Officials talk Boston World Cup transportation costs, tailgating at Gillette Stadium and FIFA Fan Festival
With just over 50 days to go until the World Cup in Boston, officials on Tuesday defended transportation costs for the event, opened the door to allowing tailgating at Gillette Stadium before matches and shared more details about the FIFA Fan Festival coming to the city.
Boston World Cup
Gillette Stadium is being transformed into "Boston Stadium" to host seven World Cup matches between June 13 and July 9. The countries confirmed to playing in Boston are Haiti, Scotland, Iraq, Norway, Morocco, England, Ghana and France.
With parking at Gillette limited to 5,000 spaces per match, fans are being encouraged to take mass transit to Foxboro. The Commuter Rail is running special trains directly to the stadium from Boston's South Station, with round-trip tickets costing $80. Bus tickets on the "Boston Stadium Express" from Logan Airport and hotels around the region will be even more expensive at $95.
Politicians in New York and New Jersey have taken issue with the high transit costs for World Cup fans. But Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said at the news conference in Boston Tuesday that taking the MBTA will be "one of the more affordable ways to get to Foxboro."
"There are other destinations where their stadiums is in the heart of a city that has a lot of public transportation already going to it. You all know where Boston Stadium in Foxboro is located, it's a little bit more on the outskirts," she said. "The cost of parking, the costs of buses to that facility have to be borne and take on some of the costs of providing those services, that's why it's a little bit higher."
Will tailgating be allowed at Gillette for the World Cup?
The official website for Boston's FIFA World Cup Host Committee says "traditional 'tailgating' (eating and drinking around parked cars) is not permitted for these events."
"We accepted that probably without as much interrogation as we should have," Boston Host Committee President Mike Loynd said Tuesday.
He said there will be more conversations over the next week with World Cup organizers around tailgating, and said "I think we'll come to a good conclusion."
"The stadium certainly wants to make sure that the experience is very much like it is for a Patriots game when it comes to that," he said.
Boston FIFA Fan Festival
Until now, little has been shared about the Boston fan festival other than it will take place on City Hall Plaza.
In addition to showing two to three matches per day on big screens, Loynd said the 16-day event will be free and feature food vendors and a "cultural showcase" of community events. A committee will select performers to entertain the crowd when matches aren't being shown.
"It will be very representative of Boston and of Massachusetts," he said.
Kansas City just announced a concert lineup for its fan festival, featuring artist names like The Chainsmokers, Flo Rida and The All-American Rejects.
