Selectmen Say No to User Fee Waiver for MIAA Football Title Games at Gillette Stadium

Friends, family, and fans of high school football will have to pay a little more if they want to watch the best high school teams compete for the state titles this year.

For the first time since the MIAA has played football at Gillette Stadium, the user fee will not be waived. This will be the first time since the games have come to Foxboro in 2007 that a user fee will be placed on the tickets.

Two votes to grant the MIAA a waiver and to issue a reduced user fee of $1.47 failed 3-2, meaning the town will receive $2.55 on every ticket sold for the football state title games to be held on Dec. 7.

Both votes were identical with Jim DeVellis and Mark Sullivan voting yes and Lorraine Brue, John Gray, and Ginny Coppola voting no. 

With the exception of Gray, who was voting on the issue for the first time, the vote remains consistent with the selectmen’s individual votes from previous years.

Once again the Kraft Organization will be donating the use of the stadium and will not make any money off the gate. The only revenue the stadium will receive from the games will come from concessions. 

According to MIAA Associate Executive Director, the planned admission prices were $15 for adults and $12 for students. Without the waiver, the prices are now $17 for adults and $14 for students according to a press release from Gillette Stadium.

Unlike previous years, Pearson requested for a waiver for a user fee of $1.47 which is the same fee used for New England Patriots and New England Revolution games. All non-football events and special soccer matches use the $2.55 user fee.

Attempting to get the reduced fee, Pearson told the board that football, along with basketball and ice hockey are the three sports that help subsidize the remaining sports sponsored by the MIAA that operate on deficit.

“Any piece of revenue we can put together and help support those sports is really important to us,” Pearson said.

Supporters of the fee felt the waiver was appropriate because the MIAA is a non-profit organization and the waiver was a small sacrifice to gain tax revenue from fans visiting Patriot Place restaurants and stores before and after the games.

“By bypassing this we’re still getting more revenue. This goes away, you lose that other revenue,” Sullivan said.

Opponents however felt the town was entitled to the revenue since the fee is placed on each ticket sold for stadium events and is given to the town in lieu of real estate taxes.

“We have the opportunity to make a benevolent gesture however I’m looking out for the best interest of the taxpayers,”  Gray said.

While a waiver can be granted for charitable organizations like the MIAA, Gray argued that the waiver should not be granted due to the inclusion of private schools in the games. DeVellis responding by telling Gray that legal council has stated in the past that there is nothing in the town-stadium lease agreement that says you can’t grant a waiver for an event that includes private schools.

“We asked that specific question to our legal council and he said there’s nothing in here that says you can’t do it,” DeVellis said.

An attendance of around 18,000 for six games is expected with an average attendance 3,000 for each game. The town expects to collect at least $40,000 from the user fees.