Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft said White Stadium renovation costs for taxpayers have ballooned from $10.5 million to more than $170 million, a claim he says is backed up by internal city estimates for the public–private pro soccer plan. The city’s half of the rehab project is now budgeted at $172 million, according to internal City Hall estimates cited by Kraft and obtained by the Herald on Monday. The prior estimate for the entire plan was roughly $200 million, with costs shared by the City of Boston and Boston Unity Soccer Partners. The $172 million figure is also nearly double what the stadium renovation is budgeted for in Boston’s latest five-year capital plan, which lists the city’s cost at $91 million — an amount that in itself was nearly twice the taxpayer estimate that was debated for months, $50 million, when it was revealed by city officials last December. “The mayor insisted that $91 million was, and I quote, ‘in the ballpark,” Kraft said at a press conference he convened Monday at Franklin Park’s White Stadium. “Just two months ago, when asked about the impact of Donald Trump’s terrible tariffs policy on this project, she assured us that Boston would miss the worst of it. “At a moment when taxpayer dollars are scarce and there are so many pressing needs — from housing to schools to tax relief for seniors — why is Mayor Wu spending hundreds of millions in taxpayer money for the benefit of a private interest?” he said, adding, “This is a catastrophic failure of city management.” When the public-private stadium project was first proposed in 2023, the city’s budget for the renovation was $10.5 million, with its for-profit partner, Boston Unity Soccer Partners, set to kick in $30 million. Later, the city and BUSP agreed on a $50 million-apiece split for the project that grew to roughly $100 million apiece last December. Wu said at the time that there could be further cost overruns, and that design changes, based on community input, had caused the taxpayer tab to grow from $50 million to $91 million — a figure that was revealed during a meeting of the city’s under-the-radar public facilities commission last November. Now, Kraft is saying the city has revised its estimated budget for the project again — to “roughly $180 million” — without telling taxpayers. “From the outset, the mayor has tried to keep everything about this project a secret,” Kraft said. “If the $180 million figure isn’t correct, Mayor Wu, who is running the least transparent City Hall in generations, needs to stop hiding the ball and tell taxpayers what the actual cost is going to be.” The Herald has reached out to Mayor Michelle Wu’s office and her campaign for confirmation on the latest internal city estimates. The mayor’s office didn’t dispute Kraft’s numbers, but did provide a breakdown of the city’s prior $91 million estimate. “The city is still in the process of completing the design plans for both the East and West grandstands, which must be completed before going to bid, and incorporating the impacts of new federal policies,” a Wu City Hall spokesperson said in a statement. “Boston Unity Soccer Partners is responsible for more than half of the construction project and will pay the full cost of operating and maintaining the facility during the entire term of the lease.” Wu’s campaign reacted to Kraft’s criticism. “Josh Kraft keeps attacking White Stadium to distract from his family’s massive conflict of interest and their refusal to negotiate a fair deal with the people of Boston to build the Kraft Stadium,” the Wu campaign said in a statement, referring to the city’s tense negotiations with the Kraft Group for a community mitigation plan to offset traffic and parking impacts for the Krafts’ proposed Everett pro soccer stadium. “The professional women’s soccer organization has signed a lease to contribute more than $100 million in private investment into the public BPS facility of White Stadium — which will remain controlled and used by BPS more than 345 days per year — while the Krafts have offered $750,000 to offset impacts from building their private soccer stadium,” the Wu campaign said. “More than 75 years after White Stadium was built, it needs a full renovation to serve BPS students and the people of Boston, and we will not allow billionaires to determine what gets built in our city. Boston is not for sale.” According to a document obtained by the Herald, construction costs are budgeted at $139.14 million, with another $13.9 million kicked in for contingency. Design fees exceed $9.2 million, procurement costs are $3 million, and a project contingency north of $6 million brings the city’s budgeted renovation to $172 million. The city also expects to pay an additional $19.85 million over the two-year construction period, based on an 8% inflation rate, per the document. The new professional women’s soccer team, Boston Legacy FC, is set to share use of a revamped White Stadium with Boston Public Schools student-athletes. Wu has argued that the plan will result in greater usage for BPS student-athletes and the community, and fix a dilapidated stadium after decades of disinvestment. The project has divided the community, however, and led to a lawsuit that seeks to stop the public–private plan. A Suffolk Superior Court judge in April ruled against the lawsuit filed by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of 20 park neighbors, who allege that a pro soccer use constitutes an illegal privatization of public parkland. The plaintiffs have appealed the court’s decision. The private soccer group announced that they were dealt a setback of their own last month with the revelation that White Stadium renovations won’t be completed in time for its expansion team’s inaugural season with the National Women’s Soccer League. Rather than play at White Stadium next March, the team will be playing temporarily at Gillette Stadium, owned by Kraft’s father, Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots. Boston’s new NWSL team says that it will begin playing its home games at White Stadium in March 2027. Josh Kraft and other project opponents argued Monday that despite the ongoing teardown and rebuild, there’s still time to reverse course and move forward with a high-school-only facility, at a fraction of the cost. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy commissioned a study that estimated a high-school only stadium rehab would cost roughly $29 million. “It would have been better than this, and it would have saved the tax-paying people their money,” Renee Stacey Welch, a Jamaica Plain resident and plaintiff, told the Herald. “Many of us grew up in this park and we were not able to be part of this discussion, to say what we wanted to see. “We weren’t able to have a seat at the table. It was, this is done and that is it. So take this by the spoonful, eat it and shut up. That is how I think this administration is treating us,” Welch said. The Boston branch of the NAACP, a leading national civil rights group, on Monday called for an “immediate halt” to pro soccer plans for the stadium, while expressing support for the community’s alternative proposal. Other criticism has revolved around what Kraft called a “secretive process,” while flanked by community members holding “bag job” signs. He cited internal city records, first reported by the Herald in February, that show Wu administration officials were communicating with Boston Unity Soccer Partners about potentially rehabbing White Stadium for a new NWSL team, long before the city publicly released a request for proposals for the rehab project. When the RFP was released, Boston Unity was the only party to submit a bid. “If you’ve paid any attention at all to this campaign, you know that Mayor Wu regularly takes to the stump to criticize those who ‘hand over the keys to billionaires,’” Kraft said. “Some think she’s talking about me, by the way, but this is what they call projection, pure and simple. “Because when it comes to White Stadium and the wealthy owners of Boston Unity Soccer Partners, she’s not only handing over the keys to billionaires,” Kraft said. “She’s giving them the whole car — and she’s sticking us with the bill.”