The town had set a March 17 deadline for the Boston 26 committee, the tournament organizer FIFA, or the Kraft Group that owns the stadium to front the funds or its select board would not approve the entertainment license FIFA needs to stage the games.
The statement, bearing the logos of the three groups, said they had reached an “understanding collectively” to “finalize the details” necessary for the town to approve an entertainment license.
The agreement says 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.”
Over the last several weeks, a series of increasingly contentious Foxborough Select Board meetings highlighted the David and Goliath dynamic between the five select board members being paid $90 a month against a host committee working closely with FIFA, the global soccer organization that is projecting $11 billion in revenues from the quadrennial tournament being played in 16 North American cities.
Given the reputational harm that would come to the region’s business and political leaders, not to mention the loss of a projected $1 billion-plus in economic impact to New England with the games having to be played elsewhere, the chances that the parties would eventually come to a resolution were reasonable.
The odds, however, were starting to feel longer the last several days.
At the last meeting on March 3, two lawyers representing the host committee conveyed a proposal that, in part, guaranteed the Kraft Group would backstop all costs.
Board members made no effort to hide their disbelief and dismay that the lawyers did not arrive with, essentially, a check that would cover costs that the budget of the town (population, 18,000-plus) was not equipped to write.
“I don’t really think you’re hearing us,” said select board chair Bill Yukna.
Select board member Mark Elfman was more direct.
“I find it hard to believe — I’m sorry — that you don’t know after all the discussions that have gone on over the last couple of months exactly what we want,” he said.
Foxborough police chief Michael Grace also dismissed the proposal, calling it a “failed strategy.”
Over the weekend, the Kraft Group issued a terse response to what it saw as the select board’s intransigence: “We are deeply disappointed that the town has seemingly reached a conclusion unilaterally without the platform of a public hearing, which is already scheduled for March 17, and would like to understand what the town requires at this stage to get to ‘yes.’ ”
By Wednesday, all the parties got to “yes.”