Philly, Boston Warn World Cup Fans: Don’t Come Without Ticket

World Cup organizers in Boston and Philadelphia are asking fans who don’t have match tickets to avoid coming to the stadium on game days. “The people who should come to Gillette on a game day are people who have a ticket to the event,” Jim Nolan, COO of Kraft Sports and Entertainment, said Wednesday . “So if you don’t have a ticket, don’t come to Gillette.

” Boston and Philadelphia were two cities involved in last month’s World Cup tailgate scare , when Boston organizers had an apparent mixup with FIFA and declared that tailgating would be banned at the stadium “per FIFA policy. ” FIFA strenuously denied that any such policy existed, and Boston eventually said that tailgating would in fact be permitted. Nolan said on Wednesday that organizers in Boston “are 100% allowing tailgating for all FIFA matches, but again, that is just for ticket-holders.

” FIFA’s requirements for larger security perimeters than NFL games are eating into space used for parking and partying. Philadelphia has more than 21,000 parking spaces at its sports complex; it’s unclear how many will be available during the World Cup. Boston organizers have said that Gillette will only have 5,000 parking spaces available for the soccer tournament, way down from the 20,000 open for Patriots games.

(Fans who still want to drive can part at 5,000 more “satellite lots” along a nearby highway. ) When the tailgating story was circulating, Philadelphia organizers at the time seemed to suggest tailgating would carry on as normal, with fans welcome to drink and grill in the enormous South Philadelphia parking lot that surrounds the sports stadium complex there. An Eagles spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the matchday experience “will be consistent with all major ticketed events we host at Lincoln Financial Field.