Extended bar hours, state-funded shuttles, and a downtown fan zone are among the ways Rhode Island officials hope to attract some of the millions of visitors expected to descend on southern New England when the FIFA World Cup arrives in less than two months.
State and local leaders outlined their vision for a “Rhode Island Summer of Soccer” before a packed crowd of reporters, administration workers, and soccer fans inside the governor’s State Room Tuesday morning.
“Rhode Island is ready,” General Treasurer James Diossa, chairman of the nonprofit formed by the state last June to lead business sponsorship efforts on tournament-related activities, told the packed crowd. “It’s time to show the world what the Ocean State can do.”
The 2026 World Cup kicks off June 13 across Canada, Mexico, and the United States, with more than 100 matches scheduled over the following month. Seven of those games will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, about 25 miles northeast of downtown Providence.
Despite the capital city’s proximity to the matches, travelers staying in Rhode Island will not have direct train service to the stadium from the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. What they will get: dedicated “Boston Stadium Express” buses that stop outside the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence.
Tickets are $95 round-trip and must be booked in advance by fans with a valid same-day match ticket for any of the games being held at Gillette. Shuttles are operated by the Boston-based Yankee Line, which received a roughly $200,000 contract from the Rhode Island Sports Commission.
A copy of the bus agreement was not immediately made available to Rhode Island Current. Diossa said funding for the buses was covered by a budget appropriation approved by the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Legislative Services, which is run by legislative leaders.
Larry Berman and Greg Paré, spokespeople for the House and Senate, confirmed in an email to Rhode Island Current that the five-member Joint Committee on Legislative Services approved $250,000 from its budget to the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau for a bus or buses from the Convention Center to Gillette Stadium for the World Cup matches.
The Sports Commission is a division of the Providence-Warwick tourism bureau.
“The bureau has agreed to provide a full accounting to JCLS and any unspent money will be returned to the state’s general fund,” Berman and Paré said.
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) will dedicate its bus routes operating around the Providence metro to get to the Convention Center before shuttles depart. What that service will look like is still being worked on, RIPTA spokesperson Cristy Raposo Perry said in an email to Rhode Island Current.
“Our primary transit hub, Kennedy Plaza, is just a four-minute walk from the convention center, providing convenient access for attendees,” she said. “In addition, several routes already serve the convention center directly, including Routes 9x, 10x, 12x, 27, 28, 59x, 61x, 65x, 92, and 95x.”
Where to find the ‘best party south of Foxboro’
For those who did not get a ticket to the live matches, officials pointed to a number of watch parties that will be held across Rhode Island cities and towns.
The biggest will be the PVD FanZone at Station Park between the State House, Providence Place mall and the Amtrak station. The free event will include live music, food vendors and a jumbotron broadcasting every match — even the late night games held on the West Coast.
“This is going to be the best party south of Foxboro and perhaps the best party in New England,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told the crowd.
Anywhere from 1,000 to 7,000 attendees are expected at the FanZone each day of the tournament, Smiley told reporters after the press conference. The mayor said the city has budgeted $250,000 to help pay for police overtime and other costs.
“We’ve been working on a security plan for months, and Providence Police know how to do this,” Smiley said.
Providence’s fan zone is just one piece of the state’s broader effort to turn World Cup matches into an economic draw. Lawmakers at the State House are weighing a proposal to extend bar hours during the roughly six-week tournament to allow patrons to gather to watch evening matches on the West Coast.
The legislation sponsored by Joshua Giraldo, a Central Falls Democrat, would allow establishments with liquor licenses to stay open until 3 a.m. The bill initially proposed a 5 a.m. last call, but has since been revised to make it two hours earlier and limit extended hours to indoor venues on match days from June 11 to July 3.
Businesses would be allowed to reopen at 4 a.m. under the amended legislation.
“This moment is about more than soccer, it’s about community,” Giraldo said during the press conference. “It’s about showing that a small state like Rhode Island can deliver something truly world class.”
Giraldo’s amended bill is scheduled to be presented before the House Committee on Municipal Government & Housing at its meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Companion legislation by Sen. Matthew LaMountain, a Warwick Democrat, is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Committee on Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs Wednesday afternoon.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
