All over town, from Lincoln Financial Field to busy Schuylkill Expressway, there are billboards and colorful signs heralding the games. Even the iconic Rocky statue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art was dressed up, with a soccer scarf bearing the city’s name draped around the boxer’s neck.
If preparing for a World Cup were itself a soccer match, with host cities competing on the pitch, then the City of Brotherly Love would be trouncing much of the field — including its rival 300 miles to the north.
On the streets of Boston, World Cup fervor is decidedly more subdued. Apart from a countdown clock outside Faneuil Hall and some digital billboards at Logan Airport, there are few visible signs that seven internationally televised games and a projected 2 million tourists will descend on Boston starting in just 35 days.
Wilson Velez, 36 (left), and Edwin Martinez watched the second round of draws for the FIFA World Cup at Stateside Live! in Philadelphia in December.Tyger Williams/Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
A World Cup scarf was placed over the Rocky statute at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the city’s promotion of the event.Philadelphia Soccer 2026
At times, it feels as though organizers and public officials are holding their collective breath and that only the games’ opening whistle will unlock the historic opportunity to showcase Boston to the world.
At a promotional event last month at City Hall Plaza, organizers struggled to keep a colorful rendering of the upcoming fan festival from blowing away in the brisk wind. It repeatedly toppled from its easel as organizers and civic leaders spoke. The metaphor wrote itself.
In Boston, lack of visibility is only part of the problem: Fans are grousing about the steep price of public transit to matches in Foxborough, and business leaders have publicly questioned whether organizers have the money and marketing muscle to deliver on their grandiose vision. In March, Boston drew unwanted international attention when its host committee engaged in a bitter, protracted dispute with the Town of Foxborough over security costs that briefly cast doubt on whether the event would proceed.
In Philadelphia, the marketing rollout has been smoothly run, well funded, and notably drama-free.
Soccer fans gathered in Philadelphia’s Fashion District last month to cheer on volunteers, who showed off the uniforms they will wear during the World Cup.Chris Serres
Organizers have raised $65 million in corporate and philanthropic funding, roughly tripling Boston’s haul, while landing more than twice as many local sponsors. Philadelphia’s organizing committee has also delivered a series of fan-friendly wins — including free transportation from games, a free fan festival that spans the tournament’s full 39 days, and extended bar and restaurant hours — that have become the envy of soccer fans in Boston and beyond.
While Boston organizers tussled with Foxborough’s select board, their counterparts in Philly were recruiting and training an army of 3,000 local volunteers. They were also blanketing local news channels and social media with promotional “How do you Phan?” videos featuring Philadelphians of all ages in neighborhood parks and restaurants, speaking about their passion for the city and soccer.
In the dark days of the pandemic, when securing a piece of the world’s biggest sports spectacle felt like a fever dream, Philadelphia’s organizers adopted as a mantra the cliche “Go big or go home.” That ethos continues to drive every aspect of their preparations.
Philadelphia Eagles and city officials gathered in 2003 for the unveiling of branding for Philadelphia’s hosting of the 2026 World Cup.Jose F. Moreno/ Staff Photographer
In September 2021, with Philadelphia’s streets deserted, more than 1,000 screaming supporters of the city’s bid lined Market Street downtown as FIFA officials were driven toward Lincoln Financial Field in buses. The choreographed display may have helped tip the balance toward Philadelphia in the hyper-competitive process for selecting host cities organizers say.
Organizers sweat every detail — from installing wheelchair-accessible paths for the fan fest to training volunteers to welcome visitors with proper etiquette and to avoid using confusing local slang, known here as “speaking Philadelphian.”
“We don’t do anything small in Philly and that includes the World Cup,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, CEO of Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp. and Philadelphia250, the nonprofit leading the city’s planning for the 250th national birthday — which, as in Boston, is a big deal. “We’re all in, all the time.”
To some, Boston’s lackluster preparations for the World Cup reflect a deeper funk settling over the region.
Working-age residents are leaving the city in droves, priced out by some of the nation’s highest housing costs. The once-booming life sciences sector has cooled amid federal funding cuts and pandemic-era overinvestment. The state’s hospital systems are in financial peril. And Boston’s claim to being “Titletown” feels increasingly fragile: The Red Sox recently fired manager Alex Cora and most of his coaching staff after a dismal opening campaign, spurring calls for ownership to sell. Both the Celtics and Bruins made early exits from the playoffs last weekend, with the Celtics being overtaken by a scrappy Philly team that was down three games to one.
But the sense of malaise could yet lift. Two weeks ago, Boston organizers acknowledged “some bumps” on the road to the World Cup, but predicted the city will shine in the end.
The World Cup countdown clock is placed next to Faneuil Hall.
Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
“We’re going to be proud to represent the way that Boston and Massachusetts represent,” Boston Soccer 26 chief Mike Loynd told the crowd. “We’re going to be welcoming, I’m sure.”
International flight bookings for early June through mid-July are up 18 percent, ranking Boston sixth among the 11 host cities. Ticket sales for games have been “very robust,” according to Meet Boston president and CEO Martha Sheridan, with roughly two-thirds coming from international visitors and travelers from outside New England.
And the local marketing push is about to ramp up. Organizers are getting ready to add World Cup signage to MBTA transit hubs, Boston’s famed duck boats, and the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center, among other high-traffic locations. There are also plans for groundbreaking celebrations for 17 mini soccer pitches across New England.
“Boston has overachieved under the circumstances,” said John Kristick, co-head of sports marketing firm Playfly Sports, who led the 2017 joint American, Canadian, and Mexican bid to host the tournament. “Did they or any city hit the [fund-raising] numbers they wanted originally? Probably not. But they found their way through it.”
