Foxborough PD hails World Cup event a major success after years of planning

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The World Cup has come and gone, so after hosting seven games in Foxborough, how did it go?

The Foxborough Police Department is calling it a major success, thanks to two years of preparations, planning, and establishing partnerships.

They report 12 arrests were made across the seven matches, all being what they say were minor offenses.

“Those are very, very typically low numbers for major events like that. The fans came here with a very good attitude; they really enjoyed it. They were here to watch soccer. Here to see the teams and the games, and the behavior showed that,” Special Operations Lieutenant Adam Byrns said.

Partnering with agencies like the National Guard, Massachusetts State Police, and the FBI meant Foxborough could pull off an event of this magnitude, being the smallest police department in a North American host city.

“On a regular Patriots game, we’re using 26 other municipal departments, we upped that to well over 50. Our partnerships and the buy-in we received from our other assisted agencies were great,” Deputy Police Chief Richard Noonan said.

As for traffic, Chief Michael Grace said the MBTA train system is what allowed Foxborough residents to enjoy having the World Cup in their backyard without it being a transportation headache, part which they say is also thanks to their partnership with Mass DOT.

“We were able to build out timelines and models on road closures that clearly were so effective that we will use not just this Saturday in fact, but for all major events moving forward at Gillette,” Chief Grace said.

Foxborough residents like Andrea Kristenson and Jen Leclair said they hope the same can be executed during the football season.

“It went great. As a community I think we get a little nervous about what it was going to cause with traffic but it was so easy to get around town,” Kristenson said.

“I think it brought an excitement to Foxboro,” Leclair said. “Every group of fans were more amazing than the last.”

“The fan enthusiasm and the excitement was something I’ve never experienced,” Chief Grace said.

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