A bill that would permit restaurants and bars in Rhode Island to stay open later during select matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup scored its first “goooooal” with the General Assembly May 5, passing the House 60-8.
The Senate duplicate of Central Falls Democratic Rep. Joshua Giraldo’s bill, H8009A, now heads for a floor vote on Thursday.
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But the House version and its Senatorial twin sponsored by Sen. Matthew LaMountain sport less muscle than Giraldo’s original proposal. His draft would have allowed licensed establishments to keep the taps open and the drinks flowing every hour of the day except for a brief spell of sobriety between 5 and 6 a.m.
“I went into this completely understanding that the bill would need to be amended,” Giraldo said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Giraldo’s original draft would have permitted any establishment with a valid liquor license to operate 24 hours a day during the entire tournament, from June 11 through July 19, with alcohol service OK from 6 a.m. until 5 a.m. the next day. The original bill text specified no application process but only that businesses taking advantage of the extended hours “notify the local licensing authority or police department” at least 24 hours in advance.
The amended bill keeps the same basic idea – allowing, but not requiring, municipalities to OK expanded hours for indoor liquor service during the World Cup – but tightens the mechanics of local control.
Should municipalities decide to take advantage of the legislation, it would now apply to FIFA match days – 12 in June and two in July – and stretch last call to 3 a.m. and closing time to 4 a.m. Businesses that want to stay open later would now need to seek approval from their local licensing board 14 days in advance, rather than providing 24 hours’ notice.
The original 24 hours’ notice clause was one of the original bill’s pressure points with municipal leaders, who pushed for the 14-day stipulation, Giraldo said.
“I think that makes sense … that not everyone is automatically considered, but rather an-opt-in approach,” Giraldo said.
Extended hours would additionally be available only to indoor dining and drinking, not outdoor venues.
Giraldo said he worked with the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, the city of Providence and the R.I. Hospitality Association to craft a bill that would be responsive to municipal leaders’ concerns about public safety and town capacity without cutting off the possibility of World Cup-related revenue for local businesses.
“What I was really pushing for was the idea and the concept,” Giraldo said, adding that he collaborated with municipal leaders to “come up with something that is responsive to their needs, where they’re able to ensure the safety of their community and still make sure that our businesses are able to capitalize on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The revised bill vests the power of approval with local licensing boards. “They know their community best,” Giraldo said. “They know their businesses best.”
The city of Cranston hopes to take advantage of what Nicole Renzulli, spokesperson for Mayor Ken Hopkins, called “a once‑in‑a‑generation moment.”
Providence’s neighboring city appreciates the bill’s amended version because it “does not impose a one-size-fits-all mandate,” Renzulli said.
“Our small businesses deserve the chance to tap into the momentum, the visitors, and the economic boost this moment promises. Our residents deserve the joy and community spirit that come with a sporting event of this magnitude. And our neighborhoods deserve leadership that takes their quality of life and safety seriously,” Renzulli said. “We will say yes where we can, and when we do, we will make sure it is done the right way.”
Giraldo said he believes bars and eateries in his home turf of Central Falls will also take advantage of the legislation if it passes. The city is “a big soccer community,” Giraldo said, adding that the local businesses he’s talked to “haven’t communicated any concerns around staffing” or logistics with expanded hours, but are instead “definitely looking forward to making the most of this, the largest sporting event on the planet.”
Might the tips be more generous in those early morning hours?
“If the home team is winning,” Giraldo said.
Boston is one of the 2026 World Cup’s 16 designated hosts across three countries for the tournament – well, not quite Beantown proper, but rather Foxboro, where the New England Patriots’ home turf of Gillette Stadium will serve as host to seven matchups between countries like Haiti, Scotland, Morocco, England, Norway, France, and Ghana, which is using Bryant University as its base camp.
Any World Cup revenue directly related to the event goes to FIFA alone, as the organization does not share the spoils of things like broadcasting or ticketing with host cities. What remains up for grabs is the more ambient influx of tourists’ dollars. In the optimism relayed via a 2025 FIFA-commissioned analysis, the 2026 tournament could generate $30.5 billion in gross output, $17.2 billion in GDP and 185,000 full-time-equivalent jobs in the U.S.
