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Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Arlington said:
Can we let this thread take some time off? I want this to happen as much as the next guy, but this thread, instead of building an informed citizenry who can support a real effort is just wasting our time.
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You know what? You're right and this is probably the smartest post this thread's gotten in the last month and a half.

I was going to actually reply, but it's just not worth it to reply to posts like these:

shmessy said:
Do you even READ what you write?

"In fact, Providence "is not a major league franchise city" only in the sense that no major league franchise currently exists there."

"CURRENTLY"????? Yeah, I'm "CURRENTLY" not sleeping with Gisele Bundchen. Can you tell us all the last time Providence hosted a major league team?

No. What is indicative and what you clearly indicate is that Providence is a MINOR league sports city. The only strong market ties between Boston and Providence are that of a world class city and its back office.

Rhode Island should concentrate on getting its highest in the nation 8.3% unemployment rate down to the levels of a Mississippi or Alabama.

You DO know what the definition is for making the same mistake over and over again? I have two names to state here: CURT and SCHILLING. You are hilariously suggesting that Rhode Island - - in the ongoing aftermath of the 38 Studios debacle - - now gives a huge handout to move a soccer team there????? Are you SERIOUS?
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shmessy said:
Building a professional soccer stadium in Somerville, which is 5 minutes from Boston, right next to Cambridge, is booming with new rapid transit stations and over $2 billion in current construction. A poster from the highest unemployment rate state, that narrowly missed an S+P downgrading to junk status last month because it came up with another payment for Curt Schilling's debts at the last minute, wants it to be built in Providence because (after all that) he feels the taxpayers there will pony up more money to entice a soccer franchise to move there.
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I can't even find the motivation to take some cheap parting shots at you, so way to go, shmessy! You got the last word and won an argument on the internet! Congratulations on your big success! Everyone's so very, very proud of you. Good job!
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Commuting Boston Student said:
You know what? You're right and this is probably the smartest post this thread's gotten in the last month and a half.

I was going to actually reply, but it's just not worth it to reply to posts like these:





I can't even find the motivation to take some cheap parting shots at you, so way to go, shmessy! You got the last word and won an argument on the internet! Congratulations on your big success! Everyone's so very, very proud of you. Good job!
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Happy trails. Perhaps you should have checked the thread title before typing up 25,000 words from the Providence Chamber of Commerce, Einstein. :cool:
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

08-02-2007, 09:20 AM


Thats right folks, this thread is almost 7 years old.

Instead of bumping it, just type in a random page number. I guarantee you'll find the post you were about to type already written.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Pre-warning: This is solely soccer wonk commentary and not actual news about interest in the stadium.

Lots of good stadium discussion/future of Boston as a soccer market in yesterday's Soccerly.com Soccer Morning podcast, drummed up by the signing of Jermaine Jones (yay!). The guest is Alexi, so I apologize if you're not his biggest fan.

http://soccerly.com/article/soccerlypodcast/soccer-morning-august-26th-with-alexi-lalas-kyle-martino

"Boston could be Portland-east... The MLS has a responsibility to pressure owners who are not doing what is best for the league into doing so. A Boston that is not maximized as a soccer town is a travesty."
-Jason Davis

The Alexi segment discussing Jermaine, the absurdity of the blind draw, the MLS CBA, the Krafts, and the future of soccer in Boston starts at 30:00 and runs until 1:00:00. I recommend listening to the whole segment, but the stadium talk and future of Boston is mainly at the 54:00 mark until the end of the segment. Alexi makes the devil's-advocate business defense for the Krafts against building the SSS. It's important to note that Alexi totally supports a SSS, as he articulates, but he does make the business case:

"Imagine if you owned a dilapidated ice cream truck and you make a certain amount of money you're content with and people buy your ice cream and then someone comes along and tells you to buy a new shiny truck and you'll probably get more customers. That's the possibility of it happening. You're telling someone how to do their business. You can tell them how to do their business, but it's their business."
-Alexi Lalas
 
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Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

My first inclination is to suggest that this is bad news, but I think the Revs are serious about seeing if the Boston 2024 bid goes anywhere.

