White Stadium Renovations Force Boston Legacy FC to Play Inaugural Season at Gillette Stadium

Boston's new professional National Women's Soccer League team will play home games during their inaugural 2026 season at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

A Boston Legacy FC club spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday, May 21, with the Boston Herald about the decision to switch venues given the ongoing rehabilitation work at the team's home stadium, White Stadium. 

“After nearly two years of community process, including more than 70 public meetings, a landmark lease agreement, and a clear victory at trial, White Stadium construction is well underway, but construction will not be finished by March of 2026. For this reason, we have selected Gillette Stadium as an alternate site for 2026 to ensure the consistent, high-level experience our fans and players deserve,” said club spokesperson Steph Yang in a media statement.

The club's decision to change venues comes several days after the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of 20 people who want to block the city's White Stadium soccer arrangement filed an appeal to a Suffolk Superior Court judge's decision in April to throw out the lawsuit after a three-day trial on the matter.

Plaintiffs in the litigation are against a pro soccer team using the stadium, which the Boston Legacy FC would share with Boston Public Schools student-athletes through a 10-year lease agreement with the City of Boston.

“This news comes as a relief for the communities around Franklin Park who have been alarmed by the profit-driven rush to convert White Stadium into a professional sports complex,” Melissa Hamel, a Jamaica Plain resident and a plaintiff named in the lawsuit, said.

The Boston Legacy FC is owned by Boston Unity Soccer Partners, an all-female ownership group that includes Boston Globe CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry as an investor. Last February, Pizzuti Henry announced she was working to back out of the investor group.