Next summer, if all goes to plan, soccer fans from around the world will descend on Foxborough to cheer on their favorite teams at the seven World Cup matches set to be played at Gillette Stadium.
But there’s one potential red card hanging over the whole thing: Finding the roughly $100 million that it’s going to take to pay for all the fútbol, and attendant events, that will unfold in June and July of 2026.
For now, at least, lawmakers on Beacon Hill have brought the ball about as far downfield as they’re willing to go, tucking $10 million into a $2.31 billion year-end budget bill that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law last month.
That was well shy of the $20 million that the Democratic governor had originally sought for the global spectacle. And it disappointed organizers, who were hoping the state would pony up as well, The Boston Globe reported last month.
All told, 11 U.S. cities are hosting World Cup matches. Boston, where no games will be played, is involved in related events. Five more matches will be hosted in Canada (3) and Mexico (2).
The other U.S. host cities are Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Speaking to reporters at the State House last month, Healey said she would “continue to support efforts to make sure that we’re able to put on a really, really great show for people.”
During the floor debate last month on the supplemental spending bill, Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Michael Rodrigues, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth, said the $10 million compromise allocation came with key “guardrails” that included requiring backers to get a dollar-for-dollar match for any public money.
The compromise language included in the year-end budget bill also restricted spending to transportation, public safety signage and services for people who live with disabilities, he said, according to State House News Service.
The comments from Rodrigues, also a big-time soccer fan, echoed those of another top Democrat, who has said that any taxpayer cash that gets spent on the World Cup has to be in service of a clear public good.
“We understand this is a global event. And it really is a big event, and many, many people will be here,” state Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, said during an appearance on WCVB-TV’s “On the Record” program last month.
“So the Senate, last year, put $5 million in [the budget] for transportation-related [efforts],” the Ashland lawmaker told the station. “The money that I believe the state puts in must have state benefits. They wanted some funding for a fanfest. That’s not going to happen. I mean, let them pay for that.”
The World Cup matches come against the backdrop of a busy summer for the state, the Globe noted. That includes a high-profile and costly celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday and the return of the Tall Ships to Boston Harbor.
The same corporate donors who are being pressed to support those efforts are also being called upon to help fund the World Cup celebrations, which at least one lawmaker said could be a make-or-break opportunity for the state.
So far, corporate and other donors have contributed a not-insignificant $20 million, which is still well short of that $100 million goal, according to the Globe.
Without that full $20 million in state funding, organizers have said they’d have to scale back fan events and services, NBC-10 in Boston reported.
“It certainly would be downscaled, if not very limited, if we didn’t have the funding from the state,” Mike Loynd, the CEO of Boston 26, which is running World Cup events in the Bay State, told the station.
That would have been just fine with some lawmakers, including state Sen. Mark Montigny, D-2nd Bristol/Plymouth, who would have preferred to have seen the powerhouses of international soccer and the private sector foot the bill on their own.
“There is no question times are getting tough. I won’t speak much of it today because it looks all rosy, our revenues are near all-time highs,” the New Bedford lawmaker said as the upper chamber approved that $2.31 billion spending blueprint last month.
“But there will come a day over the succeeding months where I might join the chairs, who are deeply concerned by the fiscal cliff that we might be heading towards,” he continued, according to State House News Service. “That makes me hesitant when we put money into the biotech industry and [the] World Cup. I don’t think we should ever be putting money into either of those things.”
Despite that strongly held opposition, that doesn’t mean the door is closed.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz has said top leaders are open to future funding conversations for the tournament, State House News Service also reported.
But the $10 million included in the year-end budget will have to do for now, since the state is facing “challenging circumstances” from Washington on federal funding, Michlewitz said, according to the wire service.
