City-Wide Opposition to the Privatization of Franklin Park Continues to Grow Despite Court’s Ruling on Legal Status of White Stadium

For Immediate Release April 7, 2025

Contact: Carlen Singmaster, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, csingmaster@emeraldnecklace.org, 617-960-6537

27 organizations, hundreds of individuals formally oppose for-profit redevelopment of White Stadium as professional soccer stadium; Support fully public renovation alternative

BOSTON —Public opposition continues to mount against plans to build a $200 million-plus professional sports and entertainment complex in Franklin Park, despite a judge’s ruling last week that state parkland protections do not apply to White Stadium.

In the year since the filing of a lawsuit against the stadium project that would be leased to the forprofit Boston Legacy soccer team, 27 different neighborhood associations, park groups, and other organizations, along with hundreds of individual neighbors and park advocates, have joined the Franklin Park Defenders in opposing the soccer team’s involvement in the redevelopment of White Stadium. Instead, the Defenders support a significantly more affordable, fully-public stadium renovation that would meet the needs of BPS students and the community, without the many flaws of the new private soccer stadium.

“We all want to see White Stadium renovated for student athletes, but it doesn’t have to happen at the expense of Franklin Park and surrounding neighborhoods. My Upham’s Corner neighborhood is densely built and home to families, many of whom came here from Cape Verde, the Dominican Republic, the West Indies, and elsewhere,” said Marti Glynn, President of the Hancock Street Civic Association in Dorchester. “Ours is a neighborhood without many backyards or playgrounds, and Franklin Park is the place where parents drive up with the kids on a hot summer Saturday, for a spontaneous trip to El Parquesito, to the tennis courts on the Playstead, or to a pick-up game of basketball. Families bring chairs and a picnic and make a day of it, staying into the evening until the day cools down. This park is our backyard, and after a long work week, we deserve to enjoy it. That will be impossible if a professional soccer team is playing at White Stadium.”

“Not only will we not be able to drive into the park, but the plan to use Columbia Road as a major route to ferry soccer fans from Route 93 and beyond means that we will not be able to get out of our houses. Heaven help anyone who needs an ambulance, fire, or police response,” Glynn continued. “What we need and want in Franklin Park is a renovated high school stadium where football teams are allowed to play the entire season, we can actually see the whole 8-lane track from every seat, and we are free to use our park. Is that too much to ask?”

At a March meeting of the Highland Park Neighborhood Coalition (HPNC), residents voted overwhelmingly to support the Franklin Park Defenders in their bid to restore a fully usable school stadium and preserve the acres of parkland around it.

Highland Park resident Kate Phelps was pleased, if not surprised.

“We’ve been fighting displacement and gentrification for decades in our corner of Roxbury and are familiar with the playbook used by the city of Boston when it decides to ‘invest’ in the Black and Brown community,” she said. “First it’s decades of disinterest and disinvestment. Then, suddenly, our streets and public spaces are being “saved” by private investment and we should be grateful. It’s, as ever, an opportunist land-grab, and in the case of a cherished stadium and beautiful park, environmental injustice.”

Opposition to the project has included the filing of a lawsuit by 20 citizen plaintiffs (including decades-long community leaders in Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, and Mattapan and founders of the Franklin Park Coalition and METCO), alleging that the proposal violates Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, which requires a vote of the State Legislature in order to change the use of public park and recreation land. A Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled last week that the White Stadium parcel is not subject to Article 97.

But in addition to the legal concerns expressed in the lawsuit, neighboring residents and park advocates have expressed opposition to the project over issues ranging from increased air, noise and light pollution, increased litter, the removal of 145 mature trees, increased traffic and parking restrictions, and decreased student and community access.

Organizations opposing the project include:

ArborwayMatters

Authentic Caribbean Foundation Inc.

Bay Staters for Creative Well-Being

The Black Lotus Cooperative Inc.

Boston Bengals

Pop Warner program

The Boston Committee

Coalition for Regionwide Services Beyond Franklin Park (CORES)

Contemporations, Inc.

