New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday, Aug. 25, that his office will offer 1,000 city residents "affordable" tickets to the upcoming US Open tennis tournament.
"Sports belong to the people," Mamdani said in a statement announcing the upcoming ticket release. "If the world’s best tennis players are coming to our city, New Yorkers should be able to see them play."
The city’s Democratic Socialist mayor was elected on the promise of making the city affordable and the move to offer discounted tickets to one of the world’s most popular sporting events is his latest effort to even the field for New Yorkers.
Discounted tickets will become available for city residents to purchase starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26. They will be offered
online on a first-come, first-serve basis. Residents can buy up to two tickets for $100 each to matches taking place between Aug. 30 and Sept. 8.
The tickets will allow New Yorkers to potentially see great players including defending champions Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka for hundreds of dollars less than at retail prices. Tickets to the opening session of the tournament sold through the US Open start at $239 and go up to over $1,200, as of the evening of Aug. 25.
USA TODAY has reached out to Mamdani’s office for information on how the city was able to offer the discounted tickets. The mayor’s office previously said the tickets were offered "in partnership" with the United States Tennis Association.
"We want as many people as possible to experience tennis and the US Open, and this additional Main Draw ticket access for New Yorkers only strengthens that commitment," Craig Tiley, CEO of U.S. tennis association said in a statement. "Access to tennis will always be our priority, and we’re proud to be able to deliver this Main Draw ticket offer to the residents of New York — the home of the US Open for more than 100 years."
Dems press on affordability
Mamdani’s discounted ticket release is part ploy for the media but it also comes as cost of living becomes an increasingly important issue for Americans who feel squeezed by the economy.
The war on Iran launched by President Donald Trump at the end of February has caused gas prices to rise to record highs and initially caused inflation to surge.
Amid rising costs brought on by the war, an increasing share of Americans trust Democrats over Republicans when it comes to issues of cost of living, new polling shows.
Americans began turning to Democrats over Republicans after the start of the war but the gap has widened as the conflict has continued with no end in sight.
A White House spokesperson dismissed the polling results in a statement to USA TODAY.
"In President Trump’s first term, Americans enjoyed historic job, wage, and economic growth – along with the first drop in wealth inequality in decades – thanks to tax cuts, tariffs, deregulation, and energy abundance," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to USA TODAY. "As this same proven agenda continues taking effect in President Trump’s second term, Americans can count on the best being yet to come."
The US Open tickets are Mamdani’s latest move to make sports affordable for New Yorkers. The city also offered 1,000 tickets at $50 to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, set up free watch parties for city residents to watch the soccer matches and set up 130 sites across the city where people could watch the New York Knicks historic win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the recent NBA Finals.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mamdani offers 1k 'affordable' US Open tickets to NYC residents
