World Cup
“If you don’t have a ticket, don’t come to Gillette,” said Jim Nolan, chief operating officer of Kraft Sports & Entertainment.
The seven World Cup games in Foxborough are “well on track to be full,” said Boston 26 host committee CEO Mike Loynd.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
May 14, 2026 | 10:35 AM
4 minutes to read
FOXBOROUGH — The day before Gillette Stadium transitions to “Boston Stadium” for this summer’s World Cup, local organizers went out of their way to encourage local spectators to arrive the old-fashioned way.
Drive your car.
“If you were coming to a concert or if you were coming to a football game, we recommend you travel the way you would — and as you know, most of those people drive,” said Jim Nolan, chief operating officer of Kraft Sports & Entertainment at a “Know Before You Go” press briefing a month before the first of seven World Cup games in Foxborough.
Nolan on Wednesday explained that with domestic and foreign visitors expected to use the expanded bus and train services, there will be abundant satellite parking available along the Route 1 approach that will make up for the approximately 5,000 parking spaces FIFA will control at the stadium.
Pricing for the non-stadium parking spots remains unknown, and no advance reservation system is expected to be available.
Among other topics covered in the briefing:
- No matter how a person arrives at the stadium, Nolan urged that person have a ticket. Tickets will be scanned three times — entering a parking lot, going through security, and then to enter.
“If you don’t have a ticket, don’t come to Gillette,” said Nolan, who recommended fans without tickets celebrate in their communities or the FanFest in Boston.
He added, “We are 100 percent allowing tailgating for all FIFA matches, but again, that is just for ticket-holders.”
- The customary “clear-bag” policy for personal belongings will be in effect, though Nolan recommended fans use the smallest bag they can.
- Gates will open three hours before matches. A Fan Experience zone is located inside the gates and will be active as soon as the gates open.
- The stadium will be cashless, with cash-to-credit kiosks available.
- The bus services that will be operating out of greater Boston hotels are not reserved for hotel guests. All ticket-holders can pay for bus rides, which will begin at least three and up to 4½ hours before matches.
Those bus rides will cost $95.
News emerged Wednesday that the state of New York and private sources will chip in to slash the price of bus rides from New York to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey from $80 to $20.
Nolan said a similar response should not be expected here.
“Thirty days out, we don’t expect any new public money for transportation and we don’t expect any new private money for transportation,” he said. “We don’t expect to see a change in that. In New York, they specifically got $6 million from the government to erase that cost. I don’t expect that to be here.”
- Boston 26 host committee CEO Mike Loynd said that after conferring with FIFA, he expects towns and organizations who are still waiting on their public viewing licenses should have an answer by the end of the week.
“[FIFA] assured us that we’re going to get that sorted in the next couple of days, so we’re going to work through that list,” said Loynd. “We’ll be in touch with everyone that’s on the list of public viewing areas, and we’ll be following up in the next few days. I would expect by the end of the week, we’ll have answers. I can’t say if they’re all positive, but I can say we’ll have answers.”
- There have been reports that some European fans will be just fine with bicycling or walking many miles to get to the stadiums of their choice.
Foxborough’s chief of police, Michael Grace, good-naturedly said that dealing with bicyclists and pedestrians does not appear on his list of security concerns.
“I anticipate that’s not going to be an issue that we have to worry about,” he said. “I think the first 5 miles into it and they check their GPS, they’re going to say that’s a bad idea.”
- Organizers are working with Uber to expand service. The rideshare spot will be parking lot No. 16.
- The seven games are not sold out yet.
“It’s a complicated thing to say an event like this is sold out, but it is well on track to be full,” said Loynd.
- Grace said ICE will not play a part in security at the games.
“There is no plan for the use of ICE at any of the events,” he said. “The Trump administration came out and made that very clear publicly and in statements.”
- Details on the registration process for the Boston City Hall FanFest should be ready for release “in the next week or so,” said Loynd.
- As of Thursday, the Patriots’ Pro Shop, Patriots Hall of Fame, Gillette Stadium Lighthouse, and access to the Tom Brady statue outside the North entrance will be closed through mid-July. The Pro Shop will move to a temporary location in the Patriot Place South Marketplace.
- Groundbreaking at East Boston’s Donald McKay School mini-pitch — the first of 17 the committee and US Soccer Foundation are building for its legacy program — is expected to take place in the coming days.
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