With one month to go before the 2026 World Cup comes to the Boston area, officials are touting the region’s preparedness for the games.
Starting June 13, there will be seven matches held at Gillette Stadium, which will be called Boston Stadium during the games. And preparation includes going over everything from parking to disease protection.
“With just one month to go, we are excited and ready to welcome the world,” Mike Loynd, CEO of the Boston Host Committee, said from Gillette Stadium Wednesday.
Getting to the stadium will cost fans no matter how they plan to get to the games. Round-trip MBTA commuter rail tickets between South Station and Foxboro Station are slated to cost $80. And round-trip bus tickets are set to cost $95.
Following pushback on the high prices, the prices for shuttles to New Jersey matches were recently dropped for fans traveling to the games from New York. But Jim Nolan, COO of Kraft Sports and Entertainment, said they’re not expecting any additional funding to help lower transportation costs.
“We don’t expect to see a change in that,” he said. “In New York, they specifically got $6 million from the government to defray that cost. I don’t expect that to be here.”
Organizers expect all the games to be sold out. And for anyone who doesn’t have a ticket, the message is simple.
“The people who should come to Gillette on a game day are people who have a ticket to the event,” Nolan said. “So if you don’t have a ticket, don’t come to Gillette.”
Nolan said that tickets will be checked three times on site for game days, including in parking lots at Gillette.
He said that FIFA currently has 5,000 parking spots available for $175 each, but that they could add thousands more. He also pointed out the thousands of spaces operate independently along Route 1.
Along with the logistics of soccer matches that will have a global audience, public health officials are also gearing up — preparing for everything from an infectious disease outbreak to foodborne illness.
Kerin Milesky, director of the state’s Office of Preparedness and Emergency Management, outlined a plan with state and intergovernmental collaboration for Cup games on Wednesday morning.
Massachusetts is expecting two million domestic and international visitors for the games — and about a third of ticket holders for the Massachusetts games will be international, she said.
Milesky said the state’s health department is coordinating with the federal government, and said plans are in the works to support routine health care needs as well as crises.
“Mass gatherings can increase the risk of weather-related hazards, mass casualty incidents, and other events that strain the health care system, infectious disease outbreaks and foodborne illness,” she said.
Still, Loynd is expecting this summer’s tournament to be a major event.
“Our fan festival is in good shape, our tickets are all sold, as we said, our transportation’s in place, ” Loynd said. “So, success right now is us achieving an excellent event, which we think we’re perfectly cued up for.”
