For Immediate Release
December 10, 2024
Contact: Carlen Singmaster, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, csingmaster@emeraldnecklace.org, 617-522-2700
Local Residents, Park Advocates Continue Opposition to Massive Private Sports and Entertainment Complex in Franklin Park
BOSTON — In the latest setback for Boston’s embattled professional sports team, BOS Nation Football Club, a state Superior Court judge today gave a group of citizen plaintiffs more time to gather evidence in their lawsuit against the team’s and the City of Boston’s joint proposal to spend a whopping $200 million to tear down White Stadium in Boston’s historic Franklin Park and build a massive private sports and concert complex in its place.
“Seemingly every day, damning new details are coming out about the plan to demolish White Stadium and build a massive professional sports complex in its place,” said Melissa Hamel, a Jamaica Plain resident and member of the Franklin Park Defenders. “Just this week, we learned that the cost of the project has ballooned, with taxpayers now on the hook for $91 million. And the city revealed plans to cut down 145 trees in Franklin Park to build the pro soccer stadium.”
“The public still hasn’t seen the lease between the city and soccer investors, or a realistic transportation plan to accommodate 11,000 soccer fans at a transit-starved location with no parking,” Hamel said. “This decision is a victory for every member of the public who deserves to see what else the proponents of this absurd plan are hiding. We just hope there’s time to reconsider the loss of 145 trees and several acres of public parkland.”
The lawsuit alleges that the proposed project would violate the Massachusetts Constitution by transferring public trust land to private use. Judge Julie Green agreed with opponents of the proposal who sought more time to gather evidence that has been withheld by the team and City, review documents, and conduct depositions of team and City officials in preparation for a March 18, 2025 trial. She ordered lawyers for both sides of the case to prepare a new schedule for evidence discovery, giving the citizen plaintiffs “as much consideration as possible.”
“BOS Nation and the City of Boston knew from the start that their plan to pave over acres of public parkland to build a professional sports and entertainment complex was unconstitutional,” said Renee Stacy Welsh, an Egleston Square resident and member of the Franklin Park Defenders. “Today we are more confident than ever that Franklin Park will be protected from their scheme to turn this historic parkland into a colossal sports and entertainment complex. The question is: how much more money will Boston’s taxpayers funnel into this fatally-flawed privatization plan before it collapses?”
BOS Nation aims to play games in the newly-built stadium by March 2026, but the team has not even begun demolition of the existing stadium, after months of delays and strong community opposition. Last week, news broke that the cost of the project has ballooned, with Boston taxpayers now on the hook for $91 million and the total cost rising to at least $200 million, more than double the original estimate. The team also faced widespread disapproval in response to the botched rollout of its name and branding campaign, and has since indicated it is reconsidering the team name.
The plan by BOS Nation and the City of Boston includes the demolition of 95% of White Stadium to build a new for-profit professional sports and concert venue that is twice the size of the existing public school sports stadium. The play would tear down 145 trees and pave over acres of historic public parkland in the process.
“To spend $91 million in taxpayer dollars to support a private for-profit business that is going to restrict access to some Boston public school children and hurt surrounding neighborhoods is insane,” said JP resident Michelle Davis. “Instead of this profit-driven environmental injustice in Boston’s largest public park, we want to see a renovated White Stadium for use by Boston students and the public, as it was originally intended. Independent experts say a high-quality public high school stadium should cost no more than $20 million – much less than the city is planning to spend on this corporate give-away.”
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Background
The City of Boston and BOS Nation FC are preparing to demolish White Stadium in Boston’s historic Franklin Park, 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.
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:
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.
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.
Gameday neighborhood parking restrictions would prevent local residents from hosting backyard BBQs or birthday parties without applying for a city event permit.
The massive new stadium complex 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.
A flawed public process 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.
The City of Boston has already identified $91 million in taxpayer funds to be used for their portion of the White Stadium project. That is more than 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 $91 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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