Boston, professional women’s soccer team win judge’s approval for White Stadium renovation

A Suffolk Superior Court justice sees the planned massive renovation at Franklin Park’s White Stadium as a win for all Boston residents.

The joint effort between the city and a group trying to bring a professional women’s soccer team to the stadium scored points in court Friday, with Justice Sarah Ellis declining a request from a group of residents and advocates for the project to be halted.

Ellis tossed out motions from The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, a nonprofit park advocacy group, and 21 city residents for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and lis pendens, measures they desired to prevent additional steps from being taken in the massive $80-million undertaking.

Boston Unity Soccer Partners, an all-female ownership group, won an expansion bid last September to become the 15th team in the National Women’s Soccer League. The team is slated to take the pitch at the long-neglected venue at Franklin Park in 2026.

Gary Ronan, an attorney representing the city, highlighted during a hearing on the case earlier this month how a preliminary injunction had the potential to derail the project entirely. He called the dispute an “attack” on the effort, one that inaccurately painted what the public-private partnership with BUSP intends to accomplish.

“Plaintiffs assert irreparable harm will ensue absent a preliminary injunction because the demolition and renovation of White Stadium,” Ellis wrote in her decision, “and any lease and/or license agreements contracted between the City and BUSP, will negatively change the nature of White Stadium, limit the public’s enjoyment, and have an immediate detrimental impact on the neighborhoods abutting Franklin Park.”

“I am not persuaded,” the justice added.

Renovations at the dilapidated park and stadium — where half of the grandstands were burned out from a fire decades ago— would triple the number of hours the stadium could be used, 90% of which would be dedicated to Boston Public School student-athletes and the community, project proponents have said.

Boston Unity is slated to contribute $30 million, with the city putting in roughly $50 million.

“I’m thrilled to see the court’s clear ruling that this frivolous lawsuit from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy must not block our ongoing community engagement to deliver a generational investment in White Stadium and Franklin Park,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement Friday evening.

“For decades, Boston student-athletes and community members have watched plans for revitalizing this historic facility come and go without tangible progress,” she added. “Now, for the first time since the stadium’s opening, the City has a committed partnership to invest in and sustain the improvements that our students, park lovers, and neighbors deserve.”

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