Cornhole players, grill masters, and open-container drinkers rejoice: Tailgating will be allowed at all seven World Cup games being held at Gillette — er, Boston — Stadium in Foxborough this June and July.
After posting on its website this month that fans would not be allowed to tailgate in the stadium parking lots, the Boston 26 host committee delivered a “never mind” on Monday.
“We are pleased to share that tailgating will be permitted at Boston Stadium like any other event hosted at the stadium as there are no venue restrictions or local public safety restrictions in place that would prohibit it,” read an emailed statement from a Boston 26 spokesperson.
The policy reversal stems from a misunderstanding by the host committee and the stadium’s Kraft Sports Group owners about a communique from the tournament’s FIFA organizer about tailgating being a tournamentwide no-no.
That’s not the case, as the committee explained.
“Based on prior information that FIFA communicated to Boston Soccer 2026, it was both our understanding and the host venue’s understanding that ‘no tailgating’ was a tournament-wide FIFA rule, and we included that information in our forward-facing messaging accordingly,” said the spokesperson. “In light of FIFA’s recent comments, we sought clarification from FIFA in order to provide the best fan experience possible.”
Boston 26 chief executive Mike Loynd said at a news conference last week at City Hall Plaza that the committee “accepted [FIFA’s non-policy] probably without as much interrogation as we should have.”
He hinted then that the committee was working toward a solution that would allow the nearly universal North American presporting event tradition to carry on.
“The stadium certainly wants to make sure that the experience is very much like it is for Patriots games,” said Loynd. “I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we’re going to have some good conversations over the week about tailgating, I think we’ll come to a good conclusion.”
Rick Jones, a longtime sports and entertainment sponsorship consultant from Wadmalaw Island, S.C., said Boston and other World Cup host cities should embrace tailgating as a marketing opportunity.
“The European culture is, ‘I will go to a pub for a soccer game and get hammered,’ ” he said. “Our culture is, `I’m going to take you to a parking lot and throw some burgers on a grill and have a beer.’ It’s a different experience. Can you imagine if we invited the whole world to our tailgate parties? The tailgating experience is so important and so uniquely American. Host cities should be celebrating that.”
While tailgating will be allowed, there will be far fewer tailgaters.
Because of FIFA policy related to establishing a security perimeter around every venue, parking around the stadium for the games in Foxborough will be reduced from the usual 20,000-plus spots to approximately 5,000.
Chris Serres of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.