Boston’s City Hall Plaza reopens for World Cup watch parties as tournament draws to a close

Boston’s City Hall Plaza is back open to World Cup watch parties.

Hundreds packed the plaza to watch Spain beat France in the semi-final on Tuesday.

“I just love this big area, great game, so I’m just happy that Boston’s just letting up like a city should be you know, I’m having a great time,” said Sam Neal.

Many were disappointed when the city shut down the FIFA fan festival after only 16 days of the World Cup, but the mayor says it was because of funding constraints.

“There was a lot more food and stuff but honestly I’m here for the game, so I enjoy myself so honestly this was just great,” said Neal.

Some argue this more casual watch party may be better since you don’t need to register to get in or walk through any lines for security.

“It was very restrictive the whole system was like very over capacity, just being able to get in sounds like an impossible task for any of the games, so just them having this feels very unrestrictive with a lot of freedom,” said Manny Debettencourt.

This week, Mayor Michelle Wu announced the city will host these new watch parties for the last few matches of the World Cup with a big screen and some food trucks set up on City Hall Plaza.

There are also many other watch parties across the city.

“This whole World Cup has been really exciting,” said Debettencourt. “I can’t believe it’s just gone so fast.”

Fans say it’s nice to have a place to come together with other fans to celebrate these big moments.

Many of them plan to come back for the next match on Wednesday.

“Get my work done a little early just to come see the energy out here it’s going to be fantastic tomorrow,” said Debettencourt.

City leaders say this new watch party set up is sponsored by State Street.

It’s free and open to the public.

The next match to watch will be when Argentina takes on England at 3PM Wednesday.

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