The giant sphere is being built with support from the Massachusetts Port Authority, better known as Massport. Organizers hope the ball will appear prominently in aerial flyovers during the seven internationally televised matches at Gillette Stadium — intended as a signal to television viewers around the world that Boston embraces soccer on a grand scale.
The ball, currently being built in a warehouse in northeast Ohio, will make a 660-mile journey to Boston next month on an 18-wheel truck (while deflated) and be examined by officials at Guinness World Records to determine whether it is worthy of a place in the record books. Victory appears certain: The current Guinness world record for the largest soccer ball is 39 feet and 11.8 inches, and was displayed at a supermarket parking lot in Doha, Qatar in 2013.
“Records are meant to be broken,†said Richard Davey, chief executive officer of Massport, an independent public agency that owns and operates Logan Airport. “And at least for the moment, we'll be kings of the world — as far as the largest soccer ball ever.”
And in the unsubtle game of one-upmanship among the 11 US cities hosting this summer's games, the giant ball represents a piece of bragging rights beyond the Guinness record — a spectacle no other city can claim. A month ago, World Cup organizers in Houston set a world record for the longest line of soccer balls — placing 1,036 of them in a zigzag pattern in a city park. But no other city in the world has a soccer ball that weighs 2,200 pounds and requires generators to inflate.
The ball also recalls soccer's humble roots — a game that has inspired fanaticism across continents, a sport that the late Uruguayan novelist and football chronicler Eduardo Galeano described as “the only religion that has no atheists.â€
For as long as people have played competitive games, they have been kicking around spherical objects. The Greeks and Romans used ox bladders. Medieval Europeans played with inflated animal skins, often stuffed with horsehair. The modern ball, swollen with air and covered with artificial leather, was born in the middle of the 19th century in England. Until the middle of the 20th century, the ball was brown. The one at Piers Park will be cobalt blue.
The idea of a giant soccer ball originated eight months ago among a Massport marketing team, and was conceived as a playful way to connect East Boston residents to the spectacle of the World Cup, which is expected to draw up to 2 million visitors to Greater Boston. Municipalities across the state are planning watch parties — with giant screens, food vendors and musical acts — as a way for people to enjoy the games without having to buy tickets to Gillette Stadium. However, many of those events are in peril due to FIFA licensing delays, according to a Globe report.
Massport's effort to build and transport the ball has unfolded largely behind the scenes, separate from the work of Boston's World Cup host committee, Boston Soccer 2026, which has been beset by fundraising and other challenges.
The estimated $300,000 cost of building and transporting the ball, plus a one-day community event on June 13, will be borne by Massport and corporate sponsors. It will be on display at Piers Park from June 12 to June 18.
“We're super excited and frankly… it's time we reveal to the world that we have another trick up our sleeve,†Davey said. “We are still a city of champions, even if we may not have felt like that in the last couple weeks.â€
The official measurement to determine whether the ball qualifies for the Guinness Book of World Records will take place next week in Brunswick, Ohio.
Chris Serres can be reached at chris.serres@globe.com. Follow him @ChrisSerres.
