Sports Venues
Professional Women's Soccer Stadium Project in Boston Receives Key Approval
Controversial plan faces opposition from environmental and community groups
Early renderings of a proposed White Stadium renovation in Boston. The plan has been revised.
Rendering Courtesy Stantec
The Boston Planning and Development Agency has approved a controversial project to renovate a dilapidated high school sports stadium in an estimated $100-million project for a new professional women’s soccer team that still faces a lawsuit filed by an environmental nonprofit and residents.
Designed by Stantec, the renovation approved by the BPDA on June 18 refreshes a nearly 80-year-old stadium located in Franklin Park, the centerpiece of famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. The expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League would play up to 20 games per year in the approximately 11,000-seat stadium that would continue to host Boston Public Schools athletic events.
Boston Unity Soccer Partners LLC is splitting the tab for the public-private partnership project evenly with the city, which will borrow its $50 million portion of the funds.
Critics, including the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and other groups, argue that the project encroaches on protected open space by limiting access and creating noise and traffic. They also argue that the project first proposed in 2022 and submitted to the BPDA in December 2023 didn’t provide the community time to review and comment on the plan.
On its website, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy said the project moved forward “without proper environmental review or community process. However, this proposal has alarmed many community members, around the park and city-wide, and is not in the best interest of this important and historic park, the environment or the communities it serves.”
Proponents, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, counter by saying more than 50 public and small group meetings garnered thousands of public comments during a two-year period. The city says those comments were incorporated into the updated design.
“The project will maintain a high level of engagement moving forward to ensure the renovation offers more open public space, enhanced amenities for community events,” the mayor’s office said in a press release, “and closely aligns with the recommendations of the Franklin Park Action Plan.”
Proponents also argue that the plan activates an underused part of the city that otherwise has no other options for redevelopment. Some of the bleachers in what would otherwise be a 10,000-seat stadium are unusable after a fire damaged them decades ago.
“This is a major milestone for a project that is decades overdue, finally giving BPS student athletes and community a beautiful new home at White Stadium,” Wu said in a statement. “This approval delivers greatly expanded hours of BPS and community use, world-class athletic and community facilities, more than an acre of additional green space opened up to the public, and guaranteed annual funding to invest in Franklin Park.”
The city says the project will seek LEED Gold certification and would be one of only three net-zero-carbon stadiums in the country. It would include a professional grass field and upgrading the existing six-lane track to eight lanes. Other amenities include professional-grade locker rooms and press room, corporate suites and commercial kitchens. The proposal also calls for more than 60,000 sq ft of land around the stadium to be converted into an event space called “The Grove,” which would include an entry plaza and a potential beer garden.
While the new NWSL team hopes to begin playing in the renovated stadium in the spring of 2026, the project requires Parks Commission approval and other permits before demolition and construction can begin this fall. The city also needs to finalize the lease agreement with Boston Unity Soccer Partners as well as the project’s transportation plan.
