While the winner of the World Cup won’t be known until July 19, one team can already claim victory: soccer fans who like to party very, very late.
States across the country have made one-time adjustments to their regulations around alcohol sales for the sporting extravaganza, extending last call to allow bars and restaurants to capitalize on potential demand for late-night drinking.
Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island — all states hosting matches or next door to match venues — have passed legislation expanding the times when alcohol can be served. New Jersey issued a proclamation reminding bar owners that they could ask municipal officials to stay open later.
Even somewhat puritan Massachusetts is joining in. With just days left until the tournament kicks off, state legislators approved a measure Monday to extend last call by one hour to 3 a.m. until the end of July.
Sometimes Massachusetts “has a reputation of having a bit of a fun problem,” said Julian Cyr, a state senator representing Cape Cod who co-sponsored the measure. “We’re ready to make the most out of an unforgettable summer.”
Also extending last call: the province of Ontario, where soccer fans will be able to drink until 4 a.m. for the duration of the North American tournament. Other places — including Atlanta and Washington state — have relaxed their open-container regulations, making it easier for fans to “sip and stroll” in designated areas.
Bending the rules for drinking during the World Cup is a bit of a tradition. When Qatar, a Muslim-majority country where public consumption of alcohol is illegal, hosted the tournament in 2022, it nonetheless allowed beer sales in specific fan zones.
In states that are pushing back last call, bars are under no obligation to stay open later, and individual cities can tailor the rules. Several bar owners sounded hopeful about the moves but also unsure whether they were necessary. They noted that closing later could be logistically complicated.
In Kansas City, bars in certain areas will be able to stay open until 5 a.m., past the usual 3 a.m. closing time (the state of Missouri passed a measure allowing establishments to serve alcohol 23 hours a day during the World Cup).
Trevor Schlam, owner of Strange Days Brewing in Kansas City, said he’s not planning on staying open past 1 a.m., which is about an hour after any given match ends. Anything later seemed “a little bit wild for us,” he said, adding he didn’t want to have to deal with extra staffing.
But the brewery will be open from 7 a.m. until late each night of the tournament and Schlam is pulling in former employees who haven’t worked there in years. “I fully expect to be doing nothing but working for the next six weeks,” Schlam said.
Rebecca Ernst, owner of Pivotal Brewing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island, said she intends to play it by ear. “We have the option to stay open later, but we’ll just have to see what it looks like from a traffic standpoint,” Ernst said.
Ernst was living in Europe during the 2006 World Cup in Germany and still remembers the buzzy energy and fun generated by the tournament. There was “nothing better than the bars during that time,” she said. “We’re hoping we’ll get a little bit of that.”
Seven World Cup matches are taking place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is roughly the same distance from Boston as it is from Providence, Rhode Island.
After Rhode Island enacted a bill last month extending last call from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. during the World Cup, legislators in Massachusetts scrambled to push through their own measure.
On Monday, the state’s lawmakers approved a bill to extend last call to 3 a.m. and allow cities and towns to create public spaces for alcohol consumption until the end of July. Gov. Maura Healey (D) swiftly signed it.
Jason Waddleton, owner of The Haven, a Scottish bar and restaurant in Boston, sounded torn. He wishes lawmakers in the state had moved faster instead of only days before the start of the tournament. But “we’re seeing them push the dial here, which is good,” Waddleton said.
For the World Cup, Waddleton applied to expand his bar’s footprint to two adjacent parking lots, which can accommodate 500 people. The outdoor space is already sold out on Saturday night, when Scotland will play Haiti at Gillette Stadium. He’s flying in a bagpipe player from Inverness and has ordered 150 kegs of Tennent’s Lager, Scotland’s most popular beer.
“I’ve lived a long life at this stage, I know enough to say that nothing good happens after 2 a.m.,” Waddleton said. But the World Cup is special. If “we’re ever going to do it,” Waddleton added, “let’s do it now.”
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