The Enviro Show

FACTS Association/Xchange

Friends of Melnea Cass Boulevard

Friends of the Notch Forest

Garden Club of the Back Bay

Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Council

Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council

Greene & Greene Realty

Hancock Street Civic Association

Highland Park Neighborhood Coalition

Mattapan Food & Fitness Coalition

Methunion Manor Cooperative Corporation

Neighborhood Schools, Inc.

The People's Academy

Power of Skirts Collective

Roxbury Neighborhood Council

Trees as a Public Good Network

The Trustees Collaborative for Parks &

Open Space The Urban Biodiversity Project

“For decades, the City of Boston let White Stadium and Franklin Park fall into disrepair, and for decades, we cleaned up the park ourselves. We all want White Stadium renovated to meet the needs of Boston student-athletes and park users, and the City has the money to do it,” said Louis Elisa, President of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Council. “What we don’t want is a professional soccer stadium that will displace Boston residents from Franklin Park on 20 annual game days, evict BPS football teams from their home stadium, and generate immense traffic, noise, and light pollution that will destroy Franklin Park's ability to serve as a serene natural environment. It’s time for city leaders to listen to the concerns being expressed by hundreds of Boston residents, and abandon this attempt to fast-track the privatization of our public parkland.”

The Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council (GMNC) added the following statement:

“The Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council (GMNC) is thankful for the continuous advocacy and care of Franklin Park by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. By providing physical care and financial support for a uniquely designed public space, Greater Mattapan residents can step away from the busy streets and take a break from the noise and commotion. Its unique landscape design allows for both rural scenery with expansive pastoral vistas defined by woodlands (Country Park) as well as defined areas for planned and unplanned recreation and cultural events (Ante Park). The GMNC supports continued efforts to develop transportation plans that respect existing residents in our neighborhoods. It is contradictory in meeting the City’s climate goals to not demand public transportation be used by those who are travelling from outside of the immediate area.”

Background on the White Stadium Redevelopment Project

Residents of the Robury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan have significant concerns about the plan to lease White Stadium to a professional sports team — rather than renovating it as a public stadium for the sole benefit of BPS students and the local community. The City of Boston and Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP) are in the process of demolishing the existing White Stadium in order to build a new, significantly larger for-profit professional sports stadium, entertainment venue, and multiple restaurants and retail shops in its place.

Pro soccer games and other private events would displace BPS students and the community from White Stadium and surrounding parts of Franklin Park on 20 annual game days, 20 practice days, and additional concert and event days - more than half of all weekends during the summer, when residents use the park the most. BPS football teams would be displaced from the stadium entirely during their entire regular season, because the soccer league doesn't want their cleats on the field.

Since the project was announced, it’s been met with growing concern from neighbors and park advocates. But in February, even after half of the Boston City Council called for an immediate pause to the project, construction crews began demolishing White Stadium and cutting down dozens of mature trees in Franklin Park. The soccer team aims to begin playing games in March 2026.

However, the full cost of construction will not be clear until at least July 15, when construction bids for the City’s share of the project are due. While it was initially described by city and team officials as costing as little as $30 million, the project’s cost has since ballooned to over $200 million, with the City and Boston Public Schools responsible for at least $100 million.

Background on the Alternative: a Fully-Public Renovation of White Stadium

Neighbors and parks advocates support an alternative plan to renovate White Stadium as a public high school facility for BPS student-athletes, at a much lower cost to taxpayers and the environment.

The Emerald Necklace Conservancy has proposed such an alternative concept: a high-quality, fully public renovation of White Stadium that would avoid the many negative impacts of building a professional sports venue in the middle of historic Franklin Park. A detailed cost estimate conducted by Vermeulens, Inc. included in the report found that Boston could renovate White Stadium as a high-quality, fully public high school stadium for $28.9 million.

There are numerous examples of high school and even college sports stadiums being built or renovated for similar amounts. Stadium expert Andrew Zimbalist states that “a brand new high school soccer and football stadium should cost between $5 million and $20 million, depending on the specifications.”