Boston officials and the Kraft Group have escalated their battle over a plan to build a soccer stadium for the New England Revolution in Everett.
The city and the company run by Robert Kraft, billionaire owner of the New England Patriots and the Revolution, held dueling press conferences Monday, during which the privately funded project began looking more like a proxy fight in the mayoral battle between incumbent Michelle Wu and Kraft’s son Josh, her chief rival.
Flanked by Charlestown residents and local officials just across the Mystic River from where the stadium would be built, Wu on Monday said the Kraft Group has presented “insufficient” plans on managing traffic, prioritizing a local workforce, limiting noise and addressing climate resilience for the project.
“ To this day, the Kraft Group has provided the city no meaningful technical information,” she said.
The Kraft Group has proposed a stadium to replace the old smokestacks and industrial buildings of a shuttered and contaminated power plant. The stadium would hold up to 25,000 people for New England Revolution soccer games and be surrounded by grassy fields.
The group has met with officials from Everett and Boston repeatedly to discuss ways to mitigate strain on the cities’ infrastructure and neighborhoods. But Wu said the holding company has offered Boston $750,000 — and it’s not enough.
“ It is an unserious proposal: $750,000 is just 1.1% of the $68 million mitigation package that was paid for the Everett Casino Project right nearby years ago,” she said.
A few hours after Wu’s remarks, the Kraft Group called its own press conference, where Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria praised the company for its “game changer” stadium proposal. Brian Bilello, president of the New England Revolution, slammed Wu.
“It’s become abundantly clear to us that despite what progress we’re making in our discussions with the city [of Boston], another version of events that will be told publicly will prioritize politics over getting a fair agreement done in order to complete this project for the benefit of the city of Everett and the region at large,” Bilello said.
Boston’s fight with the Kraft Group is made more complicated by the mayoral contest. Wu said Josh Kraft is a “pre-approved owner-in-waiting for the New England Revolution.”
Kraft denies that; he has said he’s not at all involved in the Everett stadium project, nor part of any succession planning with the Revolution. He said that if he is elected mayor, he would recuse himself from the city’s negotiations on the stadium.
Meanwhile, he’s accused Wu of failing to be transparent on another stadium project — White Stadium in Boston’s Franklin Park. That venue will share space and costs with the Boston Legacy, a professional women’s soccer team. Kraft claims the cost of that rehabilitation, which is opposed by some neighbors, has ballooned to $172 million.
“ Her refusal to disclose just how much this is going to cost may not be surprising, but it sure is disappointing,” he said last week.
Wu has not shared the final cost estimate for the White Stadium rehab project, but said it will come by the end of the year. She says Kraft’s figure reflects a “worst-case scenario,” obtained from an unnamed source inside city hall, that is “highly unlikely.”
This month, Boston officials and the Kraft Group brought in former Massport chief Thomas Glynn as a mediator on the Everett stadium. If all parties involved in the stadium project can’t reach a resolution by the end of this calendar year, the issue will go to arbitration.
This segment aired on August 5, 2025.
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