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Welcoming The World To Boston - FIFA 2026

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From tournament favorites to hometown heroes, Boston hosts a scintillating round of World Cup matches this summer, with some of the top players in the world taking the pitch.

https://bostonfwc26.com/

https://www.meetboston.com/podcast/

SPEAKER_01

Founded four centuries ago, Boston has simply never settled. Conversations here determine the future, so let's discover what's next. Join us as we seek out the real Boston, past and present, through stories and perspectives that capture a city always in motion. I'm Martha Sheridan, CEO of Meet Boston, and this is Boston Found. Today on Boston Found, we're thrilled to welcome my friend Brian Ballelo, president of the New England Revolution and chair of the board of FIFA World Cup Boston 2026. Welcome, Brian. Thank you, Martha. So happy to have you. This is going to be a fun conversation. We've been working together for quite a while, I think three or four years on hosting these matches. So we've got a lot to talk about. In terms of our long-term partnership and bringing the World Cup matches back to Boston this year, we have seven matches taking place in Foxborough slash Boston, as we like to say. But before we get to those matches, share some thoughts on the overall impact of the tournament.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I think it's great. I mean, our partnership and friendship is really indicates what's going on here. I mean, this is a tourism event above all. So yes, there are the matches at the stadium, but there's nothing like this. I mean, maybe the Olympics in terms of the total number of tourists that come in, but not in terms of just the short amount of time, really short amount of work that it takes to do this relative to, let's say, in Olympic Games, and then all the tourists that you get in. So I think what's so exciting about the World Cup and why it's so important is that yes, there are the soccer fans who live here and they're going to try to get to Games. And there's the soccer fans from around the world that are going to come here, but it's really our opportunity to introduce them to Boston, both in terms of, hey, stay a week, don't stay two days. And then also when you go home, tell all your friends, families about that. And the last one I'll say, and we're starting to get a little bit involved with folks who are thinking about economic development. What about the long-term impacts of maybe a CEO comes here, maybe another few people from a business come here and they're thinking about Boston as a place to do a North American headquarters or opening up something else or just trading with businesses that we have here. So the amount of initial impact is we've talked about, I'm sure we will talk about that. But I think there's so many lasting effects of something like this. And the World Cup has the opportunity to really do that for us.

SPEAKER_01

And we will be putting our best foot forward. And with the number of incredible sponsors, both from FIFA and from the LOC Local Organizing Committee, we certainly will have a lot of corporate entities in Boston during the span of the matches, correct?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you've got the folks that are going to be the big names and they're being associated with us and with FIFA, and we know who they are, and they've been tremendous partners for all of us, and they'll continue to do so. And they'll they'll have the ability to really take advantage of the event. But even just people buying hospitality, buying a suite, buying eight club seats for one game. Um, who is that? Why are they doing that? Who are they bringing to the matches? So one of the things that we'll all be working on is thinking about who those folks are and making sure we're making those connections, whether that's with other private companies here in Boston, but even with public officials, uh folks like your organization, right? To make sure they understand what Boston has to offer both during the World Cup, but then, you know, in the decades to follow.

SPEAKER_01

That's great. And and we've been saying largest sporting event of all time.

SPEAKER_00

Largest sporting event of all time. Um it's the biggest World Cup ever because they expanded the field. And then usually the big the World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world. Um, so that you have this one with the additional games, the additional teams. I feel pretty confident this is the uh the largest sporting event of all time.

SPEAKER_01

Fantastic. So we recently learned, well, a month a month or so ago, we learned who would be playing here. And needless to say, I think we hit the jackpot. It was a very exciting day for all of us involved. I know you're excited about who we've got coming to Boston in the group stage match schedule. Um, talk a little bit about the the draw and you know what your what are your thoughts and and how how excited should we be about who's coming here?

