Ballooning costs, secretive RFP process and misguided priorities will ultimately hurt BPS students and leave Boston taxpayers “holding the bag”

BOSTON, MA – This morning, Josh Kraft and supporters stood outside White Stadium to call out Mayor Wu’s many management failures in barreling ahead with a professional soccer stadium with a taxpayer price tag that has risen from $10.5M to over $170M.

Three years ago, Mayor Wu and her staff began having conversations with a group of wealthy investors about building a stadium for a professional soccer team here in Boston using taxpayer dollars. Not long after, she cut a deal in which the city committed to paying for half what it would take to build this stadium.

When the White Stadium renovation was approved by the Boston Planning and Development Board in 2024, the taxpayer share of paying for this project was $50M. Last December, the cost had more than doubled to $91 million which the Mayor insisted was “in the ballpark.” Just two months ago, when asked about the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs policy on this project, she assured us that Boston would miss the worst of it.

Today, internal city estimates not shared with the public have the taxpayer cost of this project at roughly $170M at a moment when taxpayer dollars are scarce and there are many pressing needs facing Bostonians, from housing to schools to tax relief for seniors. 

“Mayor Wu regularly takes to the stump to criticize those who “hand the keys over to billionaires” when deciding public policy. Some think she’s talking about me,” said Kraft. “But when it comes to White Stadium and the wealthy owners of Boston Unity Partners, she’s not only handing the keys to billionaires – she’s giving them the whole car. And she’s sticking us with the bill.”

Timeline of White Stadium Cost Increases

• July 2023, a proposed 10,000 seat soccer stadium is announced with a group of investors to rehabilitate White Stadium. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $30 million with a taxpayer price tag of $10.5 million including “appropriate additional funds after the design is complete.” 
• July 2024, the BPDA board approves the project for which the city will spend  $50 million. Mayor Wu commits to paying for half of the project costs.
• December 2024, citing  “design changes, driven by community feedback, as well as construction industry inflation,” the city announces the taxpayer share of the project will be $91 million.

Questions for Mayor Wu:

• Taxpayers holding the bag: When did Mayor Wu know that this project was going to cost $170 million and why didn’t she tell the public? When did her advisors know? Taxpayers deserve answers for why the cost of this project has exploded by 260% while O’Bryant and Madison Park get nothing.
• Secretive process: What other conversations are taking place between the City and Boston Unity Partners that taxpayers should know about?
• Beer gardens & restaurants: What do high school students need with a 10,000-seat stadium? Or a beer garden? Or a year-round high-end restaurant?
• What about BPS? Why is Mayor Wu prioritizing a 10,000-seat stadium when, for half the price, you could refurbish White Stadium for the exclusive use of BPS kids as well as rehab Madison Park and O’Bryant? 
• Cutting trees & razing green space: Why is Mayor Wu razing acres of green space in the heart of an environmental justice community? After decades of disinvestment, this community deserves better than a mayor that razes their land and gives it away to private interests.

Kraft called Mayor Wu out for her inability to manage city finances when she lets a big project increase almost twenty-fold in costs in the midst of a budget crisis.

“What you say you will do as a leader—and what you end up delivering—matters. If you say you are fiscally responsible, you need to actually be fiscally responsible and write a budget that helps the city live within its means. If you say rebuilding schools and investing in environmental justice communities are priorities, you need to actually make them priorities. And if you say you are a transparent leader who is accountable to the taxpayer, you need to act like one,” added Kraft. “The public deserves answers.” 

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As Mayor, Josh would:

1. Stop any further demolition at White Stadium.  
2. Hire an outside expert to conduct a baseline study focused on the needs of Boston Public Students that would determine the maximum number of seats needed for BPS games, the amenities needed by BPS student athletes – locker rooms, medical/training rooms, a comparison of the difference between turf vs natural grass, and community access to facility and determine what that would cost.
3. Cancel the current lease until the use study is completed, and if the legal process allows for the project to go forward, renegotiate a new lease that requires Boston Unity Partners to pay for 100% of the costs for excess seats, the beer garden, the 12-month-a-year restaurant and any other amenities that do not serve BPS kids.

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Media contact:

Eileen O’Connor

eileen@joshforboston.com

617-806-6999