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City presents stadium plans for Inner Belt

Questions of ethics, benefits to city remain

By Tom Nash

City officials presented a plan Wednesday to put a major sports facility, possibly a professional soccer stadium, in the long underutilized Inner Belt and Brickbottom commercial district.

A Green Line station, slated to be built in the neighborhood by 2014, is expected to help revitalize the 160-acre area bordered by McGrath O'Brien Highway. A soccer stadium for New England Revolution home games could be in the plans as well.

City officials helped present the study last week, conducted by CBT, after the Kraft Group, who owns the Revolution and the Patriots, expressed interest in building a soccer stadium in Somerville.

"We agreed that something like a sports facility can really capitalize this area and in fact kick start the identity for this area," said Kishore Varanasi of CBT.

Alderman-at-Large Bill White said, "the study didn't go into great detail about the effects of a soccer stadium" such as the traffic it may generate.

Among the four site options included in the report, one included using air rights above a 10-acre Green Line train maintenance facility that has been proposed by the state for Inner Belt.

White said it is still not clear if the city can reap the commercial tax benefits of a stadium if it is built on top of the maintenance facility, property owned by the state.

Lee Auspitz, a member of the Davis Square Task Force which advocated for city residents when the Red Line came to Somerville in the early 1980s, criticized the city's inaction on addressing the legality of the Kraft Group providing 95 percent of the study's funding under a charitable loan despite the fact that they stand to profit from the stadium as its owners.

"I've seen no action on (the issue), and it's really a disgrace," Auspitz said. "None of us is elevated by being a party to the abuse of charitable organizations. Everybody knows the difference between giving to charity and giving to yourself, and the Kraft Group has given to itself."

Both Varanasi and the city's development director Monica Lamboy refused to discuss that issue.

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=259

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Re: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL (Formerly: Somerville Soccer Stad

More from the Stadium Study

Posted by Mike Marshall on December 17, 2008

http://revsnet1.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/more-from-the-stadium-study/

For those of you who haven?t had the chance to flip through the entire 55-page Inner Belt Brickbottom Scoping Study, allow me to point out a couple of interesting highlights:

* If you?re unfamiliar with the general location, the study points out that the majority of major buildings in Downtown Boston is within a two mile radius. Harvard Square is within two miles, and MIT is a little more than a mile away as the crow flies. I would say it?s in a similar location to BMO Field in Toronto.[/CENTER]

* I don?t want to cast aspersions on the professionalism of the study as clearly a lot of time went into it, but it?s a little disheartening when you see terms like ?Lunchpin Mixed Use Development? on one page, and an arial photo labeled Wrigley Field when it?s clearly a picture of Fenway Park.

* Think that the idea of putting a stadium above a train station isn?t a serious consideration? Think again. The study also includes this graphic, featuring trains below the playing surface of the stadium.


stadium-profile.jpg

* Why Somerville? I mean, other than the fact that they have some land and are interested? Within five miles of the proposed stadium site, there are 64,000 residents of Irish descent, 57,000 with Italian heritage, 15,000 with English heritage, and 11,000 with German ancestry. This doesn?t even take into consideration the area?s considerable Brazilian population. It?s believed that as many as 15,000 Brazilians live in Somerville alone, and the City of Boston says more than 7,000 live in the city. Massachusetts has the 2nd-largest concentration of Brazilians in the United States behind only Florida.

* The study used an interesting mix of stadium footprints on page 55, ranging from the expected such as Toyota Park and Crew Stadium, to European facilities such as Pittodrie and the Majedski Stadium, to the head-scratchers in Wrigley Field and Fred Yager Stadium. The Revs could do much worse than a replica of the Majedski Stadium, by the way.


