A former Wellington Sports Academy employee is suing the academy and its founder, former NFL player Jon Bostic, for $143,000 in back wages.
This is not the only legal issue involving the sports complex in the village of Wellington.
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The lawsuit comes a month after the Wellington Sports Academy filed its own lawsuit against the village of Wellington. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract by the village, among other claims. The lawsuit also caps an ever-widening rift between the village and the sports academy, which was founded by a hometown sports star.
What’s happening at the Wellington Sports Academy? Here are five things to know.
Wellington Sports Academy is a $36 million athletic training complex for students in grades 6 through 12 at the public Village Park at 11700 Pierson Road.
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Led by former NFL player Jon Bostic, the facility opened with the promise of offering an elite coaching staff for students aspiring to play sports in college or even the professional leagues. Bostic is a former Florida Gators and NFL linebacker who grew up in Wellington and attended Palm Beach Central High School.
Bostic said the academy’s purpose is to offer children and teen athletes the resources to get noticed by college recruits.
Four years ago, the village struck a deal with Bostic to create the sports facility. Former pro baseball player Devon Travis, friends with Bostic since the seventh grade, also is part of the coaching staff.
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“Village Park is where I grew up playing multiple sports,” Bostic said during the facility’s groundbreaking in 2024. “Now I’m coming back because I know a lot of these kids in the community, and I want to give back to them.”
Officials with the village of Wellington said they were enthusiastic about creating a sports facility that would benefit residents and the community while helping youth and amateur athletes. They also hoped the facility would transform Wellington into a sports tourism destination.
A 2022 agreement gave the academy use of Village Park, including its parking and ball fields. To help finance construction of a new $36 million sports facility at the park, the village also issued $33 million in bonds.
The arrangement marked the village’s first public-private partnership. The school opened in the fall of 2025.
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Less than a year later, in July, Andrew Foster of Fort Pierce filed a Palm Beach County Circuit Court lawsuit against Bostic and the Wellington Sports Academy. The lawsuit was filed four months after Foster said he resigned from the school because he wasn’t paid for two years’ worth of work.
Foster, a former classmate of Bostic at Palm Beach Central, alleges he is owed $143,000 in back wages. According to court records, the promised wages were detailed in an email from Bostic to Foster in an August 2025 email.
“You take somebody at their word, you put in the sweat equity, promises are made, and none of them came to be,” said Arthur Schofield, Foster’s lawyer. “At the end of the day, my client is holding this bag of nothing.”
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Joshua Dubin, a lawyer for Bostic and the Wellington Sports Academy, called Foster “disgruntled former employee” and said his claims “are completely meritless.”
Foster’s lawsuit marks the second time in the past two months that Wellington Sports Academy has wound up in court.
In June, the academy’s parent company sued the village, alleging breach of contract, among other claims.
The Palm Beach County Circuit Court lawsuit alleged the village was improperly limiting the academy’s use of the site’s sports fields and parking spots at Village Park, in violation of the contract. The village disputes the claims.
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Both sides also disagree about whether Wellington Sports Academy is paying what it owes on a licensing fee that makes payment on the $33 million bond.
The sports academy says it is paying what is owed, but the village says some money incorrectly is being held back.
Both lawsuits remain pending.
Dubin described the academy as a hybrid program. Students in classrooms are taught by a variety of online education programs. One of those programs is offered free by the Florida Virtual School.
Instructors employed by the Wellington Sports Academy are present, and on-site tutoring is available for students, he said.
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Wellington Sports Academy also accepts Florida’s voucher program. This program provides about $8,000 in taxpayer money per student per year for attendance at a nonpublic school, such as a private or charter school.
It’s not clear how many children at Wellington Sports Academy use the state voucher system. It’s also not clear how many children are taught at Wellington Sports Academy through the free Florida Virtual School, or a fee-based online school.
Dubin said Wellington Sports Academy doesn’t provide annual costs of attendance because services are customized for each student. But the academy’s baseball brochure said monthly tuition is $2,000.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Ex-NFL pro in war with Wellington, ex-employee over sports academy
