Revolution, City of Boston Have Hardly Talked About a Soccer Stadium
Around the start of this summer’s World Cup, the City of Boston and the New England Revolution flirted briefly in the press.
The soccer team, owned by New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, has long said it was looking to build a soccer stadium in Greater Boston. In an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Jonathan Kraft, who is president of The Kraft Group, said he was hopeful the Revs could build a stadium in Boston, after rumors for years had put stadium plans in Somerville or Revere.
Later, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said the city was open to the idea.
That appears to have been it, at least so far.
A Freedom of Information request filed with the city by Boston.com through public records service MuckRock turned up…well, it turned up nothing, really. According to the city, there has been no internal or external documented discussion between the Walsh administration and the Revolution about building a soccer-specific stadium in Boston since Walsh’s term began in January.
And indeed, Kate Norton, a spokesperson for the mayor, said there haven’t “been any developments on this beyond the initial interested comments in the press.’’
Reached for further information, a Revolution spokesperson cited an organizational “policy of not commenting or providing updates on the progress.’’
Revolution fans have long clamored for a soccer-specific stadium, which have popped up across Major League Soccer in the last 10 years. The team currently plays its games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, which seats close to 70,000. Even when the Revolution draw an impressive crowd by soccer standards—say, 24,000 or so—it is swallowed up in the sheer size of the stadium.
Meanwhile, soccer’s core demographic is considered to comprise of people in their 20s or 30s, who live close to the city. As such, a stadium with MBTA access is considered crucial for the team’s growth. (The Gillette Stadium commuter rail stop only runs during Patriots games and select events.)
The Revolution are said to have spoken with Somerville and Revere officials in recent years. In Somerville, a stadium was considered a possibility at the quickly-developing Assembly Square project. And in Revere, many have speculated that a stadium could be wrapped into plans to build a casino, if Mohegan Sun wins the Boston-area license to do so (and voters don’t shut down the prospect of any casino getting built anywhere).
However, in June, The Boston Business Journal reported neither city had spoken with the Krafts in about a year. That, in tandem with the remarks of both Kraft and Walsh, fueled speculation that Boston might be the most likely option. But if it is, it’s still a very nascent idea.
In August, the Krafts ponied up to bring Jermaine Jones, a star player for the United States during the World Cup, to town.
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