Reading_62_569991.jpg
[/CENTER]

And finally, what does the Revs? potential new home look like today? Well, not much. Google Streetview gives us this look at the ?Preferred Stadium Location?.

innerbelt-today.jpg

 
Re: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL (Formerly: Somerville Soccer Stad

Here are some of the stadia the study utilized for purposes of comparison:

City of Salford Stadium (Capacity of 22,000)
Construction Cost: 53 million dollars
Image: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42358000/jpg/_42358723_salford_reds1_416.jpg

City of Manchester Stadium (Capacity of 47,726)
Construction Cost: 166 million dollars
Image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/42/119486132_a352b753b4_b.jpg

Reebok Stadium (Capacity of 28,723)
Construction Cost: 53 million dollars
Image: http://www.fullflow.com/images/casestudies/Bolton Reebok Stadium - Fullflow.jpg

Madejski Stadium (Capacity of 24,250)
Construction Cost: 75.8 million dollars
Image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2141/2524249857_d82b3c4399_b.jpg

As a reminder, it has previously been suggested by officials for the New England Revolution that Kraft is prepared to spend $100 million on the construction cost alone, so it'll be interesting to think about what they could do on a 20,000-seat stadium.
 
Re: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL (Formerly: Somerville Soccer Stad

If Kraft's looking to spend $100 million on a 20,000-ish seat soccer stadium, judging from the cost of Salford, Kraft could have about $50 million left. I wonder if he's considering paying for the deck? It would definitly help move the project along (a maybe the Green Line Extension too). I also wonder if he's considering building a Patriot's Place-esque development to coincide with the stadium. I think it would be a good move. That area is especially dense and would bring people in for more than the hand full of times the stadium would be used per year. Maybe he could do both. I wonder how much the cost of the deck will be?
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Nation?s largest soccer stadium to open in N.J.
March 18, 2010 01:15PM
The Red Bull Arena

A $220 million soccer stadium funded by energy drink maker Red Bull is set to debut this weekend in Harrison, N.J., according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Red Bull Arena, situated 10 miles outside New York City on top of a one-time industrial waste zone, is the largest soccer stadium in the country, containing 25,000 seats. The stadium will be home to the New York Red Bulls team, named as part of a marketing strategy on the part of the carbonated beverage.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704059004575127842812699832.html

By way of http://therealdeal.net
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The Red Bull Arena will easily be the finest soccer stadium in the United States or Canada. All of MLS should emulate the Red Bulls as their stadium will have the best atmosphere in the league.

I think the Revolution should do their best to emulate Red Bull Arena in any future stadium. A 20-25,000 soccer only stadium, with the stands right up next to the pitch, a mid pitch tunnel entrance, natural grass pitch and a roof that covers all the seats would be ideal. It would give the stadium a loud European feel.

Ideally though, at least to me, the Revolution would build a 48-50,000 seat expandable, retractable roof arena in Somerville. This would do the following, guarantee Boston would be a host for any future US World Cup. Having the games in Foxboro is nice, but promoting a world class arena right next to Boston would be even better. Also, it would allow Boston to compete to host a Final Four for NCAA men;s basketball. I realize the NCAA now has a 70,000 seat minimum, but if Boston came in with a 63-66,000 seat option, I am willing to bet they would relax the rules. The court is now place in the center and that allows for thousands of seats on the field level to be added.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Extremely wishful thinking.

Any revs stadium would probably resemble the 18,000 capacity cheap jobs seen in Toronto, being built in Philly or planned for San Jose.

The largest MLS stadium holds 27,000*. The revs average 15,000. Even with a 50% increase due to better location, theres still no need to build bigger than 25,000.

I'd love to see a real stadium, like red bull arena.

6251454.jpg

New+York+Red+Bulls+Press+Conference+7tG8Hu_hBHvl.jpg

New+York+Red+Bulls+Press+Conference+zpjMqY9nD0El.jpg



This is what Philly is building
model_1.jpg

It's scheduled to be done in July
4454323321_2996781144_b.jpg

4454331825_68431de50f_b.jpg


*Seattle Plays at Quest Field and limits capacity to 36,000. They sold out all games last season.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Extremely wishful thinking.

