The City of Boston announced plans to welcome the 15th team in the National Women’s Soccer League, along with renovations of what will be the team’s home stadium, on Sept. 19 at a press conference at City Hall Plaza.
The press conference was conducted by Mayor Michelle Wu and members of the Boston Unity Soccer Partners, which is an all-female core ownership group, according to the NWSL website.
“Thank you for believing in what is possible for the young people of our City and for bringing us all together to make sure that we could go after this opportunity in a way that only Boston would, with full hearts and a lot of excitement,” Wu said at the press conference.
The ownership group, which has invested capital from 95% women and 40% investors of color, partnered with Wu and the City of Boston to make this new team possible, said Jennifer Epstein, controlling manager for Boston Unity Soccer Partners.
“In a complex world, sports can really be a connector of communities,” Epstein said. “I think that’s really fundamentally part of our ‘why’ as an ownership group.”
The team will start playing in 2026, giving Boston time to renovate and improve White Stadium. The stadium, located in Franklin Park, is currently used by Boston Public Schools for sporting events. The stadium has also been home to concerts and world track championships in the past, Wu said.
Its location played a role in the selection process for a stadium.
“We wanted it to be in the heart of the city,” said Anna Palmer, a member of the ownership group. “It was really important that if you’re bringing women’s soccer back to Boston, it is for all of Boston.”
For decades, the stadium has been “neglected” and not served its “full potential” for the student athletes who currently use it, Wu said. These renovations, though not specifically announced yet, aim to transform White Stadium, not only for the professional players, but also for student athletes.
“To be a part of this was the idea that they were really going to invest and renovate and make [White Stadium] world class, not only for the team and the games … but mostly for the kids at [Boston Public Schools],” said Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics and an investor in the new NWSL team.
In addition to his role as a Boston sports fan, Stevens also commented on his experience as a father.
“It’s really important for us in anything we’re doing to give our kids something to really aspire to and to look to,” Stevens said. “There’s no better feeling than to be a part of a group where our 14-year-old daughter can go and watch her idols on the pitch.”
Boston has had a professional women’s soccer team twice before, under the name of the Breakers. The team played from 2001 to 2003 before falling apart after insufficient revenues. The team was started again in 2009 and played until 2018 before they were disbanded, according to the NWSL website.
Despite speculation surrounding both collapses of the team in prior years, Epstein said she believes the “landscape around women’s professional sports and women’s soccer has changed over the last five years.”
“The level of investment is exponentially larger, and the opportunities for revenue are very different now,” Epstein said to the media after the press conference. “I think it’s the right moment, it’s the right city and we’re putting together all the right components to make this really successful now.”
Kristine Lilly, a player on the U.S. Women’s National Team for 23 years and an investor for the new team, moved to Boston in 2001 to play on the Boston Breakers when it first began. She said she looks forward to the impact the team is going to have on the city and on the young athletes in the city.
“When you have [soccer] right in your backyard, it’s something that has a big, more impactful message to [young women athletes],” Lilly said. “It’s just a good time for women’s soccer.”
As plans for the team and renovations of White Stadium continue, the city hopes to see changes in women’s sports throughout Boston.
“Soccer is the world’s most popular game,” Wu said to the media after the press conference. “It brings together people from every culture, every background and for us, as Americans, as Bostonians, as huge sports fans, to really embrace that and ensure that we are bringing women’s professional sports into our City’s constellation of stars, is going to have a huge impact.”
