FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Stadium Advisory Committee for the town of Foxboro met Thursday night to approve the license application for the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.
Foxboro’s police chief gave the committee an update as well.
“The planning and the security never stopped, and we are all in right now,” said Chief Michael Grace.
Chief Grace says the planning for security at the World Cup matches will only ramp up now.
After a little back and forth between the town and FIFA, all parties finally agreed on a way to secure the nearly $8 million needed to fund security measures for this epic event.
“That has to be in place, that is in place,” said Chief Grace. “The federal government has put so much money behind this, I mean, we’re talking $465,000, that’s before they get talking to the County UAS program, it is above and beyond probably anything we’ve ever seen for a sporting event.”
After the funding issue was resolved Wednesday, the Stadium Advisory committee was able to move forward Thursday to officially approve the license application for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Committee oversees the logistics and any impact this will have to the surrounding community.
“We’re very, very excited for it and to say very happy that the issues that are way above our involvement have been resolved,” said George Bell, chair of the Stadium Advisory Committee.
Along with ensuring safety, the police chief is also overseeing any traffic or parking concerns.
He even asked Foxboro Schools to take a half day during one of the matches to alleviate some of the traffic that day in June.
Chief Grace says the MBT is also scheduling extra trains on game days to bring tens of thousands of visitors from Boston to Gillette Stadium for these matches.
“We’re in a good place, we’re really happy with the way everything’s going on, we’re looking forward to everything that’s gonna take place later this summer,” said Lou DiSabatino, FIFA’s host city director for Boston.
The Foxboro Select Board will meet Tuesday night to officially vote on the entertainment license to host the World Cup.
They’re expected to approve it now that the funding issue has been resolved.
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