Any revs stadium would probably resemble the 18,000 capacity cheap jobs seen in Toronto, being built in Philly or planned for San Jose.

The largest MLS stadium holds 27,000*. The revs average 15,000. Even with a 50% increase due to better location, theres still no need to build bigger than 25,000.

I'd love to see a real stadium, like red bull arena.

6251454.jpg

New+York+Red+Bulls+Press+Conference+7tG8Hu_hBHvl.jpg

New+York+Red+Bulls+Press+Conference+zpjMqY9nD0El.jpg



This is what Philly is building
model_1.jpg

It's scheduled to be done in July
4454323321_2996781144_b.jpg

4454331825_68431de50f_b.jpg


*Seattle Plays at Quest Field and limits capacity to 36,000. They sold out all games last season.

Of course it is very wishful thinking.

But I think in order for the MLS to survive and grow in this country, they need to push and help finance new soccer only stadiums for teams and vastly improve the atmosphere and experience at matches.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

^Agreed. Have you been to a Revs game? It's depressing how empty the stadium is. The echoes are eerie and everything sounds kind of muted.

Seattle's NFL stadium is outdoor, but the sections are stacked more steeply to make it seem as though even the fans in the upper decks are right on top of the field. Something like this, on a smaller scale of course, would be a great model for drawing in more fans. Steep seating sections will make everyone feel like they're closer to the action.

I think the stadium (if one's built in New England) will be at Patriot Place as that's where the Kraft's investment is. However, I'd love to see it go to one of the secondary cities in the region. Providence, Worcester, Springfield and even Lowell could really do well with a venue like this. Of course, it would work in Somerville too but I'd rather see it elsewhere. I can't imagine Kraft putting it anywhere but his mall in Foxboro.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

^Agreed. Have you been to a Revs game? It's depressing how empty the stadium is. The echoes are eerie and everything sounds kind of muted.

Seattle's NFL stadium is outdoor, but the sections are stacked more steeply to make it seem as though even the fans in the upper decks are right on top of the field. Something like this, on a smaller scale of course, would be a great model for drawing in more fans. Steep seating sections will make everyone feel like they're closer to the action.

I think the stadium (if one's built in New England) will be at Patriot Place as that's where the Kraft's investment is. However, I'd love to see it go to one of the secondary cities in the region. Providence, Worcester, Springfield and even Lowell could really do well with a venue like this. Of course, it would work in Somerville too but I'd rather see it elsewhere. I can't imagine Kraft putting it anywhere but his mall in Foxboro.

Steep seating is not too common amongst American professional sports leagues. Take a look at the Bernabeu over in Madrid, they have some of the steepest seats I have ever seen. Qwest Field was designed so that crowd noise would echo off the 2 roofs they have covering the stands so that place will always be loud, even if there is only 40,000 people in there.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The best argument for Somerville (or Lowell) is that the stadium would be right next to a large soccer-loving immigrant population. You don't get that in Foxboro and never will.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The Revolution need to get a shirt sponsor. I could see maybe Staples or even CVS throwing some money at them.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The best argument for Somerville (or Lowell) is that the stadium would be right next to a large soccer-loving immigrant population. You don't get that in Foxboro and never will.

I wouldnt be against Worcester. Framingham has more immigrants than Sommerville, it's transit accessible, and they keep looking for revitalization projects. What better compliment to the DCU arena than a new soccer stadium?
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Why complement an arena with another venue? Venues should be used sparingly in my opinion, considering how often they sit empty and how much space they take up.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Steep seating is not too common amongst American professional sports leagues. Take a look at the Bernabeu over in Madrid, they have some of the steepest seats I have ever seen. Qwest Field was designed so that crowd noise would echo off the 2 roofs they have covering the stands so that place will always be loud, even if there is only 40,000 people in there.

exactly. That's why it's a good idea to build steep. Let's face it, we will never draw as many soccer fans as other countries. If you build a stadium that maximizes noise and intimacy, you create a great experience for the fans and players; even with only 15,000-20,000 seats.

