New York City residents will get a chance to purchase $50 World Cup tickets
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said 1,000 discounted tickets for matches at MetLife Stadium will be available through a lottery for city residents.
by AP News May. 22, 2026
New York City will offer 1,000 World Cup tickets for $50 to residents through a lottery system, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday. The discounted tickets will apply to seven matches at MetLife Stadium but exclude the July 19 final.
NEW YORK (AP) — Some lucky New York City residents will soon get a chance to snag cheap seats to this summer’s high-priced World Cup.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday that 1,000 tickets costing $50 will be made available to residents of the city of more than 8 million for the most watched sporting event in the world.
“To put that into perspective, that is five lattes in New York City,” Mamdani quipped from a bar in Harlem’s Little Senegal neighborhood alongside U.S. men’s national team forward Timothy Weah.
About 150 tickets per game will be made available for seven of the eight matches played at the roughly 82,000-seat MetLife Stadium, located across the river from Manhattan in New Jersey. The lone exception is the high demand July 19 final, where some seats now cost nearly $33,000.
The tickets will also include free roundtrip bus transportation to the stadium for the ticket holders, the mayor said. They will be distributed via a lottery starting May 25.
To prevent scalping, Mamdani said the city would be taking steps to ensure the ones they distribute go to New York City residents and are not resold on the secondary market.
He said the tickets will be non-transferrable and that there will be a “variety of ways” city officials will verify residency. They’ll also only be handed out directly to the fans as they board the bus on game day.
“We are making sure that working people will not be priced out of the game that they helped to create,” Mamdani said.
The Democrat, who took office in January, said the effort underscores how his administration is not simply focused on making everyday things like housing and groceries more affordable.
“It extends to making it possible for every New Yorker to take part in the things that make us human,” he said.
During his campaign, Mamdani had called on FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, to make it cheaper for New Yorkers to attend the games by setting aside 15% of tickets at discounted prices for residents. He’d also launched a petition calling on FIFA to reverse its plan to set ticket prices based on demand.
The $50 tickets don’t come directly from FIFA, but from those allotted to New York and New Jersey’s joint host committee for the games, according to the mayor’s office.
Previously, FIFA had made some $60 tickets available for every game at the tournament in North America after facing backlash for the exorbitant prices for tickets.
Those reduced price tickets, though, went to the national federations of the teams playing in the games, with those federations deciding how to distribute them to loyal fans who have attended previous games at home and on the road.
Besides the championship game, the home stadium for both the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets is set to host five group World Cup matches and two knockout stage games. Group stage matches for soccer powerhouses Brazil, France, Germany and England, along with other nations, begin June 13.
‘I still dream in Haitian Creole’: Archbishop Wenski reflects on 50 years of priesthood
Community joins Archbishop Wenski in giving thanks for a priesthood shaped by immigrant ministry and joyful service
By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic
On May 15 at a Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving and reception at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Miami on his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrates Mass. To his right is Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley OFM Cap, Archbishop Emeritus of Boston.
Photography: Tom Tracy
MIAMI | Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski joked that he became a priest “so that I would not have to listen to another priest preach,” drawing laughter from the congregation gathered May 15 at St. Mary’s Cathedral to celebrate his 50 years of priesthood.
But beneath the humor was a deeply personal reflection on five decades of ministry — from entering the seminary at age 13 to serving immigrant communities across South Florida and eventually leading the Archdiocese of Miami.
The cathedral was filled with clergy, religious, parishioners and civic leaders who gathered to honor the archbishop’s golden jubilee. Several bishops from Cuba joined local priests in concelebrating the Mass, while supporters from across South Florida packed the pews in thanksgiving for Archbishop Wenski’s decades of ministry.
After welcoming visiting clergy, bishops and guests from around the region and beyond, Archbishop Wenski presided over his Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving May 15 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Miami.
On May 15 at a Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving and reception at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Miami on his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski greets clergy and fellow bishops from Florida and the region as he exits the Cathedral following Mass.
A priesthood rooted in gratitude
“Let me begin with gratitude to Almighty God who called me in spite of my flaws, my fears and my failures,” the archbishop said.
He also expressed gratitude to the priests and religious who inspired him throughout his vocation, as well as to the faithful of South Florida.
“With deep gratitude to you, the People of God, for your support of me over these 50 years, for your patience with me over these 50 years, and for your prayers for me over these 50 years,” he said.
Born into a middle-class Polish immigrant family in Florida, Archbishop Wenski reflected on a vocation that has become deeply intertwined with the multicultural identity of the Church in South Florida.
Over five decades, he became one of the most recognizable Catholic voices in the region through his advocacy for immigrants, Haitian Catholics and the poor, while helping shape the multicultural identity of the Archdiocese of Miami.
Serving Miami’s immigrant communities
The archbishop recalled his seminary years doing summer internships in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, working with a Puerto Rican youth group in Wynwood, and learning Spanish while serving in Hialeah.
