Connect with us

Boston, MA

Kraft Group reaches deal with Foxborough on security funding for World Cup games at Gillette Stadium – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Kraft Group reaches deal with Foxborough on security funding for World Cup games at Gillette Stadium – The Boston Globe


The town’s Select Board had refused to grant the entertainment license that soccer’s governing body, FIFA, needs to stage the World Cup in Foxborough.

The statement, bearing the logos of Boston’s World Cup host committee, Kraft Sports & Entertainment, and the town, said they had reached an “understanding collectively” to “finalize the details” necessary for the town to approve an entertainment license.

The agreement said 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.”

The town had set a March 17 deadline for the local organizing committee, Boston Soccer 26, FIFA, or the Kraft Group that owns the stadium to front the funds or the Select Board would not issue the necessary entertainment license.

The nearly $8 million was supposed to be delivered as part of a federal grant that was included in last year’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act. Massachusetts was allocated $46 million in funding for security needs, with the money originally scheduled to be released by the Department of Homeland Security in late January.

But the money has yet to be disbursed to any of the 11 US cities that are hosting games. (The full tournament, running from mid-June to mid-July, will play in 16 cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico.)

The dispute underscored what business leaders around Greater Boston said was deeper dysfunction and looming financial troubles within the Boston organizing committee, which is now scrambling to pull off the event in less than three months.

Advertisement

Boston Soccer 26 — dominated by allies of Patriots owner Robert Kraft — appears well short of the $170 million goal it said it needed to stage a World Cup that could draw 2 million visitors to Greater Boston. Exactly how short remains a mystery.

But the dispute with Foxborough pushed the local committee to make a rare public disclosure last week: that it had only $2 million in the bank, but anticipates depositing another $30 million soon.

That’s a fraction of what was envisioned by the organizers two years ago, spawning concerns about what the World Cup will actually look like at kickoff on June 13.

Meanwhile, in Foxborough over the last several weeks, a series of increasingly contentious meetings highlighted a David and Goliath dynamic between the five members of the town’s Select Board and a host committee working closely with FIFA, the global soccer organization that projects the quadrennial tournament to to generate $11 billion in revenues.

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.

Advertisement

Board members made no effort to hide their disbelief and dismay the host committee lawyers did not arrive with essentially a check for security costs that a town with a population of some 18,000 was not equipped to fund.

“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.”

Advertisement

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.’ ”

Then, by Wednesday, all the parties got to “yes.”

“We look forward to moving forward together positively,” the statement concluded, “in our shared goals of providing the highest level of public safety for this historic event and delivering a global experience for our region, which will infuse the Commonwealth and Foxborough with an influx of new visitors and associated economic impact.”

The parties also singled out Massachusetts state Senator Paul Feeney, US Congressman Jake Auchincloss, Governor Maura Healey, and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll for helping to bring about the security plan.


Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.

Advertisement





Source link

Boston, MA

Your next Uber ride in Boston could be a taxi

Published

on

Your next Uber ride in Boston could be a taxi


Boston taxis will be able to pick up passengers who request Uber and Lyft rides under a new pilot program announced by Mayor Michelle Wu Tuesday.

Customers who get a cab through a ride-hailing app will still see the cost upfront on their phone as opposed to the typical taxi fare structure. 

“The goal of the pilot is to give Boston passengers more options to hail a taxi and to allow Boston’s licensed taxis to participate directly in meeting the demand for trips generated through Uber and Lyft,” the city said in a news release.

Advertisement

Wu said the yearlong pilot will allow cab drivers to earn more while reducing wait times for passengers. 

“We’re thankful for the collaboration and advocacy from our taxicab drivers to introduce this new transportation service, and excited to support the people who keep our city moving,” the mayor said.

The program excludes taxi trips to Boston’s Logan Airport, and allows the Hackney Division to make exceptions during some special events in the city.

Uber’s website informs users “you might get matched with a Boston taxi driver.”

“If so, you’ll enjoy the same 24/7 availability and affordable prices you know with UberX while riding to your destination in a cab,” Uber says.

Advertisement

The city said it expects taxi drivers will now be able to “access a significantly larger number of trips than most currently serve.”

“This change is a major boost for taxi drivers in Boston and the passengers we serve,” said Balwinder Gill, who has owned and operated a Boston taxi for 25 years.



Source link

Continue Reading

Boston, MA

Editorial: With Boston’s World Cup win, could we host Olympics?

Published

on

Editorial: With Boston’s World Cup win, could we host Olympics?


The World Cup economic windfall boosting Boston gives rise to a question: Could the Hub host the Olympics?

