 2 very different views on the future of the NYC jobs market.