SPEAKER_00

We knew we're gonna start every game. It didn't matter really who we got for that. So I think I go for me, especially the role I serve with you on on Boston Soccer 26. Are we gonna have great matches to to drive fans to be here? Are we gonna get great fans that want to come and travel in big numbers? And to your point, I mean, we really did well. We really, really did well. One, we've got, you know, and we can talk about all these teams. We got a mix of really high quality teams, teams that will challenge to win the World Cup. So that's super exciting. We have some teams that maybe not the favorites to win the World Cup, but are certainly the favorites for the most traveling fans that they're gonna bring, the most support they're gonna bring, and that's really exciting. And then we have some teams that I think are really important to our local community. And so the ability to activate the World Cup both on an international scale, but also locally here and get our you know our residents excited. I think we hit the home run in terms of that mix of teams.

SPEAKER_01

That's amazing. Well, let's break it down a little bit more specifically. So we have a big agency that works an agency that works with us in the UK promoting Boston, Cambridge, and the greater Boston area. They're fantastic. First team I want to talk about is Scotland. You know, they're, I mean, as soon as we learned that we were gonna be hosting Scotland, the social media channels, you know, just exploded with people from Scotland looking forward to their their travel to Boston. Talk to us a little bit about this team, the fact that they haven't been to a World Cup in 30 years. How excited are they gonna be to travel to Boston for two consecutive matches?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I'll tell you how excited they're gonna be. Um you say they haven't been to the World Cup in 30 years. That's a little bit incorrect. Their team hasn't played in the World Cup in 30 years, but their fans have traveled to that distinction.

SPEAKER_01

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00

They're famously known as the Tartan Army, and they're also somewhat famous for traveling in decent numbers to some of the past World Cups without even having their team in it. And it's just a celebration with these fans. The wonderful thing about the Scots are they are one insanely happy that their team qualified for the World Cup and are really coming here to have a great time. These are wonderful people, wonderful fans. Uh, they want to experience the culture, they want to obviously experience their team, but they're gonna be great. And they travel in great numbers, and you know, we know with our proximity to Scotland and a long history of just you know great interaction between us and the UK. We're expecting a lot out of the Scots, and uh it's to be great to have them here. Or right south of them uh is England, and uh we do have one England match, and they are certainly one of the favorites to win. Also, great group of traveling supporters and really popular around the world uh in terms of eyeballs on them because of the famous players that they have. Um, you're gonna see great TV exposure for Boston when when England plays, but also great traveling support. I guess since I've talked about England, we'll talk about the other favorites that are coming up here. Yes. Uh, and that has to be France. We knew a little while ago, but very recently news broke that France will not only be playing a match here, um, but they will be base camping uh at Babson College in in Wellesley and staying right here downtown. Yeah. So France is uh is a really exciting one. They are certainly one of the favorites, one of the best players, if not the best player in the world right now, and Killian Mbappe. So he is he is definitely one to watch. We couldn't ask for more in terms of a favorite. And I'll just add, I know we're talking World Cup, but we uh down at Chillette Stadium have have scheduled a friendly match between France and Brazil for March this year. And so for those of you who might not be able to get World Tech Cup tickets, there are, I think, some tickets still left. I mean, it's sold very quickly, and there's a lot of tickets already sold for that. Um, but we're gonna have France play Brazil here, even leading up to that. So we're trying to capture that World Cup spirit, not just during the World Cup, but even the run-up to it. And France, uh, I think being here for the World Cup and having that match will be a really exciting one. And then I guess when I'm talking about France, let's talk about Norway. Norway and France are playing here. Norway has two matches here, but they're playing France, and that is that our best matchup, would you say? I would it's definitely our best matchup of the first round, but I'm thinking that it might be the best matchup in the entire World Cup in the booth stage.

SPEAKER_01

Um, you've got you've got a great player on Norway's team as well.

SPEAKER_00

Aaron Holland is uh also one of those top you know five players in the world. And so him playing against Mbappe. For those of you who are not big soccer fans, it's kind of like the NBA. When two superstars are going head to head, everyone's watching. And that's a game that everyone's gonna be talking about Mbappe playing against Holland. And uh that one, that one we're we're really excited about as well. And then look, we've got some other great teams coming in as well, right? Certainly with Haiti, uh, we have a great local contingent of Haitian fans. Haiti was not expected to make the World Cup. So again, another country like Scotland, that people are just so excited that that their team is in it and it's gonna be a celebration. I think that's what sometimes people don't understand that like when you're when you're not expecting to even make the World Cup, going is something that's generational in some of these countries. And so it's not anxious, angry fans. They're going into this, like, we are just so happy to be here. That you get a great vibe out of the fan bases. So that's gonna be a tremendous one, both again traveling fans, but also our local contingent of Haitians. Um we always joke when we have the Gold Cup and they would come in, the Haitian Nation comes out in big numbers to support their team, and that'll be a fun one for sure. And then Morocco, another group that we have a really decent um local contingent on. And I would say if you look at world rankings and then you say, well, who's gonna finish better than what they're ranked? Morocco is one of those teams.