Certainly Bostonians have more than risen to the occasion in terms of welcoming international visitors to our city and showing them a good time (and vice versa, Tartan Army). But it takes more than great hosts and a convivial atmosphere to pull off an epic sporting event.

It takes money, lots of it, political transparency, and a process open to public scrutiny and feedback. In other words, no, we couldn’t.

Public reception to the 2014 Olympics bid was tepid at best, as it would entail multiple construction projects. And when big construction projects are presented in Boston, taxpayers get suspicious. Big Dig, anyone?

Advertisement

Boston 24 announced it estimated the Games would produce at least $4.8 billion in revenues from television broadcast rights, ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and other revenues, the Associated Press reported. They assumed nearly $4.6 billion in costs, including $176 million for a temporary Olympic Stadium, $90 million for the athletes’ village, about $754 million to build other Olympic venues and another $132 million to rent other locations.

They reportedly announced all this to answer critics who said the privately funded Boston 2024 withheld details of the bid to prevent the public from assessing whether the Games could be staged, as promised, without the need for taxpayer money.

We learned the answer to that soon enough.

In this case, as the Herald reported that year, details from Boston 2024’s so-called bid book indicated that plans sent to the U.S. Olympic Committee called for the Hub to fund “land acquisition and infrastructure costs” at Widett Circle, where a temporary Olympic stadium was being proposed. It came after months of promises that the group planned to run a privately funded Olympics.

“They’ve been saying for months, ‘No taxpayer (money),’ ” said Evan Falchuk, a vocal bid critic who pushed for a statewide ballot question on hosting the games. “Then you read what they told the USOC. … It’s a devastating blow to their credibility. There’s a reason why voters don’t trust what they’ve heard and (Boston 2024 has) got a lot of work to do to earn that trust.”

Advertisement

And all this talk of money came before any cost overruns made an appearance. London’s budget for the 2012 Summer Games escalated by about 300%, ending somewhere in the $14 billion range. What were the chances we’d fare any better?

No wonder Bostonians gave the Olympics idea the cold shoulder.

But what of the city’s World Cup success story? For starters, Gillette Stadium is already built, and the only large element requiring a cash infusion was the MBTA, which shelled out $35 million to upgrade Foxboro Station in advance of the Cup. They’ll make a nice chunk of that back, as the T spiked round-trip Commuter Rail ticket prices between South Station and Gillette Stadium for fútbol fans to $80.

In this case, Bostonians are on the winning side, reaping benefits from free-spending (and thirsty) visitors, and reveling in the good vibes.

It would be great for the city if megaprojects, or even minor ones, came with the guarantee of financial transparency before shovels hit the dirt. Optimists should look at White Stadium before calling it a day.

Advertisement
Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel (Creators Syndicate)

 



Source link

Continue Reading

Boston, MA

With Columbia Threadneedle out, Boston Triathlon director is looking for a new sponsor – The Boston Globe

Published

on

With Columbia Threadneedle out, Boston Triathlon director is looking for a new sponsor – The Boston Globe


Michael O’Neil is on the hunt for the next John Hancock.

As many Boston sports fans know, the insurance company first sponsored the Boston Marathon 40 years ago, helping usher in the modern professional era of the race as well as tens of millions of dollars in community fund-raising each year.

O’Neil wants to make a similar leap for the race he runs, the Boston Triathlon. This will be the first year without a naming-rights sponsor after nine years with Ameriprise Financial-owned Columbia Threadneedle Investments. O’Neil is seeking a successor that can help make an impact on the race the way Hancock once did with the marathon, a sponsorship role now played by Bank of America.

“We’re looking for that next transformational partner that wants to do something like that,” O’Neil said.

Advertisement

The 18-year-old triathlon draws nearly 2,500 athletes to Carson Beach in South Boston each August, for sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons, and also features free kids’ races the day before at the same location; Amazon has been a big sponsor for the “Kids Day” events.

O’Neil says he would like to extend the race beyond loops in South Boston to showcase more of the city and boost tourism; the Meet Boston tourism bureau is also among the race’s sponsors. Another hope of O’Neil’s: to continue community efforts that he and his race management firm, Ethos, undertook with support from Columbia Threadneedle, including donations to Boston Medical Center and the city’s “Swim Safe” program to provide swim lessons for kids. (O’Neil started an affiliated nonprofit to help expand this community work in 2024.)

He expects the race’s naming-rights sponsorship to cost “in the mid-six figures” annually.

“We’re over this hump now, after 18 years, we’re an institution,” O’Neil said. “We’re seeking a Boston-based company, that’s headquartered here or has a large presence here, that wants to make an impact on the community. … We know how to do that.”

This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.

Advertisement

Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending