For Immediate Release
January 29, 2025
Contact: Carlen Singmaster, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, csingmaster@emeraldnecklace.org, 617-522-2700
Half of Boston City Council Calls for Immediate Pause in White Stadium Demolition, and Consideration of Public Alternative, As Opposition to Stadium Privatization Plan Grows
Neighbors and Park Advocates to Gather at White Stadium Thursday Morning to Protest Pending Demolition & Tree Removal
BOSTON — As public opposition to a planned professional soccer stadium in Boston’s historic Franklin Park continues to grow, half of the Boston City Council voted tonight to call for an immediate pause on White Stadium demolition and construction until the City finalizes comprehensive transportation, parking, and climate resilience plans; releases a fully public renovation option; solidifies commitments around diversity in contracting; and addresses concerns related to community engagement and transparency to ensure investments in White Stadium benefit all Boston residents equitably.
The vote by Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, At-Large Councilors Julia Mejia and Erin Murphy, and District Councilors Tania Fernandes Anderson, Ed Flynn, and Brian Worrell on a resolution filed by Councilor Mejia represents escalating concerns by Boston’s elected leaders about the privatization of White Stadium. In June 2024, 11 of 13 city councilors voted to approve $50 million in taxpayer funding for the project. Since then, the projected taxpayer cost has doubled to $100 million, even before the project is put out to bid. Despite growing public opposition to the project, construction crews are currently working at White Stadium, preparing to demolish the existing stadium and cut down 145 trees in Franklin Park as soon as this week.
“Councilors are responding to a growing public outcry about the city’s plans to demolish White Stadium and replace it with a professional soccer stadium,” said Karen Mauney-Brodek, President of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. “We thank them for joining thousands of neighbors in calling on the City to truly consider a fully-public renovation of White Stadium that prioritizes public school and parks use, and avoids the many flaws of the pro soccer proposal. We should seriously consider this alternative, before permanent damage is done to White Stadium and Franklin Park’s trees, tennis courts, and surrounding areas of public parkland.”
A detailed professional cost estimate prepared by Vermeulens, Inc. — with far more detail than the city has released for its current proposal – shows that Boston could renovate White Stadium as a high-quality, fully public high school stadium for $28.9 million.
“Why spend nearly four times as much, and permanently damage Franklin Park and surrounding neighborhoods, for a stadium that Boston student-athletes and the public can’t use on dozens of professional soccer game and practice days?” said Mauney-Brodek.
Neighbors and advocates plan to gather at White Stadium at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 30 to protest the pending demolition and tree removal, and support an alternative plan to renovate the stadium as a public high school facility for BPS student-athletes, at a much lower cost.
WHO: Roxbury, Dorchester, JP, and Mattapan residents; parks advocates
WHAT: Protest to Save Franklin Park & Protect the Trees
WHERE: White Stadium, north entrance (access park from Walnut Avenue)
Parking may be limited due to construction activity at White Stadium. Additional parking is available on Pierpont Road, a 5-10 minute walk from the stadium
WHEN: Thursday, January 30 at 11:00 a.m.
“Just 7 weeks from now, a trial will begin to determine the fate of this project, and the future of Franklin Park,” said Carla-Lisa Caliga, a Jamaica Plain resident. “There’s no good reason to clear cut 145 trees and permanently damage Franklin Park before the project’s fate is known, other than the soccer team’s rushed timeline and their private investors’ desire for maximum profit. We’re begging city officials not to cut down these irreplaceable trees before the public has our day in court.”
Yesterday, 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. Significant new legal issues raised in the legal filing are buried in the recently-signed 321-page lease between the City of Boston and BOS Nation Football Club.
That lengthy lease agreement outlines the specific terms for the massive private sports, entertainment, and restaurant complex planned for Boston’s historic Franklin Park. The new court filing:
introduces a new charge: that the project would harm areas of constitutionally protected Franklin Park in addition to its negative impacts on the White Stadium parcel itself;
names several additional defendants, including a newly created limited liability corporation formed by BOS Nation Football Club’s principal investor;
reveals that city officials and the team’s investors were having private discussions months before the city announced plans to renovate White Stadium.
The constitutional violations are particularly troubling, and legally required that the plaintiffs notify Attorney General Campbell in advance of the new filing. Her office received written notice of the new claims on January 8.
Twenty individual residents and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy allege in the lawsuit that the proposal by the City of Boston and BOS Nation Football Club violates Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution by illegally transferring public trust and conservation land to private use. A trial in the lawsuit is scheduled to begin on March 18, 2025.
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 project would clear-cut 145 trees and harm historic public parkland in the process. 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.
Earlier this month, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy released a report proposing 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 cost of the professional soccer stadium plans.
In contrast, city and team officials have not released any detailed cost estimate for their proposal — just ballpark figures.
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Background
The City of Boston and BOS Nation FC are preparing to demolish 95% of 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. In December, 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 proposal would grant a professional for-profit sports team the right to lease the property for up to 30 years; 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 plan would tear down 145 trees and change the use of historic public parkland in the process.
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 $23 million price tag.
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 last 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 on March 18, 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.”
Learn more at franklinparkdefenders.com.
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