SPEAKER_01

Well, they made it pretty far in the last um go-arounds.

SPEAKER_00

If you're looking for a dark horse team and you're living in Boston, I would I would grab Morocco as my dark horse team um for the World Cup. Really, really talented. Uh, over the last number of years, they've actually performed well at the youth level. So we have U-20 World Cups and U23 and U18s. And at those tournaments, Morocco has performed very well over the last number of years.

SPEAKER_01

You've got a good build-up of talent. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so they've shown their ability to do that as well.

SPEAKER_01

So, you know, well, I interact with a lot of Moroccans in Boston, um just in my day day-to-day life or whether I'm, you know, wherever I am, and I got to tell you, they are so excited about this match. I I can't wait to see those fans on the streets. And again, we have a particularly large Moroccan population here as well. So that's gonna bode well.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I'm a soccer guy, and that's the team I'm probably most interested in in watching to see, you know, France is sort of like we we know that's gonna be a big concert. Yeah, you go to the big concert and you two's going to town, you know what to get. But this is sort of like one of those bands where it's like, I kind of want to see what these guys got. And uh I I I would tell people, watch Morocco, they're gonna be really fun.

SPEAKER_01

Well, let's back up a little bit into the activity we can expect when the fans are in town. So, first let's talk about Scotland and maybe a couple of the other teams that are coming and this concept of a fan march. Because I know this is a big deal for some countries where they come en masse and they actually do a parade, so to speak, to support their team. What can we expect from some of these teams in regards to fan marches in Boston or even as they get closer to the stadium?

SPEAKER_00

The tradition really is when you have stadiums that are in cities, right? That there's only a few paths to get there. And so everyone just kind of winds up on the same streets together, and then you're you're marching, you're singing. Um, singing songs is a big thing for soccer. We invent and create all these fun songs, whether it's our club team like the Revolution or our national teams, my case, the US soccer national team. That's just part of the joyous sort of thing of being there, being at the match. So I think when we'll look, what you really see is, you know, if you've got that sort of downtown fan fest and we're working towards that right now, you know, if one of those teams is playing a game in another in another um stadium, but their fans are already here because they're going to the home game here, they'll go, they'll want to watch that game, they'll want to celebrate together. Or down until its stadium, you know, when they all arrive on the train, you're just gonna see them naturally come down and want to be together. Um and we've got a plan for that. We have a plan for that. We have a plan for that. But I think the most the most important thing because I think people think about soccer and think about soccer from 20, 30, 40 years ago and some of the negative connotations with massive soccer fans, and you don't really see that anymore, and you almost never have seen it at a World Cup. It's a different type of fan that comes, and like I said, most of them are just so excited to be here and they want to be with their countrymen and they want to frankly show others. I've actually had the privilege of going to a few World Cups as a fan, and you're really proud of your country, and everyone is proud of their country there, and everyone's just really having a great time to they you're here and you're here together. So, as much as a combative sort of like it's sports and you want to win, there really is a joint celebration of all the fans that come to a World Cup.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. And I know Bostonians and mass residents are gonna do a great job of welcoming all these fans to our great state. The other thing I wanted to ask about is the base camp situation with France and and maybe one other team who knows by the time everything shakes out. But what does that look like? What will the access be to the superstar Mbappé as he stays here for almost 30 days with the exception of leaving for a match or two? I know the the practices are closed to the public, but you know, they are going to be in the city, they're gonna be staying in a downtown hotel to be determined. What will fan access look like for that incredibly popular team?

SPEAKER_00

They'll be very thoughtful and careful, right? You don't want a situation where you know you're telling fans to go someplace and we're, you know, the the team is not ready for that. So um we certainly won't want to encourage fans to go out to Wellesley and try to get access to their training sessions. Those are not open to the public um for that obvious reason. I mean, you're talking about a guy like Mbappe, when he gets signed by Real Madrid, they'll do a day where they just bring him to the stadium and you can go to the stadium just to watch him literally walk out there and wave, and 40,000, 50,000 people will show up for that, right? So um you have to be really careful and thoughtful about how you'd have that access. But I imagine France, not only being here for the World Cup with a friendly match, will want to do a little bit of stuff to sort of integrate with the community, you know, celebrate, do a couple public events. So again, they're thinking through that right now, but there's also a lot of focus. The games come every few days, and so I think fans just have to understand that for many of the players, this is their only World Cup. Some guys will go to one, two, three, or four, but for some players, this is their only World Cup, their only chance. For some countries, you mentioned Scotland, this is their only World Cup. So they're pretty focused on the task at hand and making sure they're prepped for those. And those matches come every few days. So it's a pretty rigorous schedule of like having a match, having a recovery day, then building yourself back up, your fitness back up. God forbid anyone even has a nagging injury. Maybe they're still playing, but you don't realize that they have a slight hamstring issue, but they don't, you know, this is not when you take a rest off, right? If you're playing for the Revs, you have a little hamstring issue, we'll sit you one week to get you back. You miss a week, you might miss two or three games. So these guys are really pushing hard to get their peak performance. So I I know fans are anxious and they want to be around the players, and I'm sure there'll be some opportunities, but they're gonna be pretty focused on the games. This is gonna be really fun.

SPEAKER_01

All right, so we've talked about the first five matches, and then we have, of course, a round of 32 and a quarterfinal. And I know you know soccer, but any predictions on who we might see here for those matches barring any extreme upsets?

SPEAKER_00

So the quarterfinal is really difficult because it's the winner of two knockout stage matches, but those two knockout stage matches could be a whole variety of teams because that's coming from another round of knocking. So it's a knockout, then another round, then the quarterfinal. So it's it's pretty hard to predict who's gonna make that. I would just say look at the top teams. You get to the quarterfinal, there's eight teams left.

SPEAKER_01

So if you look at the top 12, it'll be an exciting match no matter what.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, of those eight teams, my guess is six of them are probably in the top 12 teams in the world, right? You might get one or two outsiders who sneak in there, but it's gonna be those top teams. The first knockout game that we have is a little bit more predictable, and the winner of Germany's group will be in that match. Oh, okay. So I would say Germany is the favorite to play in that match, or the favorite in that group, so they should be the favorites for one of the teams in the match. The other team is a third place group, third place team from one of five groups.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, so that's much more difficult.

SPEAKER_00

So predicting we actually could see the US for that game. I really hope we don't see the US for that game as a US fan because that means the US got third in their group and they should get first in their group. But there is actually a path for the US for the quarterfinal match, right? So I like to see the US in the quarterfinal. I don't want to see them in around the 32 here because that means they're in 30 third uh third place. Um, but I think Germany is most likely to play here. Most likely to play here in that knock on it. Unless there's a big upset. But the quarterfinal will be awesome. It'll be a great match.

SPEAKER_01

So let's talk about the U.S. men's national team. What are your thoughts there? You know, I know you know a lot of the players on the team, obviously, and and follow them pretty rigorously.

SPEAKER_00

What are your thoughts? Well, certainly the last six months to a year, they've looked really, really sharp. I think there's some nervousness about uh some of the results before that. Uh, but they just hired a new coach at that time, Rizio Pachettino, who's an Argentine coach, a lot of experience overseas, really well-known coach. But lately, the last number of games has been really strong results for them. And, you know, it's it's one of the few things I work in sports. I run a professional sports team. It's hard to be a fan when you're in this as a business, but I'm a fan of the US men's national team and the US women's national team as well. And so for me, you know, I I do get a little fan ish when I think and talk about them. I think not winning at least one knockout game. I think a lot of people would see that as a disappointment. I mean, the team has a lot of talent on it. They definitely should do well in their group. That means they should get to a knockout game. Hopefully that's against a team that, you know, they can and should beat. But again, weird things happen, right? And a top team could have a difficult time for some reason in their group, or they get a red card and then all of a sudden they don't win their group. And now you're facing one of the top three or four teams in the in the world in a knockout stage game. So anything could really happen. So I look, it's hard to say I want them to get to this round or that round. It's more looking at the results and who they're playing against, but they should do pretty well in this tournament. And uh a lot of us are pretty excited about it.

