Boston’s controversial White Stadium rehab will not be completed in time for the next National Women’s Soccer League season, forcing the city’s new professional team to play their 2026 home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. A Boston Legacy FC club spokesperson confirmed the decision to temporarily switch venues on Wednesday, emphasizing the new team’s commitment to playing at White Stadium upon completion of its more than $200 million public-private redevelopment of the facility with the City of Boston. “Boston Legacy’s home is White Stadium,” club spokesperson Steph Yang said in a statement. “With the 2026 NWSL season beginning in 10 months, Boston Legacy FC will play its inaugural season at Gillette Stadium before the club moves into its permanent home at White Stadium in 2027. “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.” The club’s decision to switch venues, first reported by the Boston Globe, comes days after the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of 20 neighbors seeking to block the city’s White Stadium soccer deal filed an appeal to a Suffolk Superior Court judge’s decision in April to toss their lawsuit, after a three-day trial. The club is owned by Boston Unity Soccer Partners, an all-female ownership group that includes Boston Globe CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry as an investor. Pizzuti Henry announced last February that she was working to leave the investor group. The plaintiffs’ appeal, which was lambasted by Mayor Michelle Wu’s office last Friday, argues that while the judge ruled that the White Stadium parcel itself isn’t protected parkland under the state Constitution, the surrounding parkland in Franklin Park that will be impacted by the project falls under that category. Thus, the plaintiffs say, the project should be subject to further review before it is allowed to go forward. The delay in use of White Stadium for the new pro soccer team was cheered by the plaintiffs who oppose a pro soccer use of the facility, which the new NWSL team is set to share with Boston Public Schools student-athletes under 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 plaintiff in the lawsuit, said. “We hope that more time will allow for a reevaluation of the flawed plan to build an 11,000-seat sports and entertainment complex in the middle of a park, with no parking and limited transit access.” Fellow plaintiff Renee Stacey Welch, who lives in Egleston Square urged the club to make permanent the temporary switch in venues for its home games. “Boston Legacy’s decision to play their first season at Gillette points to a much better way forward for everyone in Boston,” Welch said. “A different permanent home for the soccer team, and a fully-public White Stadium for the exclusive benefit of Boston Public Schools students and the public. “There is still time to pursue that win-win,” she said. Yang, the club spokesperson, said the NWSL expansion team is committed to White Stadium. She pointed to the deal the club’s ownership group has struck with the city, which will see it contribute more than half the costs of the more than $200 million public-private plan. Boston taxpayers will pay roughly $100 million for the city’s half of the project, and counting, with the Wu administration not ruling out further cost overruns. The project has split the community, with the taxpayer tab, which has doubled from initial projections, being a source of contention among critics. “We have signed a non-binding agreement with the City of Boston, are contributing over half the cost of the renovation, and have committed to spending at least 50% of those dollars with local, minority- and women-owned businesses,” Yang said. “As part of our lease with the city, we will cover the full cost to operate and maintain White Stadium for decades, as a home for Boston Public Schools athletics and a new public resource in Franklin Park,” she added. The new pro women’s team will share use of Gillette Stadium with the New England Revolution, a professional men’s soccer team owned by Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and father to mayoral candidate Josh Kraft, who opposes the city’s White Stadium plan. Robert Kraft is seeking to move the New England Revolution to a proposed new stadium in Everett, but his company’s negotiations over a community mitigation agreement with the City of Boston have reached a standstill and gone to mediation, a spokesperson for Mayor Wu said in a recent statement to the Herald. Wu’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the White Stadium delay. Josh Kraft has said he would recuse himself from any negotiations regarding his family’s Everett stadium deal with the City of Boston, should he be elected mayor. “Gillette has a storied history as a venue for the 2003 Women’s World Cup and will host 2026 Men’s World Cup matches,” Yang said. “It is a world-class facility that fulfills NWSL requirements for field specifications, capacity and broadcast capabilities, and will provide a thrilling gameday experience for our fans in 2026. “Construction continues,” she said, “and we look forward to welcoming our fans home to White Stadium in 2027.”