World Cup Cities Scaling Back Fan Fest Plans

From sea to shining sea, World Cup host committees are reining in FIFA Fan Fest plans amid ongoing financial concerns.

In Washington and New Jersey, organizers are amending plans for the official FIFA celebrations that have proved to be logistical nightmares for some hosts.

Fan Fests have become a huge part of the fabric of the World Cup. These historically free events routinely draw thousands of spectators to watch matches together on big screens at venues away from the stadium, keeping up the World Cup energy for those who don’t have tickets to the game.

But while FIFA requires hosts to stage Fan Fests, it doesn’t offer much financial support to pull them off. This leaves host committees and cities—who are already on the hook for security and infrastructure costs without access to revenue streams like ticketing, media rights, or sponsorships—to fund the daily spectator events largely on their own. It’s estimated in some cities that staging a Fan Fest can cost about $1 million per day.

In Seattle, organizers are slicing up the planned 500,000-fan event into smaller venues throughout the city.

Last week, New York/New Jersey organizers canceled their central Fan Fest at Liberty State Park, also opting for scattered celebrations across the two states. A spokesperson for the mayor of Jersey City told The Athletic, “it became increasingly clear that there was no workable, cost-effective way to manage the influx of tens of thousands of fans into Liberty State Park, while maintaining access to the members of the Jersey City community.” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill committed $5 million for “fan zones to neighborhood watch parties to street fairs” in the state, which will host the tournament final on July 19.

Abridged New York events in Queens and Manhattan have not been canceled. The New York/New Jersey host committee had already begun selling $10 tickets for the main event and the one in Queens, the first time any organizer had charged entry fees for a Fan Fest.

And in Boston, after waiting for state funding that could’ve allowed for a larger event, organizers announced earlier this month that its Fan Fest would last just 16 days in June, less than half the length of the tournament. Organizers in Boston are also dealing with threats from the city of Foxborough, home of Gillette Stadium, whose officials have said they need someone to commit to cover about $7.8 million in security costs before they will give FIFA the entertainment license for the games.

A number of cities have committed to keeping their Fan Fests free, but many have still not made a definitive stance. Like Boston, many have said their Fan Fests won’t run the full length of the tournament.