Boston Unity Soccer Partners field community concerns about White Stadium renovation

The GIST: Last September, Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP) announced its successful bid for an NWSL team that would play in Boston’s historic White Stadium. With $100M worth of renovations slated to start this year, the ownership group is fielding community pushback amid concerns about how an NWSL team would change the stadium’s accessibility for the local community.

The details: A lawsuit filed February 20th by members of Boston’s Emerald Necklace Conservancy, along with local citizens, argued BUSP’s renovation plans violate the state’s Public Lands Preservation Act as private ownership would impede public access to the stadium.

• In response, BUSP outlined how the renos would actually benefit local students by giving them scheduling priority and extending the stadium’s hours of operation. Plus, the NWSL team would only account for 10% of the events at White Stadium, leaving plenty of room for public use. So many activities.

• A local judge agreed with BUSP when he struck down the plaintiffs’ initial lawsuit last month, arguing that the public would actually gain more access with the plan while honoring stadium benefactor George Robert White’s wishes, who simply wanted to better Boston with his endowment. Despite this, the plaintiffs plan to continue pursuing legal action.

The community: Boston was picked as an NWSL location because of its vibrant culture of women’s soccer fandom. Per BUSP research, 45% of locals identify as soccer fans, 17% higher than the national average. It’s also the No. 2 sport Bostonians identify with, which isn’t surprising given the area’s historic ties to the beautiful game.

• “It is a core belief to build this team embedded with the fabric of our community,” BUSP co-owner Jennifer Epstein told The GIST last December.

Zooming out: Though BUSP has worked with the community in mind, there are still valid concerns about how privatization will change things. It’s progress that a women-led ownership group is funding a stadium reno for a new women’s soccer franchise, but there’s still ground to cover to convince locals it’s in their best interest.

• The conversation might be different if the stadium was funded by tax dollars, which have provided $33B to finance 135 men’s arenas across the U.S. and Canada from 1970 to 2020. Yet hardly any women’s stadiums are publicly funded — even though the KC Current’s CPKC Stadium has been widely embraced by its community, it was still primarily privately funded.