Boston’s World Cup games hang in balance amid finger pointing over a missing $7.8m
The New England Revolution and New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium is slated to host seven 2026 World Cup matches Danielle Parhizkaran / The Boston Globe / Getty Images
“I am flabbergasted, I’m just p***ed.”
Dr. Mark Elfman is a middle-aged chiropractor catering to the aches and pains of residents of Foxboro, Mass. Yet this month he sat in a town hall building and set aflame FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, just four months before the World Cup begins across North America.
Elfman and his four colleagues sit as members on the select board for a town of only 18,000 inhabitants that’s also home to the Gillette Stadium, the 65,000-seat venue set to host seven games this summer. This includes two group-stage games involving Scotland, England’s fixture against Ghana, two matches featuring Erling Haaland’s Norway (including one vs. France), as well as a round-of-32 game and a quarterfinal.
The select board sets local policy for the town and seeks to protect the interests of its citizens. Its members are elected, and they are not paid beyond a $90 monthly stipend. It is also the board that decides whether or not to hand out entertainment licenses to those who wish to put on events in Foxboro. And, right now, Elfman and his four board colleagues are not playing ball with FIFA.
Select board vice-chair Stephanie McGowan claimed that the games are “probably more of a headache” than they are worth to Foxboro and “not a moneymaker,” and warned: “It’s going to be a flat no, unless we know the money is there.”
Foxboro has calculated a cost of around $7.8 million to cover police and public safety expenses during the tournament, yet, so far, nobody has provided financial commitments to cover the full costs. Until they do so, the select board says it will not provide a license for the games. And without a license, there are no games.
Licenses for NFL games at Gillette Stadium are usually agreed upon directly with its owners, the Kraft Group, which is headed by Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution. Yet as the stadium owners have essentially sublet the stadium to FIFA during the World Cup, a new license is required.
The select board says it was not part of the original agreements made by FIFA, the Boston host committee and the Kraft Group, and, as such, it sees no reason a small town and its taxpayers should absorb the costs. Indeed, it says it would be reckless to do so.
There is money in the pipeline. The 11 U.S. World Cup host cities secured a combined $625m of funding within President Donald Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” last summer, and Boston was allocated $46m. Yet the funding is still to be administered via the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency tasked with processing the grant program.
Matters are not helped by the partial federal government shutdown, which has impacted operations at the Department of Homeland Security. But even if or when that grant money comes, the select board says its allocation will not cover the entire cost of the security operations because it will be shared across different agencies across Massachusetts, leaving an unspecified funding gap.
The Kraft Group, according to select board chair Bill Yukna, is prepared to backstop, or forward, the equivalent money to the grant, but a significant difference remains.
The select board has set a deadline of March 17 for a license to be awarded, arguing police and security officials must lay out for materials and manpower months ahead of the event. The costs mount up, it says, because FIFA require the venue to be secured for the entire 39 days of the tournament, not only the seven game days.
As things stand, disagreement remains over who, exactly, should foot the bill. At a tense select board meeting in mid-February, Foxboro hauled in Mike Loynd, the CEO of Boston’s host committee, and Kevin Clark, FIFA’s venue operations director for Boston.
“What’s very confusing to us is who is the responsible party for funding,” Yukna said. “The Kraft Group says they’re not. A lot of people point to your group (the host committee), which really doesn’t have any funding. That’s a problem. FIFA is going to be the licensee. So, are they, in the end, responsible?”
A long pause ensued. Loynd replied: “That’s sort of a broad question.”
Elfman shot back: “It’s really not — it’s a very specific question.”
Clark said he would defer to the stadium and the host committee, claiming the agreement is between those two parties. Loynd, however, claimed a joint responsibility, as he said the host committee is responsible for public safety in the stadium (including the costs of water), while FIFA takes on the operational elements within the stadium.
Debbie Giardino, a select board member, said: “Both you guys are almost pointing at each other. Nobody wanted to answer the question. That speaks volumes to the frustration this board is feeling. The concern is who is the third guy that’s going to answer. I feel very strongly that without those answers, this won’t go forward.”
At this point, McGowan let rip: “We’re not prepared to issue this license unless everything is in place. I’ve seen people say, ‘Oh, there’s no way they won’t.’ But I am going to tell you: this board will not issue this license. I don’t feel like we’re getting the answers.”
She said the license would only be issued if hard cash is provided or bonded money is set up, adding: “The money has to be here. We’re a small town. This is almost 10 percent of our whole annual budget. How does anybody expect that we would (lay out the money) for someone (FIFA) who’s coming into our town for 39 days, making all these demands, and then you guys go away?
“We cannot do that to our taxpayers. We would not be responsible.”
Elfman continued: “It baffles my mind that you guys are sitting here in front of me and we still have no idea where this money’s coming from. I’m shocked, especially after talking to you two guys weeks ago where you assured us that we’re all set, and now you’re saying you’re not responsible for it, pointing fingers back and forth.”
Elfman said local townspeople had told him they were bewildered that an event run by a billion-dollar organization such as FIFA in a venue owned by the Kraft Group could be relying on grant money from the federal government.
Julie Duffy, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Boston host committee, told The Athletic on Tuesday: “All key stakeholders are collaboratively engaged in continued partnership, progress is being made daily and we remain confident we’ll reach a positive outcome over the coming weeks.”
She did not respond when asked to clarify any specifics that could be considered as progress. FIFA declined to comment and the Kraft Group did not respond to questions prior to publication.
The issue in Foxboro magnifies what is becoming a broader angst. Under the terms of the original hosting agreements, FIFA takes all income from ticketing, broadcast deals, in-stadium sponsorship and even parking fees. At the same time, contracts seen by The Athletic show that cities have taken on overall responsibility for costs including “safety, security and protection.” This extends to public areas, FIFA fan fest locations, airports, other transport hubs and vehicles used in competition. It also includes providing police escorts for teams, referees and FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his delegation. The host city is also expected to provide medical services and fire protection around matches free of charge.
In return, FIFA has claimed the U.S. will see money pour into its states and cities via tourism and excitement surrounding games. Infantino last week said he expected FIFA revenues from the tournament to exceed $11 billion, but claimed that the U.S. economy will receive $30 billion in economic impact.
“We may get a little more in meals tax and hotel tax,” McGowan said. “But this is not a moneymaker for this town. In fact, it’s probably more of a headache than it’s worth.
“This is nothing more than seven events up there. If World Cup wasn’t coming, we’d probably have seven concerts in that time. We’re not gaining much of anything by hosting this event. I think people need to know that too. This is not a lot of money coming into our town.”
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