The plan was to rebuild the old stadium.
If life didn’t get in the way, the National Women’s Soccer League’s Boston franchise would be planning its opening day ceremonies for the 2026 season at a place called White Stadium in Boston. Instead the Boston Legacy FC franchise will be playing its inaugural season in Foxboro, Massachusetts at the National Football League’s New England Patriots’ stadium. Some irony here, Robert Kraft, Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution owner, would like to get his team out of his NFL stadium into a smaller venue in Everett, Massachusetts but Boston elected officials aren’t keen on Kraft building a facility that straddles the Everett-Boston line because of traffic and quality of life concerns. Apparently, some members of the Boston city council are not too keen on spending public money on basically building what amounts to a new stadium in Franklin Park for the Boston Legacy FC owners. There is no cost certainty. Boston may kick in $91 million, the project could cost $200 million.
White Stadium was built in 1949 and last renovated in the 1980s and has been eroding for years. White Stadium was a 10,519-seat venue that was intended to be used by Boston Public Schools athletics. In 1970, a proposal was made to enlarge the stadium to 50,000 seats as a potential home for the Boston Patriots. In the 1980s, the scoreboard became unusable because of vandalism and the locker rooms lacked working showers and toilets. A fire in the 1990s made a large section of the facility unusable, In December 2024, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced a Lease Agreement and Boston Public School Stadium Usage Agreement with Boston Unity Soccer Partners to build a new venue. Boston Unity Soccer Partners agreed to fund more than half of the construction costs. The Battle of White Stadium continues.
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