Pols & Politics: Boston’s $325M White Stadium deal could be killed with booze ban

Plans to serve booze at White Stadium’s professional soccer matches in Boston have encountered pushback by critics of the city’s public-private rehab plan, but a ban on alcohol would effectively kill the $325 million project.

Buried in the city’s 321-page lease agreement with Boston Legacy FC, the National Women’s Soccer League team set to play home games at the rebuilt stadium, is a provision that allows the team to walk away from the deal should the city’s Licensing Board choose not to grant its application for a liquor license.

“If … both the Boston Licensing Board and the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission issue a final non-appealable decision in which the applicable entity refuses to grant such a liquor license (for White Stadium) … then the tenant may terminate both this lease and the stadium usage agreement,” the lease states.

“Upon delivery of such termination notice, the parties’ rights, responsibilities, and the obligations under this lease and the stadium usage agreement shall be null and void, and without recourse to either party,” the lease states.

Boston Legacy FC has signed a 10-year lease agreement with the city to share use of Franklin Park’s White Stadium with Boston Public Schools student-athletes.

The team is paying more than $190 million for its half of the stadium renovations, with the city’s $135 million half of the costs paid for by taxpayers.

The Boston City Council defeated a resolution last month, by a 9-3 vote, that sponsors Ed Flynn and Julia Mejia said sought to uphold state law restricting alcohol at public school facilities.

Mejia and Flynn argued that booze should not be sold during professional soccer matches and other private events held at Franklin Park’s White Stadium, given that it is a city-owned public school facility.

“The Boston Public School policy is clear and the state law is clear,” Mejia said last month. “Alcohol is not permitted on public school premises, except under very limited circumstances, which this situation does not meet.”

Most councilors disagreed, including Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who called the rule “antiquated” and said it was not applicable in this instance.

“I think generally this is an antiquated viewpoint of how we regulate alcohol,” Coletta Zapata said last month. “It ignores how Boston responsibly balances public use, economic opportunity and community activation. We can’t pretend that a blanket prohibition is the only pathway forward, especially in a shared-use facility like White Stadium.”

The Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of park neighbors suing the city to try to block the project have also argued that alcohol should be banned at the facility. The lawsuit, which alleges the professional soccer stadium use would illegally privatize public parkland, is under consideration by the state Supreme Judicial Court.

— Gayla Cawley

No boos this time

Not sure what to make of Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll tossing out the ceremonial first pitch the other night at Fenway Park while the governor was away in California. The stands were still filling up, but nobody seemed to be voicing their political feelings. Is that good? As the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity.