In a classic case of Boston power politics, Mayor Michelle Wu and her allies in the Legislature quietly flexed their muscles to stop Robert Kraft’s soccer stadium in Everett — just as Robert’s son Josh openly explores a mayoral run.

Wu was largely left out of the process of trying to clear the way for the new New England Revolution stadium, which was a mistake by the Krafts and their allies.

Did Wu seek revenge on the Kraft family, powerful owners of the New England Patriots, for trying to challenge her?

That’s the speculation on Beacon Hill after the House — where Wu has a number of powerful friends like Aaron Michlewitz — blocked the stadium bill in the last-minute whirl of legislative activity before the session ended. There’s a chance the matter will be taken up again, it was announced late Friday.

The Kraft Group issued a statement Friday blasting the Legislature for its inaction, saying they were “deeply disappointed the House would not take up this legislation on its own, and that the Legislature was unable to act on major legislation at the end of this session.

“Our Commonwealth missed a vital opportunity to clean up a brownfields site for an environmental justice community, robbing the city of Everett and its community of its ability to remove a dilapidated and decommissioned power plant and remediate a site contaminated over decades and replace it with a public park, waterfront access, and a privately funded soccer stadium – which was just one piece of this very significant project.”

Gov. Maura Healey was largely supportive of the stadium bill, but Wu was not.

Boston officials had raised concerns about the impacts of traffic on Charlestown and Sullivan Square on game days – concerns that they say were ignored by the Kraft family and stadium backers.

Kraft left her out of planning for a new soccer stadium in Boston, never once bringing it up throughout her time in elective office, according to city officials.

Josh Kraft, who runs the family’s charitable ventures, recently commissioned a poll to test his strength against Wu. He has done nothing to quell the speculation that he wants to challenge her.

Robert Kraft is used to getting his way, so Wu’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering to kill the stadium must have been a surprise.

And the timing was not great for the Krafts to get something through the House, where Wu, who is up for reelection next year, has many friends.

Michlewitz and others were clearly doing Wu’s bidding by blocking the stadium legislation.

The failure of the stadium bill was one of Wu’s only victories in the Legislature, which failed to pass several of the mayor’s priorities, including a home rule petition allowing her to raise commercial tax rates and adding hundreds of new liquor licenses.

So it was clearly a mixed bag for the mayor, who recently announced she is pregnant with her third child.

But Wu showed she will not bow down to Robert Kraft and Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria – or anyone else.

The maneuvering again illustrates the changing power structure in Boston, which was run by a series of business-friendly mayors like Marty Walsh and Tom Menino. Wu has infuriated Boston’s business community by not including them.

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Is Josh Kraft waiting for the right moment to announce his run for mayor of Boston? (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)