SPEAKER_01

Needless to say, exciting matches all over the US, Canada, and Mexico for the duration. So we're excited about that.

SPEAKER_00

It is, and I think when we looked at this, it's like almost impossible not to get, but I would say there are cities that didn't do as well as us.

SPEAKER_01

I've heard, I've heard from some of my counterparts. I won't mention any.

SPEAKER_00

It's hard to say anyone definitively did much better than us. Um, but I I think we're right up there with any mark in terms of the the teams that that that we got here in Massachusetts. I know there's some fans that are disappointed about maybe we didn't get Cape Farrell or we didn't get Brazil, but uh it's hard to complain. We got we got a great draw.

SPEAKER_01

So given that draw, um and we talked a little bit about impact. I want to drill down a little bit more onto the specifics of that. Let's talk economic impact for the region, for the Commonwealth. We know New England will benefit as a whole. And I know, you know, alongside you on the on the board of the local organizing committee, we've done some studies. Talk a little bit about those really impactful numbers that we're gonna experience here.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think it's important that this is direct economic impact right now during the World Cup. That's all we're really talking about, right? And that is a billion dollars. I mean, it's a billion dollars of economic impact. And what do we mean by a billion? Like, what do you mean by a billion dollars? We're talking about hotels, rental cars, dining out, going shopping, right? All those types of things. That's the billion dollars and all the impact of that. People who work, right, who who live and work in Massachusetts getting paid because they have more work to do. All those types of things drive that billion dollar number. I think what's also important is the direct tax benefit. And I think we're being very conservative when we're calling that number 60-ish, probably will creep up near$100 million, and that is direct state tax money that they're gonna get from all those things that we just talked about. And I think what's important about the World Cup, it's it's it's a locked-in guaranteed impact because the tickets are sold overseas. They're not just like, oh, we're having a concert and all these people are gonna maybe, maybe, maybe come from all over the place. Like we know people are coming from all over the place, and so that impact is really, really important to make sure we're benefiting from. And we want to show that, hey, when we bring events like this, it really can have an impact. And I mean, I I'll speak a little bit out of my world, but uh I follow and read the news enough, right? And I and I know that there's a little more struggles to get people to come to the United States right now and to and to visit our country. And and unless you're in this industry, right, hospitality and tourism, you you might read that and be like, okay, well, whatever. But when you're in that business, I know I don't say whatever. No, you definitely don't. Um, so having an event like this, and again, there's some noise around this, but the reality is is people are coming to the World Cup. They're gonna come, they're gonna have a great time. And so having this event that's just guaranteed you're getting these tourists to come to your city, to enjoy your city, that that's what's amazing. I think the knock-on, I talked a little bit about that, is what if you have businesses that decide to relocate here, build a North American headquarters here, or just conduct business with Massachusetts? And so I know we have state officials who are thinking about that right now, like how to maximize that. Because again, you're talking about no hyperbole, right? When you go to these matches, you're you've got royalty here, you've got CEOs, you've got big decision makers. Most of these countries, they don't have five major sports that divide loyalties. It's soccer, soccer, soccer, soccer, and soccer. And so is the prime minister a fan of soccer? Yes, he or she is. Yeah, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01

I'm sure it's their that's their national sport, right?

SPEAKER_00

And so when you have this ability to have real influencers in your state, in your city, uh, and and impress upon them, right? You know, maybe someone comes in here's like, oh yeah, they have MIT and Harvard and Tufts and all these schools, and like there must be a lot of young people who are tech savvy. Maybe we should think about Boston, right? So even something like that is uh is really important to us. And then there's a tourism multiplier effect, right? That you you come as a tourist and you go home and we've all been on vacation.

