Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft is part of a succession plan to inherit ownership of the New England Revolution, according to a 2015 legal document that’s recently come to light, a development that stands to complicate his potential role in the city’s Everett soccer stadium negotiations.
The soccer stadium is set to be the new home of the Revolution, which currently shares use of Gillette Stadium with the Patriots.
The 2015 federal court filing lists Josh Kraft as second in line at Kraft Soccer Group LLC, behind his father, Robert Kraft. That creates a potential conflict of interest for the mayoral candidate who has said he would recuse himself from any negotiations related to a potential Everett stadium.
Asked about the succession plan, and whether those business interests would impact Josh Kraft’s potential mayoral tenure, his campaign didn’t answer whether he was still set to inherit the Revolution.
“Josh has no formal position with or role with Kraft Soccer LLC,” Eileen O’Connor, a Kraft campaign spokesperson, said in a statement to the Herald. “At this time, the organization is controlled by one person, Robert Kraft.”
Asked whether that was subject to change in the future, O’Connor didn’t respond.
Billionaire New England Patriots and Revolution owner Robert Kraft has stated that his eldest son, Jonathan Kraft, is likely to be his successor for the Patriots, according to a MassLive report.
The City of Boston is in mediation with the Kraft Group, headed by Robert Kraft, after the two sides failed to reach consensus last month on a community mitigation agreement for traffic and parking impacts the Kraft’s proposed Everett soccer stadium will have on the nearby Charlestown neighborhood.
Josh Kraft, seen as Mayor Michelle Wu’s major challenger in this year’s race, has said he would recuse himself from the city’s Everett stadium negotiations, but his connection to the professional soccer team that’s set to play there may further complicate matters for him.
Since entering the mayoral race, Kraft has been dogged by speculation about whether his wealthy family’s vast business interests in Boston would create at least the appearance of conflicts of interest for him, should he be elected mayor.
State conflict of interest laws prohibit elected officials in Massachusetts from participating in any matter in which their immediate family members have a direct financial interest.
A spokesperson for the Kraft Group previously told the Boston Globe that all of Josh Kraft’s business interests are held in blind trusts and the family does not operate any businesses within Boston itself.
While the Kraft Group has stated that Josh Kraft has no involvement in the Everett stadium deal, the situation has provided fodder for Wu, who says Boston was left out of the stadium planning process by the Krafts and has cited her opponent’s potential conflict of interest in looking to secure a “fair deal” for city residents.
The Kraft family was one of the original founders of Major League Soccer in 1996 and founded the New England Revolution as one of the league’s 10 charter clubs, per the Kraft Group website.
The 2015 federal court filing lists Josh Kraft second in “pre-approved transferees,” behind his father Robert Kraft, and ahead of his late mother Myra Kraft, and brothers, Jonathan, Daniel and David Kraft.
Soccer has been an unusual factor in this year’s mayoral race.
Along with being behind the Everett deal, Robert Kraft was part of the team to bring the FIFA World Cup to the United States in 2026, with some Boston matches set to be played at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium, which Kraft owns.
Josh Kraft has consistently hammered Wu over her administration’s $200 million public-private partnership to rehab Franklin Park’s White Stadium for a new women’s professional soccer team that is set to take the pitch in March 2026, over the objections of part of the community. Taxpayers are set to pay half the tab, currently about $100 million.
In a twist, Boston Unity Soccer Partners, the for-profit group behind the new team, said last month that White Stadium renovations will not be ready in time for the National Women’s Soccer League expansion team’s inaugural season. An agreement has been reached for next year’s home matches to be played at the Kraft-owned Gillette Stadium.
The delay is due, in part, to a lawsuit filed by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of Franklin Park neighbors that seeks to stop the pro soccer plan for White Stadium, which the new NWSL team will share use of with Boston Public Schools student-athletes and the community. A Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the city and Boston Unity after a March trial, but the conservancy and neighbors filed an appeal last month.
There’s also been tension around the World Cup plans, with a city spokesperson telling the Globe last February that Boston officials “strongly disagree with the Kraft family,” over whether state and city taxpayers should pay for some $170 million in upgrades in and around Gillette Stadium required to host the soccer tournament.