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{shortcode-8c0dd475ea3269f67b1a4d37d27db5cc232a1fc2}hen Ami Kuan Danoff ’84 overheard Stephanie Connaughton ’87 chatting at a Red Sox game about the potential for a National Women’s Soccer League expansion bid for Boston, she did not wait for an introduction.

“I immediately butted in,” Danoff said, “I turned around and said ‘Oh — I’m interested.’”

This moment of spontaneity led to a partnership, and to their roles as part of the all-female ownership group behind Boston Legacy Football Club, the city’s newest professional sports team and a major step forward for women’s sports in the city.

With the team set to begin league play in 2026, Danoff and Connaughton are helping to guide its founding, combining a shared Harvard history with decades of experience in marketing, investing, and innovation. While neither had experience working in professional sports, both were drawn to the project for the same reason — the importance of seeing women’s soccer represented in Boston.

“We have a lot of purpose. We’re going to have an impact on the city of Boston and on the National Women's Soccer League,” Connaughton said. “Boston is going to arrive, and we are really committed to that.”

From Hurlbut to the Boardroom

Though they didn’t know each other as undergraduates, Connaughton and Danoff started their Harvard journeys in the same dorm, Hurlbut Hall. From there, their paths diverged.

Connaughton studied economics, lived in Eliot House, and walked on to the women’s lacrosse team. After college, she worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company, earning her business degree from The Wharton School before spending 15 years at Gillete, where she worked in marketing, leading the development of the Venus razor and laser hair removal technologies.

Danoff took a different route. A Visual and Environmental Studies — now Art, Film, and Visual Studies — concentrator, Danoff spent less time on the field and more in the Carpenter Center, focusing on architecture. She pivoted towards finance after graduation, working first at Fidelity, then managing international equity portfolios at Putnam. After earning a master’s degree in finance from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she became an active angel investor, focusing on early-stage tech and science ventures.

Their professional worlds began to intersect as the two got more involved in Boston’s startup scene, particularly around women-led ventures. So, when the opportunity to bid for a NWSL expansion team surfaced, it felt like a natural extension of their interests.

“It was like a whole-body yes for me,” Connaughton said. “It combined my interest in gender equity and sports with really being a startup, which is something that I love.”

Reflecting on their Harvard experiences, both women credit the university with helping them develop the confidence and self-reliance to navigate complex and highly-important projects like this.

Danoff pointed to the idea of creative independence fostered in Harvard’s arts and design programs.

“It’s one of these fields where you do the projects on your own, but you are surrounded by other people. So there’s a lot of cooperation, but you’re doing your own thing. I think that taught me something about working with other people, but also pursuing your own thing.”

For Connaughton, the value of hard work was the most important life lesson she learned at Harvard.

“The thing that Harvard taught me was that everything worth doing is hard,” Connaughton said. “And there’s joy in doing things that are hard.”

Rebuilding a Lost Legacy

The NWSL’s expansion into Boston marks the return of a storied, though troubled at times, history in women’s soccer.

The city was previously home to the Boston Breakers, a founding team of Women’s Professional Soccer, and later a part of the NWSL. Launched in 2007, the Breakers featured stars like Kristine Lilly, the player — male or female — in the history of international soccer with the most appearances at international competitions, and Maren Meinart, a 2003 World Cup Champion, and played an important role in developing women’s soccer in the United States.

However, the team struggled financially, eventually ceasing operations in 2018, leaving Boston without a professional women’s team.

Recognizing the city’s passionate fanbase and sports culture, the NWSL awarded an expansion franchise to Boston Unity Soccer Partners in 2023. For Connaughton and Danoff, this wasn’t just a business opportunity, but a chance to write a new chapter in that legacy.

Choosing the Name

In October of 2024, the team launched as BOS Nation FC, but received national backlash for the name and accompanying ad campaign. As a result, the name was retracted and the team launched as Boston Legacy FC on March 26th after analyzing over 500 name suggestions from fans and brand professionals.

“Especially in the Harvard context, legacy is something you inherit, or it’s a privilege that you didn’t earn that would pass to you,” Danoff said. “But what we found was that outside of the ‘Harvard bubble,’ people think of legacy as something much more active, something they build to pass on to people who come after, which is much more positive.”

The name also encapsulates the team’s long-term ambitions.

“It’s a collective action. It’s about building a shared legacy for the future and honoring the past,” Connaughton said. “It isn’t colonial, but it does honor the fact that Boston is sort of the ‘legacy city’ of the United States.”

A Home in Franklin Park

One of the most ambitious parts of the project is the proposed stadium in Franklin Park, part of Boston’s historical Emerald Necklace, an 1,100 acre chain of parks and waterways.

The venue, still moving through development and community approval processes, is envisioned by Boston Unity Soccer Partners to be a shared space, hosting both professional sports matches and high school events for the Boston Public Schools system.

The site was a deliberate choice. Both Danoff and Connaughton stress the importance of integrating the stadium into a living, breathing part of the city, not creating a stand-alone commercial area.

Dannoff, drawing on her time spent studying architecture at Harvard under John Stilgoe, an expert on the North American built landscape, was particularly interested.

“This is a Boston first, the idea of a public park that is for the good of the citizens of Boston,” Dannoff said. “I was extra excited by the idea that this stadium would be for the students of the Boston Public Schools, for the people in the community, for the women’s soccer community, and for the sports community. It would be like a jewel in Franklin Park.”

The development of White Stadium is a $200 million public-private partnership between the city of Boston and Boston Legacy FC. The stadium will continue to serve Boston Public Schools and offer public access on non-game days, a model intended to ensure community benefit.

However, the project has faced pushback. A lawsuit has sparked ongoing debate about concerns like environmental impact, access equity, and whether local voices were properly included in planning. Opposition to the proposed development has been a point of contention in local politics — including the mayoral election — but there is currently no known delay to the 2026 start date for Boston Legacy FC.

A Startup with Emotion

Both Connaughton and Danoff bring impressive backgrounds in business to Boston Legacy FC, but, as they have discovered, launching a pro sports team comes with a unique set of challenges.

“Having worked at a company that removed hair for a living, it’s not as emotional. It turns out that nobody really cares about a razor name as much as they do about a sports team name,” Connaughton said, “I think that’s emblematic, or that just it typifies how sports is so unique, and what makes sports such a beautiful thing to work in.”

Fans have strong feelings, especially in a city like Boston where sports are an essential part of the culture. That passion extends beyond wins and losses to include names, branding, and stadium locations. Although some may see it as a challenge, for Connaughton and Danoff, it is part of the magic.

“Ultimately, we are stewards of a community asset,” Connaughton said.

As Connaughton and Danoff look forward to Boston Legacy FC’s inaugural season, success for them goes far beyond making the playoffs.

“We want to see fans in merch, fans who don’t even know who we are wearing merch,” Danoff said.

For Connaughton, success is “seeing the community enjoy the stadium, seeing it revitalize and activate in a way that’s positive, as positive as it can be.”

With support from the community, fans, and fellow owners, that vision is well on its way to becoming reality. The journey to get here hasn’t been simple, but this is no challenge to the two.

“For me, success is not a linear thing. It’s a thing that comes in fits and starts,” Connaughton said. “It’s a mindset that has taken them from Harvard Yard to Franklin Park, creating the heart of Boston’s newest team.”

Because for Boston Legacy FC, it’s not just about soccer. It’s about building something that lasts. It’s about building a legacy.

—Staff writer Ally Brown can be reached at ally.brown@thecrimson.com.