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

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

BostonSkyGuy said:
I'd rather have a team/stadium where it's difficult to get tickets rather than a team where you can just walk up to the box-office and grab however many seats you want. This generally means the team is good and the stadium is decent (even historic in Fenway's case)
Click to expand...

I guess I have to agree with you there...that's the sign of a healthy franchise. Plus there's the psychological aspect of wanting what's hard to get, e.g. tickets to a sold out game. That keeps current fans interested and helps to gain new fans.

I long for the day when Revolution games look like this:

n1801553_36182165_3497.jpg


n1801553_36182172_4714.jpg
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

BostonSkyGuy said:
I'd rather have a team/stadium where it's difficult to get tickets rather than a team where you can just walk up to the box-office and grab however many seats you want. This generally means the team is good and the stadium is decent (even historic in Fenway's case)
Click to expand...

I disagree. I think theyre both too extreme. In the Red Sox case, you either commit before the season, or visit a scalper. Ditto with the pats.

In the revs case you can always get a ticket, any seat type, always.

I think a team in which you can get tickets a week in advance is good.

For the revs case, this would mean 25,000. Some games (LA, Tornto, NY) will sell out. Other games (Kansas, Salt Lake) will not. Thats a good balance.


Unfortunately, baseball is moving towards smaller stadiums like Fenway, in which they will always sell out while charging extremely high prices. I think Kraf will aim for the same. 20,000 with high prices.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

It's actually relatively easy to get Sox tickets a week ahead of time through the Red Sox box office at face value. They always release a bunch of seats just before a series and they don't go away instantly. check redsox.com within a week of the game you want to go to and you'll be able to get them without a problem (unless of course it's a Yankees series). I can't say the same thing for Pat's tickets.

I don't thing difficulty getting tickets is a bad thing though. If it's easy to get tickets, people tend to take it for granted. If it's difficult, every time you go to that event, it's a big deal. There are 82 regular season Red Sox home games and every single one is a huge event for the fans there. The same cannot be said for fans of the Rays or Jays. There is also a huge correlation between the quality of the product on the field and ease of access to tickets.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

> There is also a huge correlation between the quality of the product on the field and ease of access to tickets.

Although the Rays seem to be disproving that. They were in first, playing another first-place team (White Sox) and still drew only 13,000 fans.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

^So true. It amazes me when people fail to support even winning teams. Not to get off topic, but I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that no one expected either team to do well at all this year? Most baseball fans are just waiting for when those teams collapse. (which I believe they both will). Even the Yankees don't sell out all of their games.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

This might be a little off topic, but I know a lot of us in this forum are arm-chair economists (or at least dabble) and this is a soccer specific thread, so I want to recommend a book I just finished, How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. Anyone else read this?
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Inner Belt slated as Somerville's next project

City examines Inner Belt and Brickbottom districts for development

By Jack NicasIb

A professional soccer stadium could be coming to Somerville to jumpstart commercial development in a long-underutilized business district. Last week city officials announced a study, funded by Herb Chambers and the Kraft Group, ?designed to help the City promote economic development in both neighborhoods? of Inner Belt and Brickbottom according to the June 23 release.


Last year, Somerville officials and the Kraft Group, owners of the New England Patriots and Revolution, held preliminary discussions about building a Major League Soccer stadium in the Inner Belt. According to the release, that possibility will be examined in the new study, but Lesley Hawkins, spokeswoman for the city, said no formal proposal has been made.

Whether or not the Inner Belt is decided upon as the stadium's destination, the Kraft Group will have a vested interest in the district; they underwrote a portion of the study's expected $200,000 price tag, said Charlie Lord, executive director of the Urban Ecology Institute, the financial facilitators of the operation.

Stacey James, spokesman for the Kraft group, said, ?The Kraft Group has been contacted by officials from multiple municipalities regarding development opportunities. We have had preliminary discussions with Somerville regarding a development project that could potentially include a multi-use soccer stadium.?

Lord said the city is still looking for individual donors because, according to the statement, the only other current investor in the study is auto dealership Herb Chambers. Steve Mackey, CEO of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce, said the company has an existing interest in the district, with a showroom and maintenance facility in Brickbottom and their headquarters and another property in the Inner Belt.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said, ?[Herb Chambers] is one of the best community partners [Somerville] has. He has an interest in the city achieving success, reaching our goals, and realizing our vision.?

The Inner Belt has become an attractive parcel of land after plans to extend the Green Line into Somerville included Brickbottom as a proposed stop.

Rest of article at
http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2008/07/inner-belt-slat.html
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

hmmm, this is my idea.

dig a ditch and put the field and a lower bowl that seats say, 20,000 there. Make it look nice, and then, if attendence is full within 5 years, add an extra 10,000 above ground, then finish off the stadium. if not, just add some finish touches and call it done.

I know its near impossible because of all the crap it takes to build somthing, but i think otherwise its a good idea.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Patriots_1228 said:
hmmm, this is my idea.

dig a ditch and put the field and a lower bowl that seats say, 20,000 there. Make it look nice, and then, if attendence is full within 5 years, add an extra 10,000 above ground, then finish off the stadium. if not, just add some finish touches and call it done.

