With the World Cup only months away, the MBTA could receive upward of $8 million from Congress to get ready for kickoff.
The House of Representatives last week set aside more than $100 million in its consolidated spending bill to help transit agencies cover “planning, capital, and operating expenses” related to the World Cup. The T, which has been scrambling to prepare itself for the event, has welcomed the cash.
“The success of our World Cup transit efforts rely on securing federal support for operational expenses,” MBTA general manager and interim MassDOT secretary Phillip Eng said in a statement. “Ensuring we have the drivers, staff, and frequency required to move thousands of fans safely per match day is our top priority.”
The bill splits the pot according to the capacity of a host city’s stadium and the number of games set to be played there, leaving the MBTA with around $8.3 million, according to estimates provided by the office of Representative Sharice Davids, a Democrat from Kansas.
“This $100 million investment ensures fans can get to every match safely and efficiently,” Davids said in a statement. The funding, she added, could strengthen “transit systems for generations to come.”
The T, when asked, did not specify how exactly it intends to spend the money, or if any of the funds will be used for permanent improvements. The bill, as of late Monday afternoon, has yet to clear the Senate.
Boston is one of 11 American cities hosting World Cup matches this summer. The competition is, by some metrics, the most popular sporting event on the globe.
National teams — including world soccer heavyweights England and France — will play seven games at Gillette Stadium during June and July.
The T will likely play a pivotal role in shuttling fans to and from the venue, about 20 miles from downtown Boston as the crow flies. The agency’s commuter rail stop is a short walk from the stadium gates.
The T has hustled to revamp its Foxborough Station to accommodate anticipated swells in ridership during game days. The agency says the new improvements — expanded and heightened train platforms, new ramps, among other changes — will allow it to move 20,000 passengers every match, just under one-third of Gillette’s listed capacity.
The T, prerenovation, usually transports around 4,000 spectators to a Patriots game via the commuter rail, according to the state attorney general’s office.
Last month, the attorney general’s office found the T broke state law to speed up the $35 million renovation.
In a Dec. 10 letter to the T’s chief legal counsel obtained by The Boston Globe, assistant attorney general Justin Polk said the transit agency side-stepped state bidding rules by adding the ongoing Foxborough Station makeover to an existing contract for an unrelated project instead of hiring a contractor through a separate bidding process.
The attorney general’s office allowed the T to proceed with the project, despite the agency’s indiscretions, acknowledging that successfully transporting droves of fans to and from Gillette served the “public interest.”
Other aspects of Boston’s World Cup planning seem to have sputtered, according to a state report published last month. It’s not yet clear where the city will host its FIFA Fan Festival, the primary venue for public screenings and World Cup fanfare. Also yet to be finalized, according to the report, are where visiting teams will stay and practice.
Beacon Hill, meanwhile, has also chipped in money for World Cup preparations. The Legislature in November set up a fund with $10 million to “support transportation, public safety, wayfinding, and similar costs” related to the competition. Any state outlay would have to be privately matched.
State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, the House’s budget chief, told reporters at the time lawmakers are “open to further conversations” about committing more money for the matches.
Jaime Moore-Carrillo can be reached at jaime.moore-carrillo@globe.com.