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 company MuckRock turned up...well, it turned up nothing, really. According to the city, there has been no internal or external documented discussion about the notion of building a soccer-specific stadium in Boston since Walsh’s term began in January.
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Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I listened to the whole broadcast. The Revs are not even thinking about the Olympics. In that same broadcast, the Revs president was on and he was asked if a stadium could be tied to the Olympic bid. He said that the Revs "want a +-20,000 seat stadium and that an Olympics or World Cup would want 60k+. That is not on our radar. We want a stadium for the Revolution and our fans, not for the Olympics."

This was such mind-numbingly stupid comment. I wanted to bash my head on my desk.

He also refused to say what towns/cities they have been having "active discussions with."
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

datadyne007 said:
He also refused to say what towns/cities they have been having "active discussions with."
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It's impossible to say which towns/cities they are having active discussions with when there aren't any active discussions.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Word on the street is that a Revs stadium is definitely in the Olympic bid. I think he's being a little coy in his wording to avoid saying anything before the whole plan's official. I'm reading what he says as less, "we're not in the bid," and more, "we aren't planning to be in the main Olympic stadium," and that more or less jibes with what I've heard. Then again, last I heard from anyone connected with the bid was a month ago, so who knows what's changed.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

So I mentioned this incredibly exciting news in the 2024 thread when responding to some comments about the Revs' typical poor attendance:

Brian Bilello (Revs President) yesterday announced that ticket sales for tomorrow's final regular season game vs TFC are likely to exceed 30,000. This isn't even for a playoff position. We already have #2 in the East and do not have to play the knockout game. These fan numbers are for just pure interest in the Revs and keeping the momentum up as we head into the playoffs. Wicked impressive. This is a very rare time where I'm grateful we have Gillette. I can't wait. The tide on soccer in New England is turning.

https://twitter.com/RevsPrez/status/525399448281960448
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

^Here's my question, if soccer does take and the Revs start pulling in 25k+ in Foxboro consistently, does that hurt the odds for a city stadium?

I think if soccer is really going to grow a stadium bigger than 30k is intimate but a little more future proof. I've heard 25k thrown out, but if the Revs pull that with some regularity in Foxboro, why move (soccer atmosphere aside)?
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I mentioned this before in the Suffolk Downs Redevelopment thread, but would it be at all feasible to reuse the grandstand portion of the Suffolk Downs racetrack and build it into a soccer-specific stadium for the Revs? This is what the Portland Timbers did with a former baseball stadium.

The main portion of the grandstand measures about 200 yards in length, which is roughly the same length as the current crop of MLS stadiums. I've never actually been to Suffolk Downs, but it looks to me from pictures that if you remove the glass from in front of the grandstand it would resemble a lot of old-fashioned English soccer stadiums (and those I have been to...). So maybe re-purpose the SD grandstand as the main grandstand for the stadium and build smaller bleachers around the remaining three sides? This would make use of the in-place infrastructure (including the Blue Line) and could presumably be done in less time and for less money than it would take to build a new stadium from scratch. It'd also preserve the historic grandstand building and lend a little history to a soccer team that is lacking in that department. If soccer's popularity continues to grow in this country the smaller bleachers could be upgraded to something larger years down the road.

The Suffolk Downs site is so huge that a stadium roughly the size of the grandstand squared would only use up a small fraction of the land, and would provide an "anchor" for further mixed-use development.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

choo said:
^Here's my question, if soccer does take and the Revs start pulling in 25k+ in Foxboro consistently, does that hurt the odds for a city stadium?

I think if soccer is really going to grow a stadium bigger than 30k is intimate but a little more future proof. I've heard 25k thrown out, but if the Revs pull that with some regularity in Foxboro, why move (soccer atmosphere aside)?
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I actually had this exact post written below but decided to delete it because I felt it was going against my cause of advocating for a SSS. You are entirely right. This could be a disincentive to Kraft. We'd actually have LESS people at a SSS tomorrow.

30k is definitely an outlier (at this moment), but if the momentum keeps going, we might actually need to consider a larger stadium! Maybe it could be designed to be expanded. Start with a 20-25k and build in a second phase to add 10k+ seats if attendance ticks up. The key is that the whole reason we want a SSS is because the atmosphere at Gillette is too big and empty. It's not going to be that way tomorrow (it's gonna be f-ing epic), but it is that way most of the year.

