A lawsuit that seeks to stop the City of Boston’s public-private rehab of Franklin Park’s White Stadium for a new pro women’s soccer team goes to trial Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court, where the fate of the $200 million proposal will be decided.
At the trial, plaintiffs, consisting of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a contingent of 20 park neighbors, will try to prove that the use proposed by Boston Unity Soccer Partners, the for-profit group behind the new pro team, in partnership with the City of Boston, constitutes an illegal privatization of public trust land.
“For the last year, Franklin Park’s neighbors have been standing up for environmental justice in our public park,” Jean McGuire, a plaintiff and past civil rights leader and School Committee member, said in a statement.
“I’m already heartbroken just thinking about the trees that have been cut down — we have to protect public spaces,” McGuire said. “If this massive redevelopment project is allowed to go forward, our communities will pay the price. This is the public’s park, and we’re grateful to finally have our day in court to defend it.”
The City of Boston and Boston Unity Soccer Partners, named as defendants, will seek to dispute the lawsuit’s claims, which a Suffolk Superior Court judge rejected last year when denying the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.
Mayor Michelle Wu has denied the privatization claim, pointing to a lease agreement that sees the city maintain ownership of the 76-year–old White Stadium, which the National Women’s Soccer League expansion team will share use of with Boston Public Schools.
“A renovated White Stadium will be open for BPS students, coaches and the public, more than 345 days per year, generally 15 hours per day,” a Wu spokesperson said in a statement. “Although we have urged ENC for months to abandon their lawsuit and join our effort, we look forward to clearing the way for the renovation to proceed.
“After 40 years of broken promises and two years of community meeting, kids have waited long enough.”
Boston Unity Soccer Partners, in a statement, also denied its proposed use would privatize the stadium, saying that it would be a tenant under a city lease, which was signed by both parties this past December.
“As Boston Unity Soccer Partners continues our long-overdue revitalization of White Stadium, we look forward to the resolution of all legal claims, as the plaintiffs’ allegations are not supported legally or factually, nor are their claims supported by legal precedent,” Boston Unity said.
“Our team is thrilled to bring professional women’s soccer to Boston and to collaborate with the City of Boston on enriching the community through our joint renovation of a beloved neighborhood landmark.”
The for-profit group went on to bash the “plaintiffs’ media campaign,” which it said has “misrepresented the facts, leading to public misconception of what, exactly, this project would entail.”
The new women’s team is set to take the pitch in March 2026.
Boston Globe CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry, wife of the billionaire Red Sox owner John Henry, is an investor but is working to back out of the deal. The investment group is led by Jennifer Epstein, controlling manager of the team and daughter of Boston Celtics co-owner Robert Epstein.
The plaintiffs have said they support renovation of the dilapidated stadium, but have advocated for a pared-down rehab that would see it preserved as a high-school-only facility.
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy commissioned a report that found such a smaller-scale renovation for BPS student-athletes could be done at a “fraction” of what the city’s public-private plan is projected to cost.
“Building a massive new stadium for the benefit of private investors, and shutting out the public on dozens of warm-weather game, practice and event days, is not the right plan for Franklin Park or our communities,” Renee Stacy Welch, a plaintiff who lives in Jamaica Plain, said in a statement.
Melissa Hamel, another Jamaica Plain plaintiff, insists that “there is still time for a better solution: a fully public renovation of White Stadium that prioritizes public school and parks use, and avoids the many flaws of the pro soccer proposal.”
The city disagrees. The mayor has argued that a private partner will allow for the necessary repairs and ongoing maintenance after decades of neglect left the stadium dilapidated and on the verge of being unusable for BPS student-athletes.
Mayor Wu has also disputed the plaintiffs’ assertions that there is widespread opposition to the project, which sees city taxpayers on the hook for half the costs, at roughly $100 million and counting, due to potential further cost overruns.
Wu has cited support from BPS parents, students and coaches, and a group of supporters have formed a coalition in recent weeks to counter the vocal opposition.
“On behalf of our teammates and all Boston student-athletes, we ask the court to approve the city’s plans to renovate White Stadium as soon as possible,” BPS Students for White Stadium said in a statement. “For as long as we can remember, White Stadium has been in terrible shape.
“BPS students deserve a beautiful facility that will be used by more students and more teams than ever before,” the supporters said. “We ask the adults trying to stop the project to spend a day in our shoes and reconsider what you’re fighting against — better opportunities for Boston students.”
Still, the trial comes as the project continues to draw controversy and divide the community — highlighted by a deadlocked City Council vote to halt demolition and public records that revealed the pro soccer group got an early jump on the city’s bid process for the White Stadium rehab.
It has also become a central campaign issue with Wu’s main opponent thus far in the mayoral race Josh Kraft, son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and longtime philanthropist, calling for a pause on the rebuild until the litigation is resolved.
