Nestled deep within Franklin Park, a node on Boston’s Emerald Necklace by Frederick Law Olmsted, is White Stadium. The 75-year-old sports hub has long been used by Boston Public School (BPS) athletes for game days and practice.
As previously reported, White Stadium is slated to get a major upgrade thanks to Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP). The new, world-class complex will host Boston’s National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team. Stantec has been designing the stadium with BUSP and the City of Boston Planning Commission and construction will begin in October.
“This project is a visionary partnership between the City of Boston, the Boston Public Schools, and Boston Unity Soccer Partners to leverage the significant investment of a professional women’s soccer team to benefit generations of Boston public schoolchildren,” Tamara Roy, a Stantec principal, shared in a recent statement.
Architects from Stantec noted that they have taken special care to preserve White Stadium’s art deco facade, completed in 1949. Trees and pastoral paths will also remain in situ.
The deal for a new stadium at Franklin Park was brokered by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston’s Parks and Recreation division, and Boston Unity Soccer Partners. BUSP will have access to it 20 days out of the year while, on the other days, BPS sports programs will have access to wellness areas, locker rooms, athletic equipment storage, and BPS offices, and the playing field itself.
From afar, the most visible changes will be new roof canopies that cover new grandstand areas with capacity for 10,000 spectators. A new space called The Grove will contain mixed-use programming with food and beverage offerings.
The Grove, Stantec said, will host events like tai chi, storytelling events for children, small performances, seasonal markets, and cultural gatherings all programmed by a local neighborhood advisory group.
But the new stadium hasn’t been without controversy; the coalition has faced stiff opposition to the project. Many community members from Roxbury and Mattapan, two historic African American neighborhoods, raised concerns that the stadium will exacerbate gentrification and traffic.
A group called Franklin Park Defenders recently filed a lawsuit against the stadium, arguing that it mounted to the privatization of a public resource. Emerald Necklace Conservancy president Karen Mauney-Brodek said the stadium plan is “deeply flawed.”
“Ultimately, this is a question about self-determination, about the community being able to decide what their—and our, and your—public park would be used for,” Mauney-Brodek told local reporters.
Tania Fernandes Anderson, the City Councilor who represents the district where the stadium is slated for construction, noted that the broad majority of constituents do support the project, however many concerns linger.
“For the majority of the district, they support the project. Again, it’s the different issues with transportation, residential parking…and then the comprehensive construction plan,” Anderson shared with local reporters. “People just want to, in detail, understand start to finish, ‘How is this going to play out? How is it going to impact me?’”
The City of Boston Planning Department authorized White Stadium’s demolition on August 12.
Demolition of White Stadium is expected to begin in October, and construction on the new stadium will be finished before March 2026.
