Boston Legacy FC is a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

club based in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts. It plans to enter the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL), in the top flight of the United States league system, in 2026. Its home ground will be at a renovated

White Stadium White Stadium, formally the George R. White Memorial Stadium, is a 10,519-seat stadium in Boston, Massachusetts, that was constructed between 1947 and 1949 for the use of Boston Public Schools athletics. It is located in Franklin Park (Boston), F ...

, though the club plans to play its inaugural season at

Gillette Stadium Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States. The stadium is southwest of Downtown Boston and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and admi ...

Foxborough, Massachusetts Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, it is about southwest of Boston. The population was 18,618 at the 2020 census. "Foxborough" is the official spelling of th ...

during its redevelopment.

History

Boston's second professional women's soccer club, the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

, were founded in 2009, and competed in

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

Women's Premier Soccer League Elite The Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL Elite) was a women's semi-professional soccer league created by the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) to support the sport in the United States, both from continued interest by WPSL teams in profes ...

, and the

. The club folded in 2017 due to a limited fanbase, with reports generally blaming a lack of marketing. Boston Unity Soccer Partners put forward bids during the 2024 and 2026 rounds of National Women's Soccer League expansion – ultimately winning the latter. The club originally unveiled their name as BOS Nation FC in October 2024 – an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of '' Bostonian'', and a play on ''boss''. Their branding was launched with a marketing campaign that sported the

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...

, ''"there are too many balls in this town"''. While its intent was to highlight the patriarchal nature of

sports in Boston Boston, Massachusetts, is home to several major professional sports franchises. They include the Red Sox (baseball), the Celtics (basketball, in the state where the sport was invented), and the Bruins (ice hockey). The New England Patriots ...

, it was criticized by the

LGBTQ community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individu ...

transphobic Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social ...

, and by others for focusing on male athletes as opposed to highlighting Boston's women's sports. Days after its branding launch, the club issued a public apology, and immediately discontinued the campaign. Criticism of the club's branding also led to a rebranding, which was unveiled as Boston Legacy FC in March 2025. The team will begin in the 2026 season, alongside a new to-be-named Denver team, which will bring the NWSL to a total of 16 teams.

Stadium

The team will play home matches in

Franklin Park, Boston Franklin Park, a partially wooded parkland bordered by the Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts, is maintained by the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department. It is Boston's biggest park and the ...

. The City of

planned to commit up to $50 million towards the stadium's renovation, and BUSP pledged $30 million. The stadium is to be the first venue in the country which will be home to a major league sports franchise and the athletic program of a public high school. The stadium will be shared with

Boston Public Schools Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts. Leadership The district is led by a superintendent, hired by t ...

track and soccer. American football matches will be prohibited at the field during the professional soccer season, although high school football will be played on the field for playoffs and

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

games. The renovation of

sparked some dispute with community groups, and was met with a lawsuit from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. The Conservancy sued both the City of Boston and the club's development partners, but were denied a

preliminary injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable reme ...

for their claims. The presiding judge, Justice Matthew Nestor, stated that they were "not persuaded" of the Conservancy's claims that the renovations would cause irreparable harm in its violation of state law. In early April, the judge held that the renovation was not in violation of the law and that the project could proceed. The renovations will not be completed in time for the first season, and in May 2025 the team announced they would play their full first season at

Organization

Boston Legacy FC are owned by Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP), an all-female ownership group led by Jennifer Epstein, Stephanie Connaughton, Ami Danoff, and

Anna Palmer Anna Palmer (born May 25, 1982) is an American political journalist based in Washington, D.C. She has been the co-founder and CEO of '' Punchbowl News'' since January 2021, and the host of the related ''Daily Punch'' Podcast. She was previously ...

. BUSP's

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...

s include

Aly Raisman Alexandra Rose Raisman (born May 25, 1994) is an American retired artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 " Fierce Five" and 2016 " Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective ...

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Irene Banks (; February 10, 1974) is an American actress, director, and producer. She is known for playing chaperone Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and an ICCA commentator in the ''Pitch Perfect'' ...

, Brad and Tracy Stevens, and

Linda Henry Linda Valiris (''née'' Henry; born 24 August 1959) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Yvonne Atkins in the ITV prison drama series '' Bad Girls'' and Shirley Carter in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. She had previously ...

. Former

FC Barcelona Femení Futbol Club Barcelona Femení, commonly referred to as Barça Femení () or simply Barça, is a Spanish professional women's association football, women's football team based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is the women's football section of FC Barc ...

recruitment and contract manager Domènec "Domè" Guasch serves as the club's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Team

Filipa Patão is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of Boston Legacy FC.

References

External links