In advance of this summer’s FIFA World Cup, SportsTravel is delving into each of the 11 U.S. cities that will host matches during the event. This year’s edition will be the largest ever, with 48 teams (up from 32) and it will be the first to be staged in three countries — Canada, Mexico and the United States — with 16 host cities in total.
Up next in our series: Boston, Massachusetts, which will host Men’s FIFA World Cup matches for the second time after the edition in the United States in 1994. Boston is the capital and most populous city in Massachusetts, and it was named after the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire in England by English Puritan settlers in 1630. The games this summer, however, will actually be played in the town of Foxborough within the Boston metropolitan area, which had a population of 18,000 as of the 2020 census.
[Editor’s Note: Click here to read our past features on Philadelphia, Kansas City, Houston, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta]
[For the full list of confirmed base camps so far, click here.]
Stadium
Stadium: Gillette Stadium / Boston Stadium
Capacity: 65,000
Opened: 2002
World Cup Hosting Experience: As Foxboro Stadium in 1994
Games: Seven matches including:
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Haiti v Scotland | Group C | Saturday, June 13
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Iraq v Norway | Group I | Tuesday, June 16
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Scotland v Morocco | Group C | Friday, June 19
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England v Ghana | Group L | Tuesday, June 23
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Norway v France | Group I | Friday, June 26
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Match 74 | Round of 32 | Monday, June 29
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Match 97 | Quarter-final | Thursday, July 9
Location
Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots (NFL) and New England Revolution (MLS) is located in Foxborough, Greater Boston area, on the same property as the original Foxboro Stadium. It can be found 22 miles southwest of Downtown Boston and 18 miles northeast of Providence, Rhode Island.
The new venue was constructed adjacent to the old stadium, which was demolished in 2002, with the former site now serving as parking and as the Patriot Place Shopping Center. Previously known as Schaefer Stadium and later Sullivan Stadium, the former venue had opened in 1971 and hosted the New England Patriots for 31 seasons.
As Foxboro Stadium, it hosted six matches at the 1994 Men’s FIFA World Cup and five games at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In its current form, the multi-purpose stadium, owned by the Kraft Group, has hosted NFL games (but never the Super Bowl), college football, the NHL Winter Classic, NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships and a host of concerts as well as soccer.
Team Base Camps
The French Men’s National Team will have its base camp at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Boston during the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer. In terms of training facilities, France will be based at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Les Bleus are scheduled to kick off their 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I campaign against Senegal on June 16 at the MetLife Stadium in New York New Jersey, before facing Iraq in Philadelphia on June 22, and concluding their group stage against Norway at Boston’s Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on June 26.
Fan Experience and Activations
The FIFA Fan Festival Boston will last 16 days (June 12 through June 27) and be held in the heart of downtown at City Hall Plaza (1 City Hall Square). Boston’s civic front yard is where many of the city’s largest gatherings have been hosted for almost six decades.
Organizers are promising that the “immersive” celebration will be free, and include live match broadcasts, interactive games and activities, and a food and beverage program that will reflect the city of Boston.
As fans finalize plans for the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium, a travel strategy is emerging: staying close to the stadium, but not necessarily in the biggest city.
While Boston may be the marquee name, Providence, Rhode Island, is closer to Gillette Stadium than many Boston neighborhoods, which will mean less time navigating traffic.
Other activations in Providence during the World Cup are:
- A cultural installation at Waterplace Park, where the Waterplace Pavilion will transform into the House of Portugal celebrating Rhode Island’s Portuguese heritage throughout the tournament. The activation will feature cultural programming, food, music, and match viewing, creating an immersive international atmosphere without the congestion of a major metro.
- Early and cheaper hotel deals include The Beatrice’s Summer of Soccer Package, which includes luxury transportation to and from Gillette Stadium by private chauffeur.
- Providence offers a diverse range of culinary experiences for World Cup visitors, from Portuguese restaurants to craft cocktails and a buzzy nightlife scene. The city is touted as one of the nightlife capitals of the United States, with more venues per person than New York City.
Tailgating, Less Parking At Boston Stadium
Boston Stadium will now allow tailgating at World Cup matches this summer, after the local organizing committee reversed an earlier ban for the Boston World Cup matches, which cited FIFA policy.
