$325m stadium court battle forces franchise to settle 40 miles away into temporary home for 2027 season

Boston Legacy FC’s White Stadium move has been pushed back.

The NWSL expansion franchise hoped to be in the renovated 11,000-seat arena by 2027, but a lengthy court battle delayed construction.

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A recent ruling has allowed the project to resume despite opposition from some residents and an environmental nonprofit.

It will not be ready until 2028, however, with an alternative venue lined up.

The Legacy will play at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I., for the 2027 campaign.

“Throughout this journey, we have been guided by a simple belief: Boston deserves a world-class home for professional women’s soccer and youth sports–a home that will shape the future of our club, expand opportunities for Boston Public Schools students, and serve families and communities for generations to come,” owner Jennifer Epstein said in a statement.

“We are deeply grateful to our fans, partners, the City of Boston, and Boston Public Schools for believing in this vision and helping us move it forward.

“With certainty now in place, we are excited to continue building our club and our community together at Centreville Bank Stadium in 2027, while keeping our eyes on what has always been the destination: bringing Boston Legacy FC home to White Stadium.”

The Legacy have been playing at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough and Centreville Park Stadium while a $325 million renovation to bring White Stadium up to minimum requirements is completed.

Epstein described the renovation as a “transformative project,” which will be “worth the wait” despite “taking longer than we all would have wanted.”

NWSL pushes 2027 season to Super Bowl week

It is hoped that the stadium will be ready in fall 2027.

The 2027 season will begin in February — the league’s earliest ever start date and the same week as the Super Bowl.

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“Given the realities of the match calendar in 2027, we tried to think through if we’re playing on Super Bowl weekend, how do we try to be a part of the conversation and not separate the sports world, but just aggregate it more around that area?” Carlin Hudson, the NWSL’s vice president of strategy, told ESPN.

It will expand to 18 teams and could possibly reach a 34-game schedul3 in 2028.

“We will essentially have the ability to rewrite the entire competition structure,” Hudson added.

“I don’t expect us to have drastic changes coming into it, just given that we will figure out how we ingest the two new teams.

“But I think we have the ability to look ahead and rewrite it and work collaboratively with potential media partners and the players’ association and all of our key stakeholders ahead of that.”

Boston is currently 15th of 16th teams in its debut season with five wins from 21 matches.