SPEAKER_01

How was it? They tell 10 people, absolutely. I I just came back. From India, I can't 20 people have asked me how it was India. Of course, it was wonderful. It's a beautiful country. But so I just want to reiterate, just for the for our people listening, two points. One, every match at Gillette will sell out, and two, there's little to no chance that these matches will not take place in the United States.

SPEAKER_00

Zero chance that they don't take place.

SPEAKER_01

I get these questions every day, so I just want to make sure people hear it loud and clear because there's a lot of rumors out there. You know, I see rumors about, you know, World Cup tickets aren't selling, and you know, so and so is going to cancel matches in this city. And it's just it's fabrication.

SPEAKER_00

You can understand that there are certain fans that might look at something and say, oh, look at those prices. No one's gonna go. Um, but the reality is it's just how it is for some of these events. I mean, we've got uh our sister team, the Patriots, are heading to the Super Bowl, and uh I don't have to tell people that those tickets are also quite expensive. Yes, yes, yes. Uh, and they're gonna sell off. So it's not really that issue. It is important though, and FIFA's you know taken some steps to make sure that you know, as much as possible to get those fans who are passionate about their teams and their country's accessible tickets. And there are a lot of accessible tickets. I think the hard thing is you have a lottery to for the right to buy those tickets, right? We have hospitality packages that are quite expensive, frankly, that companies are buying. And well, why do they have those? Well, that's the money that funds things like the FanFest, that funds stuff like Boston 26 so that we can throw the event, that funds France traveling over and does all those things. So, as much as a lot of people might not be able to afford those tickets, they're actually really important because they do drive the economics of the tournament and make sure that FIFA can afford to do everything that they need to do. And then the local organizing committees like ours, we can hold those things that will be enjoyed by a lot of people that might even buy a ticket, but they have a place to celebrate or something to do. And all that's being funded by a lot of those hospitality and sponsorship packages. On the general fans, you know, people buy those tickets and they post them on secondary market. And at that point, it there's no control out of the control of anyone, right? Right. And so someone might have gone on there and bought a$60,$90,$200 ticket and they're posting it for$2,000. So I can see how a fans like, that's I go to Stub, I go to you know, one of those places, and I can't see anything affordable. Well, that ticket probably started out as a somewhat affordable ticket, and now it's it's no longer. So we have one more big lottery in the beginning of February, and then at that point, most of the we'll call them general tickets will be accounted for, and then all that will be left are sort of these hospitality packages.

SPEAKER_01

And right now, demand exceeds supply. And as you like to say, and remind me when I talk about ticket prices, it is a dynamic pricing situation. So it's all based on supply and demand. There, the prices are based on how how popular the matches are. It would seem to me, based on what we're seeing online for tickets to our matches, that we have some pretty popular matches. We have some pretty popular matches.

SPEAKER_00

We definitely have some pretty popular matches. And again, you know, the allocation process, a lot of times it's through the federations themselves. So if you are a supporter of a country and you're coming from that country, you're actually buying your tickets through that national federation, and you that would be at you know the normal face value. And if those fans aren't reselling, they're just coming, they'll be able to have a great time here. That's great.

SPEAKER_01

So next year, we're very excited. I think the entire community is excited to welcome the first ever women's soccer team, uh soccer franchise club to the Boston area, the Boston Legacy Football Club, which will be playing at Gillette for their first season. What does that mean for the sport locally? And what what does it mean for the for the area that we now will have a women's franchise alongside your Boston Revolution?

SPEAKER_00

I'm a soccer person at heart. So for me, uh it's really exciting. I remember when we had the breakers and going to those games, getting to know some of those athletes. Our women's program across the board, all the way up to our national team, has always been, frankly, the the shining star of the U.S. soccer pyramid. And so we have just some tremendously talented athletes, some of the best players in the world that play, you know, for our national team and also in the NWSL. So when the opportunity came and we knew they were coming in, uh I personally formed a pretty tight relationship uh with a few folks on their ownership group and now with their president Jennifer Van Dyke. And when they realized that they were going to be a little delayed on their stadium project and they came to us, we were more than happy to figure out a way to make it work and try to have them here.

SPEAKER_01

So does the schedule not line up with the men's schedule? Is it opposite seasons?

