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The Boston NWSL expansion franchise set to start play next year will no longer be called BOS Nation FC, the team announced Friday.
A name change had been expected ever since the club announced late last year it would reevaluate its BOS Nation FC name following a rollout of the name in October that drew immediate backlash.
The team says it arrived at the decision to rename the club after “extensive conversations with fans, community members, and stakeholders and several months of surveys, research, and quantitative analysis.”
The rollout was centered around a hype video entitled “Too Many Balls,” meant as a cheeky critique of Boston’s male-dominated professional sports scene. But the video was ripped as transphobic and disrespectful to the other women’s pro teams in the region.
The team quickly apologized for the video and the marketing strategy, and later said it would reconsider the BOS Nation name after holding feedback and listening sessions with fans as well as other local professional women’s teams and being “engaged in more than 50 conversations with athletes, creatives, marketers, advocacy organizations, and community members across the intersection of sports, equity, and inclusion.”
Despite confirmation of the name change on its website (which is still bosnation.com), the team is still holding a “last call” sale for BOS Nation merchandise “before it’s gone.”
Among the apparel items for sale are t-shirts, sweatshirts, beanies, hats and even an “official league unisex corduroy jacket” for $150 — all of which display the now-defunct name and logo.
The team said it would announce its new name “in the next few weeks” with updated logo materials to follow later this summer.
“The club extends our heartfelt thanks to our supporters, whose passionate voices we deeply value — not just for their unwavering support but also for their honest and critical feedback,” controlling owner Jennifer Epstein said in a statement.
“We could not have completed this process without your input. We aim to build a lasting legacy that makes all our fans feel welcome, connected, and proud to wear our colors and cheer our name for generations to come.”
The stormy rollout and eventual withdrawal of its initial name is just one of two main controversies that have dogged the Boston NWSL expansion team.
Boston Globe CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry withdrew her minority investment in the club last month as the team’s plan to renovate and lease publicly owned White Stadium in Southwest Boston continues to draw critics.
Renovation costs have more than doubled from their initial estimates and Boston’s city operations chief testified before the city council in January that the half of the costs that will be covered by public funds had ballooned to over $100 million. A lawsuit seeking to kill the project is set to go to trial on Tuesday after a judge refused in March 2024 to grant an injunction halting work on the stadium.
Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft (son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft) has made the stadium project a key issue in his campaign against Incumbent Michelle Wu, who is running for re-election. Kraft recently called the bidding process on the White Stadium project “secretive and rigged.”
The Boston Unity Sports Fund, which controls the Boston NWSL team, says in a fact sheet that the club is covering over 50% of White Stadium renovation costs in exchange for less than 5% of its use (calculated hourly), with the majority of use reserved for community and Boston Public Schools student access, along with an additional pledge to invest $5 million over ten years in “local organizations and initiatives.”
“White Stadium construction is proceeding at an accelerated timeline in preparation for our inaugural season in 2026,” Boston Unity Sports Group said in a statement to Front Office Sports in February. “As indicated by the judge’s ruling last March, there is no legal basis to challenge this public-private-community partnership to revitalize the stadium. We remain confident that there is no legal foundation for this case and are proud to be part of a project that honors the legacy of White Stadium, ensuring it will continue to be a vital part of our community for future generations.”
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