Taxpayer Cost for New Stadium Complex Rises to $91 Million, Total Cost Rises to $200 Million — More than Twice the Original Budget
For Immediate Release
December 6, 2024
Contact: Carlen Singmaster, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, csingmaster@emeraldnecklace.org, 617-522-2700
BOSTON — The cost of the proposal to demolish White Stadium in Boston’s historic Franklin Park and build a massive new private sports and concert complex has skyrocketed, with taxpayers now being asked to spend $91 million on the plans to build a new home for Boston’s newly-launched professional sports team, BOS Nation Football Club. The total projected cost of the project has more than doubled to around $200 million, up from an initial estimate of $80 million when the project was first proposed last year.
Experts say that a high-quality high school sports stadium should cost no more than $20 million, but professional sports stadiums often cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The massive cost overruns were not announced by the city, but uncovered during a meeting of the City of Boston’s Public Facilities Commission, where $9.7 million in taxpayer funds were approved just for the design of the stadium.
“It’s outrageous that the city wants to spend $90 million in taxpayer money to build an oversized professional sports complex for the benefit of a few millionaire sports investors,” said Renee Stacy Welsh, an Egleston Square resident and member of the Franklin Park Defenders. “This project was already being jammed down the throats of our neighborhoods, and now we’re being asked to pay through the nose to subsidize the new stadium’s luxury boxes and beer gardens.”
“If this project goes forward, there will certainly be more cost overruns in the future – who will be on the hook for those?” said Melissa Hamel, a Jamaica Plain resident and member of the Franklin Park Defenders. “City officials need to go back to the drawing board and build the moderately-priced, high-quality public high school stadium BPS students deserve — not this boondoggle of a corporate give-away.”
Local residents and parks advocates oppose the plan by BOS Nation and the City of Boston to demolish 95% of White Stadium and build a new for-profit professional sports and concert venue that is twice the size of the existing public school sports stadium, demolishing 157 trees and paving over two tennis courts and acres of historic public parkland in the process. Residents and advocates instead want to see White Stadium renovated as a truly-public high school sports stadium with community access, which independent experts say can be done for no more than $20 million.
Over the past year, advocates have called attention to the lack of an adequate transportation plan for 11,000+ game and concert attendees, limits to public access that would restrict the public availability of one of the most-used free public areas of Franklin Park, and a deeply flawed public process that has seen the City of Boston-backed project rubber-stamped by a series of mayoral-appointed city boards, without any required independent environmental review by state agencies.
An ongoing citizen’s lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court alleges that the proposed redevelopment project would violate Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution by transferring public trust land to private use.
Background
The City of Boston and BOS Nation FC are preparing to demolish White Stadium in Boston’s historic Franklin Park this fall, in order to begin constructing a massive private sports and entertainment complex that would house the new National Women’s Soccer League team.
The proposal would grant the rights to a 30-year lease to a professional for-profit sports team; build dedicated private facilities and other uses like offices, luxury boxes, restaurants and shops; and displace Boston Public School (BPS) students and the general public from the stadium and effectively much of the rest of the park for 20 games and 20 practices on the majority of Fridays and Saturdays from March-November.
The proposal would displace BPS football teams from the stadium for their entire regular season and limit the availability of one of the most-used free public areas of Franklin Park for music and cultural festivals, basketball and tennis games, and cross country running meets.
Local residents and parks advocates, many who are members of the Franklin Park Defenders citizens group that is suing the proponents of the project in State Superior Court, have highlighted several major issues with the proposed project, including:
The lack of an adequate transportation plan for 11,000+ game and concert attendees, who will likely generate more than 4,000 new vehicle trips and create enormous traffic gridlock and pollution in the neighborhoods around Franklin Park.
Gameday neighborhood parking restrictions that will prevent local residents from hosting backyard BBQs or birthday parties without applying for a city event permit.
Limits to public access that would restrict the availability of one of the most-used free public areas of Franklin Park for music and cultural festivals, basketball and tennis games, and cross-country running meets.
A flawed public process that has seen the City of Boston-backed project rubber-stamped by a series of mayoral-appointed city boards, without any required independent environmental review by state agencies.
While White Stadium is almost a mile from the nearest train station, proponents claim that 40 percent of fans will travel to the stadium via public transportation, and most others will drive to as-yet-unidentified remote parking lots and take large tour buses to the stadium. Proponents claim that their transportation plan will work by comparing it to Fenway Park, which is within a third of a mile of a T station and the commuter rail. But even at transit-rich Fenway, barely 23% of attendees use transit, and nearly two-thirds drive or take Uber or Lyft. Properly analyzed, it is likely that game and concert days will result in more than 4,000 new vehicle trips, triggering the need for state environmental reviews that have not occurred.
In addition, the proponents of the professional sports and entertainment complex want to require neighborhood parking permits to park on nearby streets on game and concert days. As a result, residents will be unable to host visitors for a backyard BBQ or a child’s birthday party, because only permanent residents will be able to park in the neighborhood without applying for a special event permit from the city.
The massive expansion of White Stadium would reduce public access to green space in the center of several of Boston’s environmental justice neighborhoods, which already suffer from high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
The City of Boston has already identified more than $50 million in taxpayer funds to be used for their portion of the White Stadium project. That is enough to complete a state-of-the art public stadium, without limiting public access or disrupting our park and surrounding neighborhoods. In 2013, the last time renovating White Stadium was seriously studied, the project had a $20 million price tag, which included upgrading the stadium, additional parking, and new basketball courts.
There are numerous examples of high school and even college sports stadiums being built or renovated for far less than $50 million. Cawley Stadium in Lowell received an $8 million renovation this year, including a new turf field; an athletic training center with a weight room, locker rooms, coaches/meeting room, concession stand and bathroom facility; and an expanded track. In Boston, Daly Field in Brighton was renovated for $13.5 million in 2016, including a new field house, 6 tennis courts, a track, and synthetic turf fields used for soccer, lacrosse, softball, field hockey, and football.
White Stadium, an open space for public recreation and public school sporting events, has been held in trust for over 74 years for the beneficiaries of the White Fund Trust — the residents of Boston. A citizens lawsuit scheduled for trial in March 2025 alleges that the proposed redevelopment of White Stadium by Boston Unity Soccer Partners, LLC would violate Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution by transferring public trust land to private use, charging that “it would fundamentally alter the nature and feel of a significant portion of Franklin Park during the majority of fair weather weekends each year.”
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