FOXBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - One down, six to go. People from Foxboro and the surrounding towns say the first experience with World Cup soccer went well.
“I think kind of everyone made kind of, like a bit deal of it,” Tiffany Chaplin said, a Foxboro resident. “Like it was going to be a Super Bowl and a Taylor Swift concert combined, which it really wasn’t. And I think a lot of people had a lot more fun than they thought they were going to have.”
Chalk that up in particular to the Scotland fans, who pride themselves on partying and generally left a good impression here.
“It was fun to see. It was great,” Terrence Shields, Foxboro resident, said. “You know, they were nice people. I took pictures as they walked by and sent them to my daughter, who lives down the street.”
Fears of a traffic nightmare proved unfounded. Yes, drivers found themselves at a standstill as they approached the stadium, but most said it wasn’t any worse than a football game.
“I was a little worried, but I actually came back from the airport one Saturday night, and I didn’t see much traffic at all,” Melissa Shaltis, a Sharon resident, said. “I was really surprised.”
Pushing so many fans to the commuter rail may have been a factor. But that left many locals hoping to cash in on fans empty-handed. Many were hoping to sell parking spots, like the South Walpole United Methodist Church. They doubled their prices, and they weren’t the only ones.
“We are permitted for 107, and we actually got 11,” David Hoag, a church member, said. “It was significantly less. It was a bit of a disappointment. Quite a bit of a disappointment, quite frankly.”
And now everyone’s wondering whether the switch from a weekend to a Tuesday night match will produce any different results.
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