New England Revolution Stadium | 173 Alford Street | Boston-Everett

[HalcyonEra]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

My guess is the latter.

There's a large segment of Revolution fans that believe the Krafts have no intention of moving the team out of Foxboro.

I know this has been beaten to death, but the most successful MLS franchises are those with smaller, soccer-only venues. And let's face it, the draw from the city with public transportation access would almost ensure packed houses. That said, I'm sure Krafty Bob is pulling a profit with a 1/3 or 1/4 full stadium so this is likely very low on his priority list.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I know this has been beaten to death, but the most successful MLS franchises are those with smaller, soccer-only venues. And let's face it, the draw from the city with public transportation access would almost ensure packed houses. That said, I'm sure Krafty Bob is pulling a profit with a 1/3 or 1/4 full stadium so this is likely very low on his priority list.

Seriously, I would personally round people up and drag them to the stadium with me if the urban stadium ever happens. It kills me to not be able to go to the games at Gillette simply because of my choice not to own my own personal car (we share one).

 

[bobthebuilder]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I know this has been beaten to death, but the most successful MLS franchises are those with smaller, soccer-only venues. And let's face it, the draw from the city with public transportation access would almost ensure packed houses..

This is definitely true, I went to a game in Philly, and although it's not really close to public transit (that I know of) the place was packed and I had an awesome time. There was also a $12 all you can eat/all you can drink tailgate held by the 'Sons of Ben', so the tailgate scene was also awesome.

 

[HalcyonEra]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Seriously, I would personally round people up and drag them to the stadium with me if the urban stadium ever happens. It kills me to not be able to go to the games at Gillette simply because of my choice not to own my own personal car (we share one).

Don't forget too, that although the stadium portion of Gillette was technically privately financed by Kraft, the NFL itself was the lender of half of the cost under their pooled stadium financing scheme. Who knows what those repayment terms are. Without a major TV deal, the MLS simply does not have those pockets.

Although many of us believe that the MLS is here to stay as a viable professional sports league, they certainly can't underwrite stadium construction which likely means Kraft would want some public financing, however, that simply would not happen here. Not that he couldn't afford it, mind you, but it's probable that for now the ROI isn't significant enough when weighed against the risk.

 

[kjdonovan]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

All parcels east of Grand Union Blvd have already been claimed (as far as I can tell). Assembly Row plans to build out to both side of Foley Street:http://www.assemblyrow.com/location/

Partners will fill out much of the rest of the eastern parcels--enough to prohibit a stadium, at least. http://www.somervillema.gov/news/partners-healthcare-build-ikea-site

BUT, take a look again at the area. https://www.google.com/maps/preview/@42.3911947,-71.0787764,722m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e2

Consider, if you were an ambitious urban planner with a brand new T stop (and one that isn't sitting beneath a highway), where would you want to put a soccer stadium. Easy: where the Home Depot parcel is right now. So how does one get rid of the existing Home Depot? https://twitter.com/VilleJournal/status/388274859127865344

 

[George_Apley]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I always wondered if both the Somerville and Everett Home Depots made good business, given their mirror facings of one another across the Mystic. Although the Assembly one arguably has a better location than the Everett one, being right at a 93 off-ramp.

 

[davem]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I always wondered if both the Somerville and Everett Home Depots made good business, given their mirror facings of one another across the Mystic. Although the Assembly one arguably has a better location than the Everett one, being right at a 93 off-ramp.

I can't remember the exact numbers, but Watertown and South Bay are the big money stores. Everett and Somerville are much further down the list. On days my H2O store was topping a million before lunchtime, everett was usually around 400k. I've always assumed its because they stole each others sales.

 

[JumboBuc]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The former Circuit City next door is still empty, right?

 

[Arlington]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I'd put it on top of the Green Line / Inner Belt Yards, in which case it would be triangulated between Washington ST (GLX), Assembly, and Community College--and return a large parcel to the tax base.

 

[choo]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

^first reaction is that it would probably ruin the roi of the stadium right away.

I don't think there will be big tailgate and parking space at an assembly stadium, but i think thats ok. If its surrounded by parking, eh. It should have limited parking that is expensive to encourage people to take the T not drive all the way in and waste valuable land as parking fields

 

[bobthebuilder]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

BUT, take a look again at the area. https://www.google.com/maps/preview/@42.3911947,-71.0787764,722m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e2

kjdonovan, this is the area I was referring to in my post (#212), it's the area that's already called Revolution Dr, which you can see ig you switch out of the satellite map.

