Kraft Group says it has reached World Cup deal with Foxborough ahead of deadline

The Kraft Group says all the parties involved in the World Cup games planned for Gillette Stadium have reached an agreement that will allow them to secure a license from the town of Foxborough to move forward.

A press release Wednesday night from Kraft Sports + Entertainment said it had a joint agreement with Boston Soccer 2026 and the town of Foxborough "to finalize the details needed to approve an event license" ahead of a March 17 public hearing deadline.

The announcement comes after weeks of wrangling and at times bitter disagreement between the parties and the select board of Foxborough, a small town south of Boston, over nearly $8 million in security costs the board has insisted be covered.

On Thursday, Foxborough's Select Board chair, Bill Yukna, confirmed the parties had come to an agreement. In an email to WBUR, he said, "I'm very pleased to say that all of our funding concerns have been addressed."

He did not provide details of the deal but thanked the Kraft group and Robert Kraft "for his involvement in bringing the funding concerns to a resolution." He also said the board expects that "any open issues in the license will be resolved before the 17th public hearing and we look forward to a very successful and safe World Cup event."

As part of the arrangement, the Kraft release said Foxborough "will not incur any cost or financial burden related to the FIFA World Cup." Under the deal, Boston Soccer 2026 will provide advance funding for security-related expenses "and the full extent of deployment that public safety officials have determined is needed to execute the event."

Funding for the security costs has been held up by the federal government's partial shutdown, and by a lack of readily available funds from the organizing committee. The Kraft group, also, had not previously ponied up the outstanding security funds.

The failure of the feds, the sports titans and the state to resolve the impasse was becoming a national embarrassment. On Wednesday, Gov. Maura Healey was pressed by reporters on the matter and said, "I'll tell you one thing that needs to happen is the federal government needs to release the funding right now for security and transportation. We're still waiting for that funding. In the meantime, we're going to continue to work."

At an unrelated event Thursday, Lieutenant Gov. Kim Driscoll declined to offer details on how the sides ultimately came together. She said, "Leaders at the Kraft stadium group and the town of Foxborough came together and realized there's an opportunity here for us to host this amazing World Cup and everybody was committed to making it happen."

The Kraft group's announcement credited the support of several political leaders, including the governor and lieutenant governor, state Sen. Paul Feeney of Foxborough and U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss.

"We look forward to moving forward together positively in our shared goals of providing the highest level of public safety for this historic event," the Kraft statement said, "and delivering a global experience for our region, which will infuse the Commonwealth and Foxborough with an influx of new visitors and associated economic impact."

The World Cup is expected to draw as many as 2 million visitors to the Boston area.

With additional reporting from WBUR's Eve Zuckoff.