At 9 a.m. on a recent weekday, the spacious downtown offices of Philadelphia Soccer 2026 were already humming with activity. An organizer in a “FIFAdelphia” sweatshirt juggled a soccer ball and spoke into a headset. Across the space, visitor guides had been translated into French, Portuguese, and Croatian. In one corner, a large painting showed Ben Franklin dribbling a soccer ball.
R. Scott Stephenson, president and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution, spoke while surrounded by Philly mascots before the City Council Committee on Legislative Oversight hearing in April.Monica Herndon/Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Six years ago, organizers here knew they faced an uphill climb in persuading the city’s business community to embrace the World Cup. As in Boston, soccer was on the rise, but it lagged far behind Philadelphia’s “big four” teams — the Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, and Flyers — in cultural pull and commercial attention.
Complicating matters further, FIFA’s strict advertising rules meant that local sponsors’ names and logos could not appear around stadiums during televised matches.
So organizers reframed their fund-raising pitch around civic pride: Here was an opportunity for Philadelphia’s corporate and philanthropic leaders to help the city shake off the COVID doldrums.
“We pitched this as a civic endeavor that we as Philadelphia needed to win to help us recover from the pandemic,” said Meg Kane, host city executive and CEO for Philadelphia Soccer 2026. “We hit hard on the idea that we have this incredible opportunity in 2026, to help turbocharge the recovery of Philadelphia.”
A painting of Ben Franklin kicking a soccer ball decorated the offices of Philadelphia Soccer 2026, the organizing committee for the city’s World Cup games.Chris Serres
The pitch proved effective. In the summer of 2021, before Philadelphia was even selected as a host city, organizers had already secured $41 million in fund-raising commitments. Sponsors included Comcast Corp., the media and telecommunications giant; Cencora, the pharmaceutical distribution company; and Penn Medicine, the region’s largest health system.
By December 2024, the host committee had $42.3 million in total assets. At the same point, Boston’s committee reported just $1 million, according to tax filings. Boston organizers say private fund-raising has since surpassed $20 million.
To date, Philadelphia has signed eight companies and institutions as host city supporters — tied with Houston for the most of any city. Boston, by comparison, has three: State Street Corp., a financial services company; Meet Boston, which promotes tourism; and Sanofi, a French drugmaker.
The private fund-raising is not about bragging rights: It directly improves the fan experience, organizers said. For instance, supporters traveling to games on Philadelphia’s public transit system will ride home for free after the six World Cup matches. That expense, estimated at about $600,000, is covered under a partnership with Airbnb.
By contrast, fans attending matches at Gillette will pay $80 round-trip by commuter rail (quadruple the normal fare) and $95 round-trip by bus.
From the beginning, Philadelphia had a significant advantage over Boston and several other host cities: It has a 20-year-old sports commission with a record of attracting marquee events. There was the NFL Draft in 2017; Wrestlemania in 2024; and multiple NCAA tournaments, from March Madness to the Frozen Four. This July, the city will host Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, due in large part to work by the commission, known as PHL Sports.
Michelle Riegert and her two children, Leah (9) and Zach (11), stopped at a kiosk selling FIFA World Cup merchandise at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.Chris Serres
A TV news crew interviewed costumed impersonators of Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross during a tour of the site of this summer’s FIFA World Cup fan festival.Chris Serres
Acknowledging the gap, the city’s marketing and tourism arm last November announced the formation of the Greater Boston Sports Commission, and a proposed provision in next year’s state budget would direct a portion of sports wagering tax revenues to fund it.
“Philadelphia had a strong foundation with its sports commission and that was absolutely vital,” said Mike Millay, former director of sports development at ESPN Wide World of Sports. “They know how to roll up their sleeves, raise the money, recruit the volunteers, fill the stadiums . . . without reinventing the wheel.”
Still, to many of Philadelphia’s fervent sports fans, the coming games feel far removed from their everyday lives — and uncomfortably expensive.
On a recent Wednesday night, every seat at the Locust Rendezvous — a downtown bar known as “the Vouz”— was taken. All eyes were on the screens overhead, where the 76ers were in the middle of a thrilling, come-from-behind Game Five victory over the Celtics. Every few minutes, the crowded bar erupted.
Over pints of pale ale and Guinness, fans mused aloud about how foreign soccer fans would react to Philadelphia’s rougher edges — the homelessness, pockets of open-air drug use, the trash that sometimes piles up.
And what about their odd accents and local vernacular, such as the uniquely Philly use of the phrase “jawn,” which can refer to anything from an object to a place? A Frenchman, one patron mused, might ask for directions to the stadium and be told to “take a right at the jawn, make a left at the other jawn, and then walk straight to the jawn” and be utterly confused.
Workers prepared the field at Lincoln Financial Field, one of the stadiums hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, on April 28.ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
Others raised concerns about Philadelphians’ shorthand for street names. For example, locals routinely refer to Interstate 76 as “the Schuylkill” (pronounced “SKOO-kul”). An unwary visitor might punch that into a navigation app and find themselves heading to the river, not the road, warned the bartender at the Vouz.
Most were unaware Boston was a fellow World Cup host. The few who knew said they had only learned about it through media coverage of the recent Foxborough dustup.
“Why can’t Boston get its act together?” said Isaac Slepner, 48, a regular at the Vouz, who was cheering on the Sixers in Phillies gear. “It’s such a clean city. Maybe too clean?”
Chris Serres can be reached at chris.serres@globe.com. Follow him @ChrisSerres. Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.