Donovan McNabb and the State of Football
Boston is back in women’s pro soccer — at a time of accelerating growth for the NWSL.
The league, Boston mayor Michelle Wu, and the incoming Boston Unity Soccer Partners ownership group have scheduled a Tuesday afternoon press conference to announce an expansion club that will begin play in 2026.
Boston Unity Soccer Partners reportedly will pay an expansion fee of $53 million, the same amount paid by Bay Area FC to enter the league, and also plans to spend about that much to renovate White Stadium in Boston’s Franklin Park, develop a separate training facility, and support operating costs.
The name for the new team has not yet been disclosed.
The former Boston Breakers played in the NWSL between 2013-17, routinely struggled both on and off the field, and failed to find success in three different home facilities during that time. But six years later, the NWSL is riding a historic wave of attendance growth, franchise value escalation for existing clubs, and an overall rise in prominence for women’s soccer, both domestically and internationally.
“There’s a lot of attention on women’s sports right now, a global rise in fandom in not just women’s sports but in particular around women’s soccer,” Jennifer Epstein, controlling partner of Boston Unity Soccer Partners, told the Boston Globe. “It’s a great moment in time. There’s a lot of momentum in the league.”
For many weeks, Boston was strongly expected to receive one of the NWSL’s next expansion franchises. Epstein leads a group whose invested capital is almost entirely from women.