He was among the first fully bilingual seminarians in Florida, paving the way for future priests who would minister in both English and Spanish.
Later, while serving at Corpus Christi Parish in Miami, the future archbishop encountered the Haitian community and began learning Creole.
“When Archbishop (Edward) McCarthy found out that I was learning Creole, I was assigned to the Haitian ministry in 1979, where I worked for 18 years,” Archbishop Wenski recalled.
“It involved a circuit-riding ministry from Homestead to Fort Pierce, from Fort Lauderdale to Immokalee, besides Notre-Dame d’Haïti, until becoming auxiliary bishop of Miami in September 1997.”
On May 15 at a Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving and reception at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Miami on his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski greets well-wishers as he exits the Cathedral following Mass.
A shepherd shaped by Haitian ministry
Those years, he said, profoundly shaped his priesthood.
“Those 18 years were not easy, but perhaps they were the best years of my life,” Archbishop Wenski said. “I know that because today I still dream in Haitian Creole.”
Archbishop Wenski was ordained to the priesthood in 1976 and later served as Bishop of Orlando before being appointed Archbishop of Miami in 2010.
For Archbishop Wenski, however, the memories that remain closest to his heart appear to come from the years spent ministering among Haitian immigrants across South Florida.“Those 18 years were not easy, but perhaps they were the best years of my life,” he said.
“I know that because today I still dream in Haitian Creole.”
Marly Métayer runs for slain daughter’s Coral Springs commission seat
Marly Métayer enters the race for City Commission Seat 3 after the killing of her daughter, Nancy Métayer in April
by The Haitian Times May. 21, 2026
Overview:
Marly Métayer, the mother of slain Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Métayer, has filed to run for her daughter’s city commission seat, according to city records. The move comes a month after her daughter was killed in a domestic violence shooting that rocked communities in South Florida and beyond.
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Marly Métayer, the mother of slain Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Métayer, has filed to run for the commission seat once held by her daughter, according to city campaign finance records.
Her campaign manager, David Métellus, confirmed to The Miami Herald that she officially filed to run on May 12 for the fall election.
“She wants to earn it,” Métellus said.
The Coral Springs City Commission comprises five commissioners, including the Mayor [seat 1] and four elected at-large by residents to serve as legislative members. The Vice Mayor position, which Métayer’s slain daughter held, is an honorary leadership role that includes one sitting commissioner, appointed by a majority vote, to serve as the Mayor’s substitute when needed.
The filing comes just over a month after Métayer, a rising political figure in South Florida affiliated with the Democratic Party, was found dead in her home in Coral Springs — a city of more than 134,000 people in the northwest corner of Broward County. Her husband, Stephen Bowen, has been charged with premeditated murder and tampering with evidence in the case in the 38-year-old’s killing
According to Coral Springs’ campaign finance portal, Marly Metayer is listed as an active candidate for Commission Seat 3, along with five others, including Haitian American and local businesswoman Adeline Darius. At least three other candidates have also filed for the race, according to city records.
A mother of four children and a registered nurse with over 35 years of healthcare experience, Métayer does not yet have a campaign website, nor has she spoken publicly since her filing. However, Métayer has updated her Facebook profile, wearing a T-shirt from “Avanse Ansanm,” meaning “Moving forward together” in English—a civic and public education organization that her daughter helped establish.
“If elected, her campaign manager said, “she will continue the work her daughter championed around environmental justice, public safety, economic mobility and mental health.”
The slain vice mayor’s mother has never run for office. But Métellus said she hopes to gain enough community support to succeed.
The election for Coral Springs Commission Seat 3 is expected on Nov. 3.
Métayer plans to campaign primarily on continuing her daughter’s legacy and advancing her political priorities. No formal campaign platform had been publicly released as of Thursday.
Métayer’s daughter was widely known in South Florida political circles as the first Black and Haitian American woman elected to the Coral Springs Commission. She was first elected in 2020 and reelected in 2024, later becoming vice mayor and serving as vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party. As her seat became vacant following her death, the successful candidate in the upcoming election will serve the remainder of the unexpired term, which is slightly more than two years.
On April 1, police said officers discovered Métayer dead after colleagues requested a wellness check when she failed to appear at scheduled city meetings. Authorities later arrested her husband, who prosecutors say confessed to relatives before being taken into custody.
Court records show has since pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and evidence tampering. Prosecutors allege he fatally shot his wife inside their home and attempted to conceal evidence afterward.
The killing shocked both the Coral Springs community and Haitian Americans across South Florida, where Metayer Bowen had become a prominent voice on civic engagement, environmental justice and Haitian outreach.
Her death also renewed conversations around domestic violence, including how abuse can remain hidden even among public officials and community leaders. Advocates say the case underscores the broader national crisis of intimate partner violence affecting women across racial, economic and professional backgrounds.
In the weeks following her death, memorials and vigils were held throughout Broward County, drawing residents, elected officials and members of the Haitian diaspora. Community members remembered Métayer Bowen as a compassionate public servant with a growing political future.