Also, immigrant populations played a huge role in my suggesting other cities. Sections of Providence and other cities (Lowell, New Bedford, etc) are already going nuts for the world cup. These people would fill seats and add to the atmosphere. Providence, Worcester, Springfield (paired with Hartford), and even Lowell (close enough to Boston) could be great locations for a stadium f you want to really draw from immigrant populations.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I'm pretty sure Somerville has more imigrants than Framingham, and when you add up all the imigrants in within 5 miles of Somerville, it has to be way higher than than the other cities mentioned. Also Somerville has 93 and plenty of tranist options.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

exactly. That's why it's a good idea to build steep. Let's face it, we will never draw as many soccer fans as other countries. If you build a stadium that maximizes noise and intimacy, you create a great experience for the fans and players; even with only 15,000-20,000 seats.

Also, immigrant populations played a huge role in my suggesting other cities. Sections of Providence and other cities (Lowell, New Bedford, etc) are already going nuts for the world cup. These people would fill seats and add to the atmosphere. Providence, Worcester, Springfield (paired with Hartford), and even Lowell (close enough to Boston) could be great locations for a stadium f you want to really draw from immigrant populations.

Also people forget that not every European club team has a MASSIVE stadium. A lot of clubs have smaller 18-30,000 seat venues.

The only clubs that have large venues, over 50,000, are clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Sevilla, Roma, etc.


I think Sommerville would make for a fine location. As some have mentioned, it is right next to 93, has other transit options and is located right next to Boston.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Also people forget that not every European club team has a MASSIVE stadium. A lot of clubs have smaller 18-30,000 seat venues.

The only clubs that have large venues, over 50,000, are clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Sevilla, Roma, etc.

Massive stadiums are generally found in Latin America. Azteca, Maracana, Sao Paulo etc.

Most stadiums Brazil built in the 60s were to hold 120,000-200,000, but most never made it past phase 1 or 2 (so they hold 40,000-60,0000)
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The more I think of it, the more I really like the idea of Somerville getting the stadium. Between that and the green line extension, Somerville could have some real potential. By having a stadium it would give Somerville a real destination, a player in the venue scene. It would casue a big influx of people looking to spend money and be entertained. Imagine what happens at Red Sox games in Kendal sq or maybe the Garden when its sold out for Celtics. That would create a lot of activity and most likely the area would become lively and have entertainment. It would give general Boston and Cambridge people a real reason to take the new green line up to Somerville.

And another great thing I think it would do is draw a common area for both imigrants and Americans that love soccer (and especially latinos) a large place to gather. I think it could help give the latino population of the greater Boston area, which is sizable, a large place they could put some influence on. I could easily see salsa or latino clubs opening up. It could maybe become a lively place that has a latino stye to it. I think that would be a cool addition to legitamite social scenes in Boston, maybe evenutally the size of Central or Harvard Sq. The fact that the Green line is coming, it could really utilize its new potential. Also 93 is right there. People from Lawrence could easily get there for a game. The new orange line stop could have a bus that goes there. It would almost have the accesablilty comprable to Fenway and the Garden. Also IKEA will have people coming into the area. The other squares nearby would probably swell with activity during home games (and maybe concerts). Somerville is on the move and if they could get a cool 20,000 soccer stadium, it would really make Somerville a little bit more "big time-ish".
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Looks like the revolution might be testing the Boston waters.

According to a new schedule, the revs will play their Superliga matches in the city, no venue has been announced. Superliga is a firnedly tournament between 4 MLS and 4 mexican teams.

Possibilities:
-Fenway, if configured for soccer for the scottish teams
-Nickerson
-BC
-Harvard
-Northeastern
 

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