World Cup Funding

Kelsy Brown

Staff Writer

This summer, the FIFA World Cup is coming to North America. With 16 host cities across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and over 104 games being played, it is set to be the largest World Cup in history.

Of the 16 host cities, 11 are in the U.S., including Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA, where seven games are set to be played during various dates in June and July. However, funding issues have created many problems for the city.

More than $600 million in federal grant money was set aside in the budget to assist host cities with the passing of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

However, cities were delayed in receiving funds due to the government shutdown in February, affecting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security.

According to NBC News, Foxboro had requested eight million dollars of federal funding for security and public safety purposes, as they refused to pay the bill with public money.

Without this funding, Foxboro threatened to deny the necessary licenses for the games to be held at Gillette Stadium if the funding was not received by March 17.

According to NewsBreak, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey told reporters that despite the funding issues, she remained confident that the World Cup games were going to happen. She noted how FIFA will be in Massachusetts,” and said, “It’s going to be great to have people come from all over the world and see our awesome state.”

In a joint statement released on March 11, after months of funding disagreements, Foxboro, Boston Soccer 2026, and Kraft Sports and Entertainment announced that the funding needed for public safety would be paid for, ensuring the approval of the needed licenses just a mere week before the March 17 deadline.

According to NBC News, a piece of the statement read, “As part of this arrangement, the Town of Foxborough will not incur any cost or financial burden related to the FIFA World Cup, with Boston Soccer 2026 providing advance funding for security-related capital expenditures and the full extent of deployment that public safety officials have determined is needed to execute the event with Kraft Sports + Entertainment’s backing.”

Foxboro officials, including Town Select Board chair Bill Yukna, told NBC News that the town and its citizens are very pleased with this agreement and are thankful for Robert Kraft’s involvement in providing a resolution to the funding issues.

Foxboro expects all issues to be resolved before the public hearing that will be held on March 17.