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Mayor Wu announces 10-year White Stadium lease signed with BOS Nation FC
The deal was announced amid ongoing questions regarding the costs of the renovation project.
Mayor Michelle Wu announced on Monday morning that Boston has signed a 10-year, public-private lease agreement with BOS Nation FC, the expansion NWSL women’s soccer team, to renovate and operate out of White Stadium.
The details of the lease include the “shared usage agreement” between the Boston Unity Soccer Partners (the club’s ownership group) and the city regarding the splitting of field time with the soccer club, local school teams, and city residents. The mayor announced that the club will pay an annual rent starting at $400,000 (which will begin “in the first full season where the entire facility is available”). It will then increase 3% annually.
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Demolition and new construction for the project is now set to get underway in January with an eye on a tight schedule to be ready for the team’s kickoff in March 2026.
The full length of the lease could last up to 30 years, and is broken into an initial 10-year agreement with two additional 10-year options. The city made both the official 321-page lease agreement as well as the stadium usage agreement available to the public on its website.
According to the documents, additional revenue for the city will also include:
- 10% of in-stadium advertising revenues
- 10% of field naming rights revenue
- 3% of concessions revenue
- Prior to the regular annual rent (potentially 2027), the club will pay “$200,000 annualized first season payment, prorated for the number of months the field will be operational,” per the city’s announcement.
In terms of construction details and the renovation’s projected timeline:
- Construction is being split between the city and the club. The city projects it will be done with the field and track renovation by March of 2026 (with the east grandstand coming online that December). The club, via controlling owner Jennifer Epstein, said that they are operating on a “quicker timeline,” aiming to be done in time for the start of the season in 2026.
- The renovation is projected to “create up to 500 construction jobs,” with “300 permanent jobs.”
An “operations and maintenance reserve fund” will also be created from 40-percent of the in-stadium advertising revenue, 15-percent of field naming rights, and 5% of concessions revenue. The fund will be used to “exclusively maintain the facility,” per Wu.
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Improvements to the facility, originally built in 1949, include an eight-lane track (along with new track and field features, such as shot-put and pole vault capabilities), a natural grass soccer field which Wu called “professional grade,” new locker rooms and strength and conditioning facilities for school usage, and “freshly surfaced” basketball courts.
The usage for high school teams will include “end-of-season football,” per the announcement.
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Recent news pertaining to the public-private partnership deal Wu has championed with BOS Nation has been dominated by the growing costs of the project. After original costs were projected to be $50 million for taxpayers, the more recent estimates placed it at $91 million.
Wu has defended the costs, though she walked back remarks during a WGBH radio appearance in which she said, “We are going to pay for our half of the stadium, no matter what it costs.”
After the interview, Wu clarified that there is “no such thing as a blank check when it comes to city capital projects.”
In the Monday announcement, she outlined “financial safeguards.”
“Prior to [renovation], Boston Unity will fund a $25 million construction escrow account restricted exclusively to fund direct construction costs on the site with city approval of expenditures,” the mayor explained. “The account cannot be reduced below $10 million until total project financing is secured. There is a $45 million pre-financing guarantee, including the escrow funds, so that the city will have significant resources to renovate White Stadium if for some reason — which we do not believe will happen — the project cannot advance or total financing is not secured.”
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BOS Nation, Wu noted, will pay for “more than half” of the reported $200 million cost of the project. (BOS Nation’s ownership group includes Boston Globe Media Partners CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry.)
The team is set to take the field in 2026, when it will officially take up the mantle vacated by Boston’s previous NWSL, the Breakers, which folded in 2018.
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