Mayor Wu plays hardball over White Stadium soccer deal
It’s a field of dreams, for sure. But what’s really driving it? The needs of student athletes — or the pros? If Mayor Michelle Wu’s plan to build a state-of-the-art athletic facility at George Robert White Stadium in Franklin Park is all about Boston Public Schools kids, there should be money for it whether or not she pulls off a deal to bring professional women’s soccer to Boston. Instead, Wu suggested last week that if the city’s proposed partnership with Boston Unity Soccer Partners falls apart, the $50 million now available from the city’s capital budget will go to something other than stadium renovation. In other words, no deal, no money.
That’s hardball — but is it hardball on behalf of the public or hardball on behalf of a private entity?
A lawsuit filed by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, in conjunction with some community residents, charges that the city, with its redevelopment plan, is violating the terms of the trust that owns the stadium, along with state law governing public land that was acquired for open space. The city disputes both charges. A judge is expected to rule on the plaintiffs’ request to stop the deal from going forward sometime this month.
But this fight is about something bigger than legal issues. It’s about Wu’s vision for the city and how she executes it. This suit pits Wu against the old Boston establishment. (To some degree, it also pits the old Boston Globe against the new one. Ben Taylor, whose family owned the Globe until its sale to The New York Times in 1993, chairs the Emerald Necklace Conservancy board. Globe CEO Linda Henry is an investor in Boston Unity Soccer Partners.) There’s a good case to be made for change versus the status quo. But by using the $50 million as a bargaining chip, the mayor’s true motivations are in question. Is this about building a functional, new field for student athletes or a grand platform for her political ambitions?
Behind the scenes, Wu aides describe the conservancy as a group that prefers “a decadent ruin in the middle of a park” to the first-rate facility that could be built through the creative public-private partnership the mayor is championing. Meanwhile, threatening to take the $50 million off the table isn’t the only hardball being played. After the conservancy lawsuit was filed, Tiffany Chu, Wu’s chief of staff, contacted several plaintiffs via text message and voicemail. When asked why, a spokesperson for Wu said via email: “After hearing reports that some of the plaintiffs were added to the lawsuit without their knowledge or weren’t aware that the lawsuit posed a threat to the project moving forward at all, Tiffany Chu reached out to selected plaintiffs to clear up any misconceptions.” Two plaintiffs subsequently dropped out.
According to Wu, of course the White Stadium plan is for the kids. “This is a partnership that will help us secure, revitalize, and expand access for student athletes and the public to a treasured resource that has been decaying for far too long,” Wu said in a recent meeting with the Globe editorial board.
Playable hours for student athletes would triple, and the facility, which is now closed on evenings and weekends, would be open to the public. There would be a new soccer field and a track with eight lanes instead of six. The grandstand on the east side that was badly damaged by fire would be rebuilt and the new indoor space created there would include updated locker rooms, strength and conditioning areas, and study space. The women’s professional soccer team would operate out of the west grandstand. BPS would have access to both grandstands during BPS games. The stadium and track would be controlled by BPS. The entire facility would be handicapped accessible.
The women’s pro soccer team would have use of the stadium from March to October. When the pros aren’t playing, BPS teams could use the field. Still, until November, the two high school football teams that currently play there would have to find another place to play. Meanwhile, traffic and parking are two issues the city acknowledges it still must address.
The terms of the city’s lease agreement with Boston Unity Soccer Partners are also unavailable, and full project costs are still being determined, a Wu spokesperson said. Boston Unity Soccer Partners initially estimated a capital investment of $30 million. But its revised contribution now stands closer to $50 million, the city said.
There are also questions about the speed with which this plan is proceeding. “I think this project of converting a major public resource to the benefit of a private entity is being steamrollered,” Scott Harshbarger, whose law firm represents the conservancy, told me in an interview. “It’s on a faster track than anything anyone has ever seen, without regard to the environmental justice issues facing this community.”
Of course, in a city known for its slow planning process, “faster” is not necessarily a pejorative. But again, the question is whether the process is moving faster than it should mainly to accommodate a 2026 start to soccer games.
A city spokesperson told me a full White Stadium renovation “will cost $100 million or more.” The $50 million now on the table might go elsewhere because, they said, “we will not commit to a halfway renovation that cannot meet the needs of BPS students and park users.” If that’s the case, shouldn’t Wu want to keep all funding options open?
In an interview, conservancy president Karen Mauney-Brodek told me that the conservancy has offered to help the city raise money for a stadium renovation that would not include a pro soccer team. Wu officials said that while they would welcome any philanthropic help, their meetings with conservancy members “never got past them threatening to sue us.”
It’s not unusual for mayors to fall in love with something big and different. Former mayor Marty Walsh did it when he went public with a plan to bring the IndyCar race to the Seaport without first doing due diligence and he also did it with a plan to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston. Both failed.
With White Stadium, Wu also has a bold idea, but she didn’t first build a broad constituency for it.
“The plan as it was developed and announced did not include significant consultation with community groups immediately adjacent to the stadium,” Ted Landsmark, who serves on the board of the Boston Planning and Development Agency as well as on the board of directors of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, told me. But Landsmark said he believes there is still a way “for the parties to come together.”
For that, Wu must be willing to put the kids first, not the pros.
This fight is about something bigger than legal issues. It’s about Wu’s vision for the city and how she executes it.