Mamdani, USTA Offer 1,000 Discounted $100 US Open Tickets to New Yorkers Amid Resale Price Surge

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the United States Tennis Association announced 1,000 discounted tickets to the US Open priced at $100 each, giving city residents a chance to attend the tournament at its home base in Queens without paying resale prices that have climbed above $300 this year.

The tickets went on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET through USOpen.org/NYCTickets, available exclusively to New York City residents with a certified ZIP code, on a first-come, first-served basis. Each resident can purchase up to two tickets, covering seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium as well as grounds passes, for main draw matches taking place from Sunday, Aug. 30, through Tuesday, Sept. 8. The tickets are not eligible for resale on the tournament’s secondary market platform, Ticketmaster, according to QNS.

Mamdani framed the initiative as part of a broader push to make major sporting events more accessible to everyday New Yorkers. “If the world’s best tennis players are coming to our city, New Yorkers should be able to see them play,” Mamdani said in a statement, according to the New York City mayor’s office. In a separate statement issued the same day, Mamdani connected the ticket deal to a pattern of similar efforts throughout the year. “This summer, we have shown again and again that sports belong to the people. From the World Cup to track and field championships, we have opened stadium doors to some of the biggest sporting events in the world so more New Yorkers can enjoy them. Today, we are doubling down on that work by making the U.S. Open more affordable for New Yorkers,” Mamdani said, according to NBC New York.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the week, Mamdani specifically addressed the sharp rise in resale prices for grounds passes that prompted the initiative. “I think we never want to accept the premise that something has to be unaffordable when it comes to a sporting event that is part of what so many love about our city,” Mamdani told reporters Monday, according to QNS. “We are always going to look to ways to make these kinds of events more accessible to everyday New Yorkers.”

The New York City mayor’s office said the deal builds on a broader pattern of similar initiatives Mamdani’s administration has pursued throughout the year, including securing 1,000 affordable tickets to 2026 FIFA World Cup matches, making all World Cup FanFests across the city’s five boroughs free to New Yorkers, offering a $26 meal deal at nearly 900 restaurants, and distributing tickets to Gotham FC games and USA Track & Field national championship events.

According to the mayor’s office, the US Open ranks among the most-attended annual sporting events in the world, generating more than $1.2 billion in economic impact and supporting more than 7,000 jobs each year. The tournament drew nearly 1.2 million attendees in 2025 and is watched by more than 200 million people across 200 countries and territories worldwide. Sources close to the negotiations told QNS that the USTA will absorb the financial difference between the discounted $100 price and the tickets’ original higher value, meaning the city itself is not directly subsidizing the cost of the tickets from taxpayer funds.

The announcement has generated mixed public reaction, reflecting broader tension in New York over how city officials should prioritize their time and political capital amid an ongoing affordability crisis centered largely on housing costs. Some supporters have welcomed the initiative as a genuine, no-cost-to-taxpayers win that opens up access to a marquee cultural event that has increasingly priced out working-class residents through soaring secondary-market ticket prices. Critics, meanwhile, have argued that city leadership’s attention would be better directed toward more fundamental economic challenges facing residents, including the difficulty many New Yorkers face simply affording monthly rent, viewing the tennis ticket program as a comparatively minor gesture relative to the scale of the city’s broader affordability struggles.

Reaction to the initiative has also touched on Mamdani’s broader public standing in his first year as mayor. According to Yardbarker, Mamdani has drawn a polarizing national profile but has earned approval from many city residents during his short tenure so far, a period that has also included the New York Knicks winning a championship and Mamdani playing a visible public role during this year’s FIFA World Cup, both developments the outlet suggested have contributed positively to his public image among sports fans specifically.

Not every public reaction to the deal was critical. According to Pro Football Network’s coverage of the announcement, some online commenters pushed for the city to expand the program even further, with one widely shared response simply asking, “How about 10,000?” reflecting a segment of public sentiment supportive of the initiative but eager to see its scope broadened to reach even more residents beyond the initial 1,000-ticket allotment.

The US Open ticket program adds to a growing list of Mamdani administration initiatives specifically targeting affordability barriers around major sporting and cultural events in New York City since he took office, a strategy his administration has consistently framed around the principle that access to marquee sporting events should not be reserved exclusively for wealthier residents able to absorb steep resale market prices. Whether the current debate over the initiative’s broader value, weighed against the city’s more pressing housing affordability challenges, shapes how Mamdani’s administration approaches similar programs going forward remains to be seen, though city officials have indicated they intend to continue pursuing comparable ticket-access deals for future major sporting events held in New York.