I know its near impossible because of all the crap it takes to build somthing, but i think otherwise its a good idea.
Click to expand...

Theyre looking at MBTA land, so the stadium would actually have to be on air rights.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

wow this area could get really cool if someone can step up to build out Northpoint and the right minds get behind this master planning process to get a multi-use stadium built right next door. hey, it could happen
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

oh yea this is gonna happen. when george bush gets reelected. its right around the corner
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

For what its worth, here are a few artists' renderings of soccer specific stadia of a size and capacity that are likely to what may be proposed for Somerville:

Swedbank Stadion (Sweden)
Capacity: 24,000
http://www.mff.se/swedbankstadion/downloads/images/bild_exterior2.jpg

Artvelde Stadion (Belgium)
Capacity: 22,500
http://www.kaagent.be/fotospecial/071029arteveldestadion/pictures/071029arteveldestadion06.jpg
http://www.kaagent.be/fotospecial/071029arteveldestadion/pictures/071029arteveldestadion03.jpg
http://www.kaagent.be/fotospecial/071029arteveldestadion/pictures/071029arteveldestadion07.jpg

New Memorial Stadium (England)
Capacity: 18,500
http://www.bristolrugby.co.uk/images/content/graphics/NewMem_525x340.jpg

Stade Gaston G?rard (France)
Capacity: 22,000
http://www.dfco.fr/goodies/dfco_stade_jour_1024.jpg

SK Slavia Praha Stadium/Stadion Eden (Czech Republic)
Capacity: 21,000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-HLz3LC378
http://www.stadioneden.cz/data/pictures/SK4N7444.jpg
http://www.stadioneden.cz/data/pictures/SK4N7600.jpg
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I really like the Sweedish and Belgian stadiums, but there's no way those are what the Revolution would get in Somerville or East Boston or anywhere on the planet. Those are world class stadiums (even with smaller seating capacities) and the price tag would be too much for an MLS team to dole out.

Look at the English stadium for more of what you could expect should this thing ever get built. Nothing fancy, does the job and has enough seats to accomodate fans.

When the MLS starts learning how to run their teams in terms of getting talented players, I'll get excited about it again. Until then, I'm watching Serie A and the Premiership.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

BostonSkyGuy said:
I really like the Swedish and Belgian stadiums, but there's no way those are what the Revolution would get in Somerville or East Boston or anywhere on the planet. Those are world class stadiums (even with smaller seating capacities) and the price tag would be too much for an MLS team to dole out. Look at the English stadium for more of what you could expect should this thing ever get built. Nothing fancy, does the job and has enough seats to accommodate fans. When the MLS starts learning how to run their teams in terms of getting talented players, I'll get excited about it again. Until then, I'm watching Serie A and the Premiership.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, a member of the Revolution front office recently indicated that the Kraft family is prepared to commit $100 million dollars towards a stadium for the Revolution. Granted, that's not nearly enough to build something like the Artveldestadion in Belgium which has a price tag of 100 million Euro. That being said, the DSB Stadion which was built for AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands was recently completed (2006) for only 38 million Euro, roughly $60 million dollars. It has a capacity of 17,000, the usual good number of luxury boxes and executive seats, etc.:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/DSB_Stadium.jpg

Another example would be Stadion Euroborg where FC Gronigen plays in the Netherlands. Their new ground, only about 3 years old, was built for 29.4 million Euro, or approximately ~$46 million . It has a capacity of 20,000:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2241/2414111687_293e79c027_b.jpg

Finally, the SK Slavia Praha Stadium/Stadion Eden linked in an earlier post and seen in an artist's rendering below cost 40 million Euro to build, that being approx. $63 million:

uvodni-stranka_v.jpg


In short, the Revolution could certainly find themselves in a world class stadium, albeit a smaller one, for the money the Krafts may be willing to invest.
 
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Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

100million or no, the bigger obstacle to getting one of these is the atrocious american stadium tastes. Regardless of budget I bet Kraft already has HOK on retainer to do some blocky, ugly, possibly faux-retro pile of bricks and plastic seats.

Gillette Stadium cost over 300 million, enough said
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Pierce said:
100million or no, the bigger obstacle to getting one of these is the atrocious american stadium tastes. Regardless of budget I bet Kraft already has HOK on retainer to do some blocky, ugly, possibly faux-retro pile of bricks and plastic seats.
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I hope to God that the Krafts decide to come up with a design that's a bit different than what's already been produced in terms of MLS stadia. Come up with a design that has a roof covering all seating sections, have the seats angled where they're right on top of the action, and set a new standard in terms of aesthetics.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Actually, the Somerville stadium has already been built.

Here's a photo from a recent soccer match:

EmptyStadium.jpg
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

JimboJones said:
Actually, the Somerville stadium has already been built. Here's a photo from a recent soccer match.
Click to expand...

Wow, that was constructive :rolleyes:. FWIW, the Revolution are currently averaging 16,494 per home match, and that's easily 3/4 of a stadium with a capacity of 20,000, which would make it look just a bit removed from this:

SK4N7488.jpg
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

^^^ In Foxboro.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I'm sorry; I know I'm a broken record about it. But it was funny!
 
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