It's looking like we're gonna hit these numbers for the playoffs too. I just booked my 2 game tickets and in a matter of hours entire sections were filled, including the empty single seats.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

JumboBuc said:
I mentioned this before in the Suffolk Downs Redevelopment thread, but would it be at all feasible to reuse the grandstand portion of the Suffolk Downs racetrack and build it into a soccer-specific stadium for the Revs? This is what the Portland Timbers did with a former baseball stadium.

The main portion of the grandstand measures about 200 yards in length, which is roughly the same length as the current crop of MLS stadiums. I've never actually been to Suffolk Downs, but it looks to me from pictures that if you remove the glass from in front of the grandstand it would resemble a lot of old-fashioned English soccer stadiums (and those I have been to...). So maybe re-purpose the SD grandstand as the main grandstand for the stadium and build smaller bleachers around the remaining three sides? This would make use of the in-place infrastructure (including the Blue Line) and could presumably be done in less time and for less money than it would take to build a new stadium from scratch. It'd also preserve the historic grandstand building and lend a little history to a soccer team that is lacking in that department. If soccer's popularity continues to grow in this country the smaller bleachers could be upgraded to something larger years down the road.

The Suffolk Downs site is so huge that a stadium roughly the size of the grandstand squared would only use up a small fraction of the land, and would provide an "anchor" for further mixed-use development.
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Because 1: 200 yards is about twice the length of a soccer field so although stadiums may be 200 yards a 200 yard straight line of seating makes no sense.

2: Temporary bleachers is insulting to soccer.

3: There is a marsh that runs through the track does building a stadium really make sense there?
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

datadyne007 said:
I actually had this exact post written below but decided to delete it because I felt it was going against my cause of advocating for a SSS. You are entirely right. This could be a disincentive to Kraft. We'd actually have LESS people at a SSS tomorrow.

30k is definitely an outlier (at this moment), but if the momentum keeps going, we might actually need to consider a larger stadium! Maybe it could be designed to be expanded. Start with a 20-25k and build in a second phase to add 10k+ seats if attendance ticks up. The key is that the whole reason we want a SSS is because the atmosphere at Gillette is too big and empty. It's not going to be that way tomorrow (it's gonna be f-ing epic), but it is that way most of the year.

It's looking like we're gonna hit these numbers for the playoffs too. I just booked my 2 game tickets and in a matter of hours entire sections were filled, including the empty single seats.
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Aren't many of the SSSs being built recently intended to allow future expansion? Couldn't we do the same thing here?
If the revs keep winning and they sell out stadiums consistently that will boost support more that half filling gillette even if that may be more people. Yes its stupid but looks make a big difference.

But man do I wish I wasn't away at college and could go this weekend, never been to a revs game with a crowd like that besides the ones with international friendlies the same day, and those crowds were half interested.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

coleslaw said:
Because 1: 200 yards is about twice the length of a soccer field so although stadiums may be 200 yards a 200 yard straight line of seating makes no sense.

2: Temporary bleachers is insulting to soccer.

3: There is a marsh that runs through the track does building a stadium really make sense there?
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1) Yeah, obviously you wouldn't have a straight line of seating the entire 200 yards. You'd build in the corners about 35 yards on each side and leave about 130 yards for the extended touchline.

2) There's a difference between "temporary bleachers" and "smaller" sections that can be rebuilt years down the road. I'm not saying basic high-school style stands, I'm thinking BMO Field style seating that can later be built up instead of Red Bull Arena style seating that is designed for the long run.

3) The infield marsh at Suffolk Downs would only reach the very farthest corner of any stadium attached to the grandstand; this could be worked around. I am sure that any other feasible site anywhere near Boston proper would have its own challenges equal to or much greater than this.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

coleslaw said:
Aren't many of the SSSs being built recently intended to allow future expansion? Couldn't we do the same thing here?
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I figure that if the Revolution were to get a new stadium then it would be designed with the possibility of further expansions as long as the parcel isn't too constricting. If NASL teams are doing it then I don't see why an MLS team wouldn't bother.
 
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