Bostonians: It’s time to get over ourselves and enjoy the World Cup
We didn’t want the Olympics. Now we’re hosting the World Cup. Are we really going to do this kicking and screaming?
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C’mon, Boston. Let’s get over ourselves.
Thousands of futbol fans from all over the world are descending upon the region as we speak,and they’re here to have a good time. Seven World Cupgames will be played at Gillette Stadium over the next three weeks — an experience likened to hosting seven Super Bowls, complete with tailgating, watch parties, and fan festivalsall over the state.
Yet somehow because it’s soccer and it’s FIFA, we turn up our nose and focus on what we do best: assume the worst.
It will be chaos. It will upend my commute. Why should I be nice to strangers?
The Parisians were the same way as they readied to host the 2024 Summer Olympics — yes, the same Olympics Boston pursued until we didn’t need all that hassle. Before the Games began, one poll indicated that 44 percent of Parisians thought hosting the Olympics was a “bad thing,” and more than half planned to flee the city before athletes and spectators arrived.
But once the Games started, and things went more smoothly than expected, Parisians got into the Olympic spirit. A year after the Games, another poll found that 83 percent of the French had a “positive image” of the event.
So maybe we’ll become like the French — wholike us are known to complain about everything — and catch World Cup fever.
Some Bostonians already have. Exhibit A: Rich Davey.
In another lifetime, the Massachusetts Port Authority CEO served as the head of Boston 2024, theill-fated committee charged with shepherding the city’s bid to host the Summer Games. It was a cause championed by Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish and then-Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, as the United States Olympic Committee in January 2015 selected Boston America’s Olympic host hopeful. But by July, amid mounting localopposition, Walsh had to pull the bid.
Today, Davey is living out his Olympic-size dreams. On Wednesday, he fist-bumped the French soccer team, Les Bleus, one of the favorites to win the World Cup as they arrived at Logan International Airport. The team, staying at the Four Seasons Hotel on Boylston Street and practicing at Bentley Universityin Waltham, is gearing up for a June 26 match against Norway at Gillette Stadium.
On Friday, Davey will be at Piers Park in East Boston to christen what could be the world’s biggest soccer ball — four stories tall and 45 feet across. The glorious royal blue sphere, which is vying for a spot in the Guinness World Records, may be just what’s needed to rally cranky Bostonians.
Here are more bright spots: A $35 million upgrade of thecommuter rail station at Foxborough, a new law that temporarily extends last call to 3 a.m and creates social consumption zones, and more than 90 community watch parties!
It has been long bumpy road to get today: Boston Soccer 26 fundraising woes, a showdown with the Foxborough select board, a street closure spat between MBTA General Manger Phil Eng and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and so much more.
Like it or not, Boston will spend the next couple of months on a global stage, hosting the world’s biggest sporting event, a historic Fourth of July, and the parade of Tall Ships.
Leaning into our grumpy side is tempting, but comes with a cost. Visitors might not come back, and that hurts our restaurants, hotels, and our reputation as a dynamic place to live, work, and play. That’s a price none of us want to pay.
So Boston, the world is here. Don’t squander the chance to show them a good time.
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