New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has secured 1,000 discounted US Open tickets for local residents as resale prices for the tennis tournament soar.
The city negotiated with tournament officials to reserve the tickets for New Yorkers at $100 each, according to The Athletic.
The initiative is aimed at making the major sporting event in Queens more accessible as some grounds passes reportedly approach $500 on resale platforms.
The tickets will be protected from resale, with the administration seeking to ensure they go directly to local fans rather than the secondary market.
Mamdani has argued that major sporting events should be accessible to ordinary residents and has previously pushed for similar affordability measures around World Cup matches.
However, the announcement has also drawn criticism online from people questioning the mayor’s priorities during New York City’s ongoing affordability and housing crisis.
The report claims that some critics argued that discounted access to a tennis tournament does little to address more pressing financial pressures facing residents, particularly high rents and housing costs.
The debate comes as Mamdani’s administration seeks to position affordability as a central part of its agenda, extending the issue beyond basic living costs to access to major cultural and sporting events.
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