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

Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Any chance Harvard Stadium could be used for soccer?
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Nope. This is all woefully incorrect.

The truth is the the Krafts have publicly acknowledged that Gillette Stadium is not a viable facility for the long tern future of the Revs.

Gillette was built from day one with soccer in mind. I know. I gave tours of then-under construction CMGI Filed to perspective Revs season ticket holders. The field was dimensioned specifically for FIFA standards, as an NFL sized field would fit inside it.

The problem is, CMGI/Gillette was built with soccer in mind when MLS was starting to transition to MLS 2.0 and the rise of soccer specific stadia (SSS).

You could not have picked a more ideal spot for a Revolution SSS than Bayside. It fit the Kraft's edict that the stadium be located within greater Boston with access to public transportation. The visibility to 93 was an added bonus.

The Krafts were most certainly engaged in high-level discussions with regard to building on the Bayside site. I'm holding out hope (though, by a string) that these discussions are desperate posturing, but I fear they are not.

At this point, it might be back to the drawing board. But there aren't a lot of drawing boards around Boston to be found.

woefully incorrect?
It's an opinion based on what I've seen before. His Foxboro complex is privately owned and thus there isn't the urgency to relocate the Revs that there might be otherwise. I'm not doubting the suitability of Bayside or the work that went in to making Gilette meet FIFA code. I am questioning Krafts desire to get a deal over the line. Like I said, just an opinion.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Any chance Harvard Stadium could be used for soccer?

The Breakers (Women's Pro Team) used it for a few seasons and its age certainly showed. I think it would need to be totally rebuilt for the modern day sports fan. Harvard certainly hasn't shown any interest whatsoever in modernizing it over the years.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium


FUCK.

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Revised with the Teachers Union:
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Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

That initial design is fantastic and would have been first rate among MLS stadiums.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

That initial design is fantastic and would have been first rate among MLS stadiums.

Part of me wonders what if they had released the renderings much sooner in the process. Would they have helped drum up public support? What if the Krafts stopped keeping everything close to their vest and actually engaged in public outreach this time around? What if they worked with their fanbase to attend meetings or help reach out to the local politicians?

As a longtime Revs season ticket holder (1997) and transportation and development wonk who was holding out hope for years for the Bayside spot, today has been quite devastating.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

So this might have been asked already but would this area work for a stadium? Link
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Part of me wonders what if they had released the renderings much sooner in the process. Would they have helped drum up public support? What if the Krafts stopped keeping everything close to their vest and actually engaged in public outreach this time around? What if they worked with their fanbase to attend meetings or help reach out to the local politicians?

As a longtime Revs season ticket holder (1997) and transportation and development wonk who was holding out hope for years for the Bayside spot, today has been quite devastating.

I think part of the process was to work with UMass Boston and immediate stakeholders before wider public engagement as part of the permitting effort... This halt to negotiations is actually the first opportunity to engage the public.

As far as I could tell listening to the Mayor talk about this on the radio is that it is off the table for now because of UMass Boston, but that it still overall seems like it had a lot of benefits and would have actually helped UMass with its financial issues, so the fact that they walked away from negotiations seems more to do with the current financial/leadership crisis over there and inability to move forward with any new strategic level move at the moment.

Maybe once things settle down over there they can take another look at this?
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

So this might have been asked already but would this area work for a stadium? Link

That was proposed as a velodrome spot for Boston 2024 earlier in the process if I recall. I don't think it is big enough for a soccer stadium and still have any parking...

More importantly it is a state park. I think that public park with soccer field as-is is going to be a really important place for the new residents of the area as an outdoor park and playing field right on the water. If I lived around Assembly I would fight like hell to keep it a public state park.

It will probably be a little while before they sink a lot of effort into alternatives and the proposal might be dead, but I would add "for now" because UMass Boston is going through a transition right now and who knows how it will shake out. If I were the Revolution I wouldn't be jumping into a new negotiation right away.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Flip back to the first pages of this thread and you'll find comments about building a Revs stadium at the Bayside Expo site:

Not that I would prefer this site, but what about the Bayside expo center site? The BCEC is obviously successful and it looks like the Hynes is here to stay. I would imagine Bayside would eventually begin to suffer and loose money.

That was posted in 2006.

UMass bought the land at the bargain basement price of $18.7 million for 20 acres four years later in 2010.

If Kraft truly cared about building a stadium for the Revs he would have just bought the land when it was on sale for cheap seven years ago. Anonymous internet commentators foresaw Bayside's financial issues and had the vision to see a stadium here back then; why didn't Kraft? We have nobody to blame but him.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

The Draft EA for the South Station Expansion targets Widett Circle as a 30 trainset layover facility plus some additional support functions. There were numerous flaws with the olympic stadium for this site - not the least of which was precluding the layover. However, it seems that the layover - an actual public purpose - could be compatible with an air rights stadium. The proper foundation could be constructed to fit the layover function. A stadium above a transportation function is hardly a new concept. It would also serve to keep the train equipment out of the elements. It is a non-public space so it would be secure. Access would need to be figured out from Andrew, Broadway, and the South End. Certainly more expensive than putting it on terra firma but not impossible
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

The Kraft business model is all about real estate (and especially retail) synergies with the stadium foot traffic & infrastructure. That's what Patriot place is all about.

Moving the Revs downtown undermines part of the model in Foxboro. I assume he'd need to see a lot of opportunity beyond the stadium, and it seems that that wasn't in the cards in the UMASS dialogue.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

The loss of this project is a shame. Giving UMass Boston some much needed revenue on land they're not currently using, creating a fully privately funded stadium, and adding desired development to a community. A beautiful proposal. And killed for traffic concerns? Newsflash, cities grow, you're going to have more traffic. The answer is to improve public transportation, not to kill white whale development projects.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

I wonder of there's is an opportunity to go to Everett. If Wynn is buying up nearby land, a soccer stadium integrated or attached to the casino in some way. Parking under construction, T nearby, ability to host foreign matches To bring in some big foreign spenders, and a large summer concert venue. Everett has hitched itself to the casino wagon, so don't know how hard they'd fight it. Remember Wynns first spot was in foxboro.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Am I the only one who cringes at the waste of space and resources associated with stadiums? Like when someone donates to a university millions to build a new stadium, rather than contribute to anything that relates to the actual function of the institution.

And on that note, why not share a stadium built for a university nearby (I'm sure there's gotta be one) rather than wastefully building a new one?
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

And on that note, why not share a stadium built for a university nearby (I'm sure there's gotta be one) rather than wastefully building a new one?

There isn't one and especially one that seats as many as the Revs need. The Revolution are a major pro team. Attendance averages around 17-18k and spikes as high as 40k during playoffs. The SSS would ideally have at least 20,000 seats with the potential for expansion of 5-8k seats.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

There isn't one and especially one that seats as many as the Revs need. The Revolution are a major pro team. Attendance averages around 17-18k and spikes as high as 40k during playoffs. The SSS would ideally have at least 20,000 seats with the potential for expansion of 5-8k seats.

They could partner with a local sports obsessed university to build a shared one I guess. I just hate giant structures built for a specialized purpose that only make use of the space sporadically at best. I can't hate on people loving sports just because I'm not into it, I just built up a hatred for how funds get wasted on stadiums from my college days, watching my tuition skyrocket while new stadiums were built on campus. Gave me a whole lot of time to think through what a waste that was while college students were being saddled with crippling debt.
 

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