 

[George_Apley]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I can't remember the exact numbers, but Watertown and South Bay are the big money stores. Everett and Somerville are much further down the list. On days my H2O store was topping a million before lunchtime, everett was usually around 400k. I've always assumed its because they stole each others sales.

Makes sense. I wonder why they bother keeping both.

 

[chr31ter]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

So how does one get rid of the existing Home Depot?

http://soccer.si.com/2013/09/13/mls-expansion-team-likely-heading-atlantas-way/

Multiple sources have confirmed that the league and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank are deep into discussions that likely would result in an MLS club sharing a downtown stadium with the NFL franchise. The Falcons intend to open a new $1 billion, retractable roof facility in 2017 adjacent to the Georgia World Congress Center, which is just north of the Georgia Dome.

Blank, who’s also the co-founder of The Home Depot, has been interested in MLS for some time. He was one of seven potential owners who bid for an expansion team back in 2008-09, but Atlanta lost out to Portland and Vancouver. Garber confirmed last February that conversations with Blank were continuing. Blank’s teenage son, Joshua, is an accomplished youth player, so the sport runs in the family. It now appears to be only a matter of time before he has a local MLS team to cheer for.

 

[fattony]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I don't have a good sense of how much tax revenue could be generated by a Soccer Stadium. Would it be a net loss of taxes and jobs to replace HD with a SSS? Would a stadium significantly boost tax revenue from nearby retail and restaurants at Assembly?

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I don't have a good sense of how much tax revenue could be generated by a Soccer Stadium. Would it be a net loss of taxes and jobs to replace HD with a SSS? Would a stadium significantly boost tax revenue from nearby retail and restaurants at Assembly?

The stadium would guarantee that on average about 15,000 people will at least have the temptation to shop, eat, and drink before and after each Revolution game. The avg attendance for 2013 was up at 14,844, compared to 2012's 14,001, and this is Gillette we're talking about. It's nearly impossible and majorly inconvenient to get there via public transit (they do run a Revs train sometimes). There are so many people in the urban core of Boston that would like to attend these games and can't. Attendance would sky rocket at Assembly Square.

Stats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_attendance

 

[davem]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I don't have a good sense of how much tax revenue could be generated by a Soccer Stadium. Would it be a net loss of taxes and jobs to replace HD with a SSS? Would a stadium significantly boost tax revenue from nearby retail and restaurants at Assembly?

Other than the department specialists and management, HD pays on par with whatever the stadium would pay its low level employees. A lot of HD people would probably get an offer to move to other stores anyway, they are always hiring. (Well, always hiring when they're not laying off anyone who makes over 15/hr).

 

[Proposition Joe]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Wait, are you suggesting that MLS is against an urban Revs soccer stadium, or just that the odds of one being built are that wildly unlikely?

The latter. Kraft is a pretty good owner for the Patriots, but when it comes to the Revolution he is absent and only owns the team in order to fill calendar dates in the summer months. If the Revolutions ownership has actually been working on something like this they have done a real bad job of making that clear.

I would really like a SSS to get built though. Assembly Square looks like the best place to put one and I would much prefer one here than Wonderland.

Relevent tweet from Brian Bilello, Revolution President

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The Somerville News Weekly is a ridiculous rag, with no editing whatsoever. I would not take anything in it at all seriously.

That said, there is a lot of empty land (parking lots) next to the defunct Loews cinema. If you demolish the cinema and the Circuit City and use up all the parking lots, is that enough room for a stadium without needing to displace Home Depot?

 

[Proposition Joe]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

The Somerville News Weekly is a ridiculous rag, with no editing whatsoever. I would not take anything in it at all seriously.

That said, there is a lot of empty land (parking lots) next to the defunct Loews cinema. If you demolish the cinema and the Circuit City and use up all the parking lots, is that enough room for a stadium without needing to displace Home Depot?

Using the footprint of Red Bull Arena, which is generally considered a good SSS except for its location, it isn't big enough as the stadium would jut into where New Road is (and thats also assuming you get rid of Assembly Square Drive in between Foley Street and New Road as well.)

The Home Depot site seems like it would just barley fit a stadium with its width and the angle Assembly Square Drive not forming a right angle at the intersection.

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

They're certainly not going to get rid of any part of Assembly Square Drive, which was just rebuilt and is the only road into the area from the rest of Somerville.