Dallas To Avoid Sky-High Transit Fees Plaguing Other FIFA World Cup Host Cities

Much has been made of the fact that this summer’s FIFA World Cup is likely to be the most expensive in history. Ticket prices are higher than at past tournaments, and rental costs are surging — but there is at least one place where Dallas ticketholders can expect to save a buck or two. 

Earlier this month, the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee and the North Central Texas Council of Governments unveiled the transit plan to help move fans around a town that isn’t especially well known for its public transportation. The process for getting to matches in Arlington is a bit cobbled together (or, as organizers would describe it, multimodal), but it won’t break the bank. 

Ticketholders will be asked to ride the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) from Fort Worth or Dallas to the CentrePort Station. From there, charter buses will transport groups to a designated bus hub drop-off zone. A half-mile walk to the stadium completes the journey — after all, did you really visit Jerry World if you didn’t have to get some steps in? The same process will run in reverse after each match. 

For anyone holding a matchday ticket, the charter bus between CentrePort and the stadium drop-off zone will be free, but a TRE ticket will be needed for that segment of the journey. To purchase a regional pass, which works for the TRE and DART Light Rail and would enable a visitor to go all the way from Fort Worth to a game, from the game to the FIFA Fan Fest in Fair Park, and then back to Fort Worth, the day pass is currently around $9. 

Just because transit won’t break the bank for Dallas visitors doesn’t mean that North Texas agencies aren’t paying a lot to operate this system (and all the additional transit systems that will run during the tournament). According to the Dallas Morning News, DART is expecting to pay $18.2 million to move riders across the metroplex during the games. That cost includes more than $1 million earmarked for security, $8.5 million for equipment upgrades, and $88,000 for paratransit services. 

Not all host cities have been happy to swallow that cost. 

Earlier this week, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill posted on social media that New Jersey Transit was “stuck with a $48 million bill” that FIFA should cover. If they don’t, the governor said she would support a massive fare hike that was publicized earlier in the week. 

Reporting from The Athletic states that NJ Transit is planning to increase the typical $12.90 fare from New York to New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium to more than $100. Sherrill said that the World Cup price hike would be necessary to prevent regular commuters from shouldering the cost of the games. In Massachusetts, travel between Boston and Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium has also been increased for the duration of the games, quadrupling from regular prices to an $80 round-trip ticket. 

FIFA has pushed back, stating that host city agreements penned in 2018 called for free transit for all fans. That was later amended because of the financial strain it put on cities, a FIFA spokesperson told NBC News, and host cities are now required to provide transit at a cost accessible to match ticket holders. 

This is not the first time Dallas has avoided some of the World Cup funding snares that host cities are facing. In February, months-long delays to appropriated funding caused several FIFA host cities to scale back on plans for the fan festival each hub is responsible for hosting. Boston, Miami and Kansas City each threatened to cancel their festivals if funding was not released, while New York/New Jersey actually did so. In Los Angeles, the festivities will be ticketed instead of free. 

In Dallas, though, plans are still on. The free festival will be held in Fair Park for the duration of the tournament, and it will be free to attend. Your pocketbook is welcome.