Tailgating is part of the tradition before big games at hundreds of U.S. stadiums and ballparks, and Gillette Stadium is no different. The parking lot before a New England Patriots game, for example, is filled with fans eating and drinking before kickoff.
At the same time, the number of parking spaces is being reduced from 20,000 for Patriots games and concerts to just 5,000 for the World Cup because of safety concerns and hospitality events. — Ted Keith
Price Hikes in Boston
The escalating prices for World Cup tickets has been attracting widespread attention, but so too have the prices for parking facilities and public transportation.
Last month, the Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) released its first batch of advance return tickets to travel from Boston’s South Station to Gillette Stadium (which will be known as Boston Stadium for the World Cup) in Foxborough. While a typical round trip would cost $20 on New England Patriots and New England Revolution gamedays, the Boston MBTA have since increased the ticket prices by a staggering 400 percent to $80 for a round trip that includes two journeys lasting between 60 and 90 minutes.
The tickets, which do not include options for concessions and are being sold exclusively through the MBTA’s mTicket app, went on sale on April 8, and FIFA says that it sold more than 17,450 return tickets on the first day of sales (including over 6,200 for Scotland vs. Haiti). The price includes trips for all commuter rail trains, buses and the subway in the region, and all ticketholders are required to have a ticket (including kids under age 11).
World Cup fans have since taken to social media to criticize the move by the Boston MBTA as “exorbitant” and “exploitative”, while others said that they had encountered difficulties within the app with repeated “Registration Failed” messages preventing them from securing transport passes. Meanwhile, the MBTA said that the $80 tickets were “more affordable” than driving to or parking at the stadium in Foxborough, which is 22 miles away from the center of Boston.
The Athletic previously reported that the price of public transportation tickets would go toward making up $35 million in investments that the Boston MBTA had put into Foxborough Station in preparation for the World Cup.
Accommodation Supply
According to short-term rental data provider AirDNA, the 2026 occupancy rate for the group stage games in Boston is up 60 percent compared to 2025, reaching an average of 51 percent. The Scotland vs. Hawaii match appears to be drawing the biggest crowd, however, with more than six out of 10 accommodations already booked for June 13 (64 percent occupancy).
The games with the most year-over-year demand increase are Scotland vs Morocco at +76 percent on June 19 and, unsurprisingly, Scotland vs Haiti at +75 percent on June 13. Scottish fans are definitely driving demand as this is their team’s first WC appearance since 1998.
Regarding pricing, the average booked rate across group stage dates is currently $330, a YoY increase of 24 percent. The average available rate, however, (the price listings currently marketed at) is $473, a 71 percent increase compared to 2025.
For the Round-of-32 games, the occupancy rate is up 17 percent compared to 2025; clearly, fans are waiting to see which teams qualify before booking. Match 74, happening on June 29, is still driving a 30 percent YoY increase in demand.
AirDNA’s latest World Cup report, meanwhile, shows that occupancy rates across host cities are similar across bedroom counts, suggesting guests are not consistently favoring smaller or larger properties. Differences are becoming clearer by price tier.
In Boston, lower-priced listings are seeing higher occupancy, with budget and economy properties outperforming upscale and luxury options as rising rates push guests toward more affordable stays.
Cities with more constrained accommodation supply are seeing the largest occupancy gains for the World Cup. In Boston, occupancy on game days and eves often exceeds 50 percent. Compared to larger markets such as Los Angeles and Miami, these cities have less than half the available hotel and short-term rental inventory.
As per Key Data, Boston is seeing the highest increase in short-term rental reservations per property by far (+869 percent). This contrasts sharply with the sharpest drop in year-over-year length of stay (+44 percent) as fans move on to other cities or head home after games. For the hotel segment, reservations per room and average daily rates are both seeing steady gains as a result of the World Cup, outperforming most U.S. host cities at 29 percent and 36 percent respectively.
And according to CoStar forecasts, Boston currently has the second highest average daily rate of all 11 U.S. host cities at $299.64, behind only New York New Jersey’s $361.11. In the meantime, this translates to the second highest year-over-year ADR growth at 0.144 percent, behind only Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
With seven matches to host, it appears Boston is preparing for a surge of visitors and tourists staying at short-term rentals and hotels during the tournament. It appears that Boston, as opposed to Foxborough where the games will be played, is set to benefit from this activity and accommodation providers are pricing accordingly in line with these expected trends.
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