The David vs. Goliath-esque battle between the town of Foxborough, Mass., and FIFA, the Boston World Cup host committee and Kraft Sports & Entertainment Group has come to an end.
And David managed to come away the big winner.
In a showdown that perhaps surmised a lot of the gripes soccer fans are having with this year’s World Cup, the Foxborough Select Board scored a major victory after it came to an agreement with the World Cup stakeholders over security costs for matches taking place at Gillette Stadium.
The town initially refused to issue the needed entertainment license to FIFA for World Cup matches until there were guarantees that taxpayers would not be on the hook for an estimated $7.8 million for security.
In a joint statement from the select board, Kraft Sports & Entertainment and Boston Soccer 2026, the trio said that “the Town of Foxborough will not incur any cost or financial burden related to the FIFA World Cup” and the host committee will provide “advance funding for security-related capital expenditures.”
It also stated that the collective reached an “understanding collectively” to “finalize the details” needed for Foxborough to approve the entertainment license.
The town had set a March 17 deadline for the host committee, FIFA or the Kraft Group to come up with the funds for security in what had been a growingly contentious situation over the past month, with the Foxborough Select Board standing firm.
The news Wednesday comes shortly after the Kraft Group announced on March 5 that it would pay the associated security costs for hosting seven matches at Gillette Stadium.
Foxborough quickly pushed back on that, calling that announcement “categorically false.”
The first match to take place at the home of the Patriots will be held on June 13.
The situation in the New England town was emblematic of the growing issues with the World Cup that’s set to begin in less than 100 days.
Other local municipalities had had to scale back planned fan fests, and recently Miami’s host committee told lawmakers in Washington, D.C., that it might be forced to cancel its official fan event during the tournament if it doesn’t get funding from the federal government.
The high price of tickets also has been a longstanding concern for fans and officials in the United States.
On Tuesday, roughly 70 members of the U.S. Congress signed a letter that was sent to FIFA calling on the organization to lower admission costs for the World Cup.
“Everyone is pissed,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) told The Athletic.
“Fans that I’ve talked to are pissed. Local vendors and restaurants and local business owners that I’ve talked to are irritated. And mayors have asked for help in being able to reach out to FIFA.”