Giraldo said estimates of $300 million in economic activity in the Rhode Island area make him “absolutely excited.” So too were state officials last year when they seized advantage of Rhode Island’s proximity to Foxboro and created its own nonprofit, Ocean State 2026.
While Massachusetts has bolstered its transit infrastructure to endure the increased crowds in-state – it also has an entire page on its state website with transit options for incoming World Cup voyagers – the state has not moved to enact legislation similar to Rhode Island’s.
For travelers staying in Rhode Island, a “Boston Stadium Express” will board outside the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence and take passengers to Gillette for a $95 round-trip ticket. The Boston-based Yankee Line will operate the shuttles, for which it received a roughly $200,000 contract from the Rhode Island Sports Commission.
Tuesday’s floor debate demonstrated a House divided, at least somewhat, on the merits of those possible economic windfalls versus the possible pitfalls involved for public safety officials and municipalities.
House Minority Speaker Mike Chippendale, a Foster Republican, called the legislation “just bad, bad policy.”
“It doesn’t excite me as much as baseball does,” Chippendale said of the association football tournament, “but that we have it here is cause for excitement,” before expressing disbelief that the legislature is even “contemplating” the bill.
“The towns that have the bars making money will have no ability to recuperate,” Chippendale said. “Every ambulance that gets dispatched, every police officer that gets dispatched, every traffic accident – and God, I pray there’s no deaths, because they’ll have to respond to that too.”
Rep. Brian Newberry, a North Smithfield Republican, said “of course” bars would make money with the bill’s passage.
“But what are we doing?” he asked his colleagues. “I mean, every argument I just heard, we could make the same argument to make alcohol sales, 24/7, right? I mean, we could always make more money. It’s at what cost or what price.”
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Rhode Island is also opposed to the legislation.
“We do not believe that restaurants or bars should stay open for this event,” Program Director Wesley Pennington said in an emailed statement to Rhode Island Current. “We certainly do not need to pass legislation on it. Also if this piece of legislation is passed where will it end? Will we start to allow bars and restaurants to stay open longer during the Super Bowl, or World Series?”
The eight House legislators who voted against the bill are all Republicans, although two GOP members – Rep. Marie Hopkins of Warwick and Rep. Richard Fascia of Johnston – voted in favor.
Rep. Charlene Lima, a typically conservative Cranston Democrat who rarely shies away from sharing her opinion on the chamber’s floor, said the House should “stop being so anti-business and controlling about everything.”
“You can start drinking at six o’clock in the morning,” Lima said, acknowledging bars can already open that early, so a few extra hours shouldn’t make much difference.
Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, defended Giraldo’s bill.
“I understand the concern, but my God, if you can find a rental car within a 300-mile radius of any game, all the better to you,” Tanzi said.
She painted a picture of weary travelers arriving back at their far-off hotels “late and hungry,” beleaguered by long rides on “chartered buses” or public transit.
It was a matter of bread, not wine, to Tanzi. “Not everybody that’s going to walk into a place is going to be chugging drinks and getting loaded,” she said. “There are going to be families who are going to want a cheeseburger, an American cheeseburger, and a Coca Cola.”
Tanzi also cited the case of Salt Lake City, which briefly unbuckled its tightly fastened booze laws during the Winter Olympics in 2002. “Even Utah,” Tanzi noted.
Utah actually saw an increase in what a 2007 study in the Journal of Criminal Justice called “routine calls” to the police.
“[T]he local pride for hosting the Olympics, a perhaps less disorderly or crime-focused clientele, and a rather physically isolated location should have all worked together to reduce calls to the police,” the study reads.
But these things did not reduce calls. Instead, the city’s police department “was stretched across two fronts,” the study noted, and had to deal with event traffic and more routine police calls simultaneously – a stress on the system.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association released a new report Monday that found predicted high demand has so far not translated into strong hotel bookings in World Cup host cities.
The group looked at 11 host markets, including Boston where nearly 80% of hotels responding report bookings below expectations and behind a typical summer. Many described the tournament as a “non-event” due to FIFA room releases and weak international fan travel.
An analysis by the Data Appeal Company and Mabrian in February 2026, meanwhile, estimated a $556 million economic impact in the U.S. host cities – much smaller than the multibillion estimate in the FIFA-commissioned study.
