Contact: Carlen Singmaster, Emerald Necklace Conservancy,
csingmaster@emeraldnecklace.org, 617-522-2700
BOSTON — Internal documents exchanged between top City of Boston officials and the private investors behind the BOS Nation women’s soccer team, revealed in a news story today, show unequivocally that plans to tear down White Stadium in Boston’s historic Franklin Park and replace it with a professional soccer stadium and entertainment complex were initiated and driven by the team’s multi-millionaire private investors — not by the needs of Boston schoolchildren, residents, or parks users.
The documents show that BOS Nation’s lead investor, Jennifer Epstein, engaged in months of behind-the-scenes negotiations with city officials over the project before it was presented to the public. Those negotiations, which Epstein initiated as early as September 2022, culminated in the signing of a detailed letter of intent on April 14, 2023 that outlined the terms of the deal to redevelop White Stadium. Following the signing of the letter, the Mayor’s chief of staff thanked BOS Nation’s lawyers and investors for their “long calls at all hours, creative solutions, and perseverance to get us over this first finish line together.” Then, Epstein told city officials, “Now we need to get that RFP out!”
Only then did the city issue a public request for proposals (RFP) to redevelop White Stadium,
which included key details and requirements that had already been negotiated with the team’s investors. Unsurprisingly, the soccer team was the only bidder.
Members of the Franklin Park Defenders, who are opposed to the planned private stadium
complex, reacted.
“It’s about time that what’s been done in the dark is now coming to light. These documents
clearly show what we have suspected all along: the rush to tear down White Stadium and
permanently damage Franklin Park is being driven by the needs of a few wealthy sports
investors and by the soccer league’s deadlines.,” said Louis Elisa, a member of the Franklin
Park Defenders, founding member of the Franklin Park Coalition, and President of the
Garrison-Trotter Neighborhood Association. “The city and the team deliberately denied the
community a voice until this backroom deal was done.”
“The sun is now shining not just on Franklin Park’s trees, but on the deeply flawed process that brought us to this point. Further tree-cutting and demolition must immediately cease until
questions about the legality and integrity of the project are resolved,” he continued. “It is past
time for the appropriate state and federal officials to step in and investigate the secret
negotiations that took place before the public bidding process even began.”
Neighbors and 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.
“This issue never had to be so controversial or divisive. If the city had engaged in a true
community-led process that began with the question of what the community wanted, and
included real alternatives, we could have developed a consensus around the renovation of
White Stadium as a fully-public facility,” said Jamaica Plain resident Melissa Hamel, a member of the Franklin Park Defenders. “Instead, city officials made a secret deal with a few wealthy sports investors that seeks to privatize our public park. But it's not too late to get it right, and work together to build the public high school stadium our kids deserve.”
Earlier this month, construction crews began demolishing White Stadium and cutting down
dozens of mature trees in Franklin Park, even after half of the Boston City Council called for an immediate pause on White Stadium demolition and construction until the City releases a fully public renovation option and solidifies other missing plans and commitments.
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy has proposed one idea for 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 — a fraction of the $200 million cost of the professional soccer stadium plans, at least $100 million of which will be covered by Boston taxpayers.
Background
The proposal 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 project would cut down 145 trees and harm
historic public parkland in the process.
In January, plaintiffs in the citizens’ lawsuit to prevent year-round commercial use of White
Stadium filed an expanded legal complaint in Suffolk Superior Court, aiming to prevent
corporate control of public parkland in Boston’s historic Franklin Park. Twenty individual
residents and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy allege in the lawsuit that the proposal violates Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution by illegally transferring public trust and
conservation land to private use without required legislative review and approval. A trial in the
lawsuit is scheduled to begin on March 18, 2025.
In addition to the legal concerns expressed in the ongoing 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, football exclusion until November, and decreased community access.
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