SPEAKER_00

It's somewhat aligned, but they play through the World Cup. So they are playing a few games, not at Swed Stadium uh in Rhode Island, um, just because they don't take a break during the World Cup. We take a break during the World Cup because our guys are playing in the World Cup. When there's a women's World Cup, they take a break, but for instance, MLS doesn't take a break because our guys aren't playing in the Women's World Cup. Um so they do have some games during that World Cup window when we when the stadium unfortunately isn't available because FIFA holds it out for 60 days. So probably people don't know that, but it's the 30-ish days of the World Cup. But it's about 30 days prior to the World Cup that FIFA also locks up the whole stadium and you can't do anything in the stadium. So we have to work around some of that. But we have a great relationship, and I'm just I'm just super excited that you know that we have a women's soccer team. There's actually a great photo circulating on social media. They were training in Florida, um, and my team's in Florida right now for preseason training, and uh they did this huge, massive group uh photo of the revs and the legacy together, and I think it's a good exciting. Yeah, it just shows that that we want them to be successful. We want, you know, I'm a soccer fan first, so I want soccer to be more, more, more successful, right? And so I just encourage anyone that, you know, if you are a fan of women's sports, if you are a fan of soccer, you know, and you're asking yourself, well, why aren't women's sports more popular? My answer is you. Yeah. Buy the tickets, buy the tickets, go to the games, buy the tickets, go to the games, support, support the team. Yeah. And if you don't, then then don't complain about that, right? I will say that they're putting together a really good team. Um, they made some tremendous signings. I think their technical staff is really good. So I think fans should expect big things from the legacy in 26.

SPEAKER_01

We're equally as excited for the Boston Legacy FC to come to town. And we will be having Jennifer Van Dyke as a future guest. So we'll learn more about that great franchise coming up soon on Boston Found.

SPEAKER_00

I'm excited to see them and uh and be a fan of that's another good one that I could be a fan of the legacy. I can't be a fan of the revs. It's too.

SPEAKER_01

Well, let's talk about the revs. What can we expect from them in 26?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, we have a new coach, so that means last year wasn't good. If you have a new coach, then last year was not good. Uh, but really excited about Marco. Uh he's uh Serbian American, actually coached the Serbian U20 team to a uh World Cup. He was the assistant coach on that team, and then did a couple other things, Chicago's assistant coach, and then most recently he was the U-23 World Cup team for excuse me, the under-20 World Cup team for the US that performed really, really well. So uh Marco's a really great guy, talented coach. I actually head down this week to see some pre-seasing training and a preseason match uh to see how it's looking. Uh, but very excited about him. Uh, we have a great team, a relatively young and exciting team.

SPEAKER_01

Kind of like another team that plays at Gillette. Kind of like another team that plays at Gillette. Yeah, let's hope. Let's hope for equal success.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so we're really excited about the Rev season coming up.

SPEAKER_01

Fantastic. All right, last question. And so I'm so glad we can finally talk about this, which is you're gonna have a new home for the Revs very close to the great city of Boston, right over the river in Everett, which we love. What does that stadium mean to you? What is it gonna mean? I I can tell you, I think what it's gonna mean to this region, but I'd love to hear that from you first.

SPEAKER_00

We're not all the way there yet, but we took some uh some positive momentum.

SPEAKER_01

Let's say that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, uh we we did complete two community impact agreements with both Boston and Everett um just at the end of last year, uh, which really paves the way to make the project a reality. We have to go through the standard state processes, and that's about two years of permitting public meetings, all that fun stuff. But we feel like there's a really solid path to do that. You know, our community impact agreements include a number of public infrastructure improvements that we would make. So again, just to make it easier for people to get there on the tee, to walk there from the different tea stops, and to just have a great time at the stadium. So, what it's gonna mean for the Revs is, you know, we have these in so many markets around the country, and it's unbelievable the kind of energy that you get at these stadiums, being in the urban core, allowing more fans to access the team. Soccer, you know, we just saw a report that said soccer is now the third most popular store in the US, it's past baseball. So you've got football, basketball, and now soccer, uh, and where that really manifests itself as having these great venues that are accessible for our fans to really showcase the passion and the excitement around the sport. We can also bring other events there too.

