Following a weekslong standoff, the town of Foxborough has reached a deal with the Kraft Group to issue the entertainment license needed for Gillette Stadium to host several FIFA World Cup games this summer.
In a joint statement with Kraft Sports and Entertainment and Boston Soccer 2026 on Wednesday night, the town said it has “reached an understanding collectively ... to finalize the details needed to approve an event license at the March 17 public hearing.”
The statement says that under the agreement, “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.”
While the statement does not give dollar amounts for the deal, the town has estimated that the associated security costs for the seven Gillette Stadium matches are projected to be $7.8 million.
Typically, the Kraft Group pays for security at games and concerts at Gillette, but since FIFA is renting out the stadium for the matches, the issue of payment for security went unresolved for weeks.
Bill Yukna, chair of the town’s Select Board, said in a statement, “all of our funding concerns have been addressed.”
He thanked Robert Kraft “for his involvement in bringing the funding concerns to a resolution,” and said he expects that “any open issues in the license will be resolved before the 17th public hearing and we look forward to a very successful and safe World Cup event.”
This story will be updated.
