You may remember back in the 1980s when the Boston Red Sox unveiled an ambitious plan to buy up some land around Fenway Park and build a new state-of-the-art stadium.
If you don’t, all you have to know is that the plan never got off the ground. A group called “Save Fenway” threw up enough roadblocks that here we are, 2026, and we’ll all be cramming into the same old outmoded edifice.
Oh, the Red Sox — thanks to ballpark architect Janet Marie Smith — did a commendable job putting lipstick on a pig. They made several improvements, some of which have become almost iconic in their short lifespan. But at the end of the day, it’s still Fenway and it’s still more than 100 years old.
The objective here is not to either criticize the park in any way or to minimize Smith’s efforts, which were Herculean in their creativity. But in a sense, the same thing is happening again. Unless the people in charge of hosting seven World Cup games strike a deal with the Town of Foxborough by March 17 for security costs at Gillette Stadium, the town will not grant a license for the tournament.
Forget, for a moment, any antipathy toward The Beautiful Game. This is one of the premiere athletic events in the world. Any community, any state, would and should fall over itself to stage these games and help in any way it could. Instead, all we’re down to is brinksmanship.
I’d say “ho-hum,” except that the outcome in Massachusetts can go either way. We have a glorious history of obstructionism in these matters.
The TD Garden very nearly couldn’t get built because then-Senate President Bill Bulger put up roadblocks. Then, there was the proposal to build a stadium for the Patriots on the Boston waterfront. That didn’t work, as then-Speaker Tom Finneran muttered something about “fat-(expletive) millionaires.” Many thought he was talking about Bob Kraft.
The Pats had to threaten to move to Connecticut before a group of Bostonians with common sense, among them the late William Connell of Swampscott, helped broker a settlement. The caveat is that the stadium is still in Foxborough.
The New England Revolution — also owned by Kraft — want to relocate to a tract in Everett, not far from the Encore Casino. They’ve been kicking that around for several years, but it’s no closer to fruition.
Then the pièce de résistance: Boston’s attempt to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. Now, admittedly, cramming the games into an urban environment is a daunting challenge. You don’t just snap your fingers and get it done. It takes a ton of planning and you just have to know you’re in for about a month of civic lockdown.
It hasn’t stopped London, Paris, Beijing, Seoul, or Los Angeles, though. But Boston slammed on the brakes so hard the seatbelts almost broke. Traffic, rerouting streets, use of land . . . you name it. Boston didn’t want it. And, of course, naysayers all over town sprung up to make sure it didn’t happen.
Here we are again. The projected cost of security for these games is $7.8 million. I know this is hard to imagine, but among the members of the Boston Host Committee, it is a drop in the bucket. For a little bit of perspective, the Kraft Group has stepped up and pledged money to put toward the cost. The Krafts signed three free agents Monday, the cheapest cost them $15 million.
Nobody is saying they refuse to pay the money. But the town wants it by March 17 or it’s no go. The Boston group simply promises to pay it eventually.
This is silly. Somebody please come up with the money. There’s no way the town can afford it.
Something tells me this will be resolved. I think everyone from the Boston group to the Foxborough Board of Selectmen will have an entire week’s worth of Egg McMuffins on their faces if this thing falls through.
But why? We’re in a government shutdown because of obstinance, we lost a chance to tastefully refurbish a civic landmark, and we couldn’t even find a way to get the Olympics done.
Boston just seems to be itching to earn the nickname “Roadblock City.”