SPEAKER_01

And so that's that's exciting to us, of course, as a as a sports marketing agency, as an agency that really promotes all sorts of cultural and and youth sports events, right?

SPEAKER_00

So And we're look, we're a turf field now at Gillette, and soccer players don't like turf. Um and so at the end of the day, getting the US men's and women's national teams to play in Boston has been almost impossible, right? Getting international teams to come over here and play almost impossible. Those tournaments like Gold Cup, Nations League, things like that, has been impossible for us to get. Um so now having this, you know, this grass field on thing, it's it's also international soccer that we'll be able to be able to bring here in addition to the revs. Every new MLS stadium has gotten an all-star game. So I'd like to believe that we'll get an all-star game as well as someplace in the future. Uh, and then concerts will be another thing that we'll program at the venue. And I think again, when you start to think about the acts that can fill a stadium like this, it'll be around 30,000 or so for concerts. We'll really do a great job at getting people to come in. And those are definitely events where people will stay for one or two nights. Um, they'll want to come into town, someone will look. I mean, we've all done that where you look, it's like, oh, that band's playing somewhere. So is that global travel? Not always, but like even someone regional travel, someone comes down from New Hampshire, comes up from Connecticut. And again, now that that's in Boston, right, versus some of the other venues we have that are a little out there, you're more likely to have someone say, like, you know what? Let's make a weekend out of it. Let's make a long weekend out of it. So I think the economic impact that we're gonna provide, both in terms of the revs and those matches, but also the concert business and people wanting to come and spend a few days in Boston. And remember, we're an outdoor venue. So those concerts aren't in the winter, they're in the summer. Exactly. But it's a wonderful time to come up. And so we think there's gonna be an impact beyond, you know, just the games itself, but we think we're gonna be able to drive some real tourism business for Boston to that venue.

SPEAKER_01

And I would be remiss if I didn't say it'll actually be a nice complement to our existing venues, such as Fenway, MGM, TD Garden. It'll hopefully be an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the types of acts that we can attract to the to the market.

SPEAKER_00

They're very different and very complimentary in that way. Um, because when you look at them, you know, Gillette has the big acts. Right. Right? They're gonna play Gillette. TD Garden has arena shows, and when you look at the shows that come to a place like TD Garden, they're pretty much exclusively arena shows, right? And so they have their own sort of niche. Probably the biggest overlap is with some of the types of shows that are Fenway, but they don't have that many shows anyway because of baseball. So if you think about all the time they can't do shows because of baseball season, we'll be able to fill a void there. And then right, you've got the smaller venues, which are great for smaller acts. So we think it's a real complimentary thing to at least what's in greater Boston right now. And so with that in mind, I mean, I think it's just um to you say it, it's gonna be an embarrassing amount of riches for the city of Boston, Everett, the region in terms of bringing events and again driving more tourism.

SPEAKER_01

What a game changer for Everett. So much going on in that community right now. We represent Everett as well, so we're really excited to, you know, work alongside our partners at Encore and the new hotels going up there. And now hopefully with you know this coming to fruition, it's gonna be a really a treat to promote.

SPEAKER_00

It's a tremendous city. Uh, we've spent a lot of time on the ground. I personally have gone to a lot of community events and gotten to meet people one-on-one. And we love the community. We love being part of the community, and uh, we're gonna make it really successful for the city. And uh, we look really forward to to being uh honorary residents of Everett when we move up there.

SPEAKER_01

Wonderful. Where can people learn more about World Cup?

SPEAKER_00

I would suggest going to our our website, Boston26. Um, that's that's where you'll find out what's going on locally, what we're doing, um, where you can stay, all that fun stuff. And you can go to FIFA.com and get the the big picture stuff, but uh meetboston.com. Or meetboston.com. You guys have not just world cup, but everything else.

SPEAKER_01

So and what about uh the revs? How can we learn about the revs? Revolutionsoccer.net are really amazing, great, can't wait for that season to start. Well, Brian, it's been a pleasure. I always enjoy our conversations. I learn more every every time I speak with you, and this probably won't be the last. I hope not. I hope not. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks for having me here. It's been uh been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01

Looking to find more Boston stories, go to meetboston.com and don't forget to share and subscribe to the Boston Found podcast.