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

Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Wonderland would also provide additional impetus for Red-Blue Connector.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

More Revs stadium news/rumors:

https://nesn.com/2019/05/mls-rumors-revolution-close-to-securing-soccer-stadium-site-in-boston/

The only reason I am inclined to believe it this time is due to the recent hiring of Bruce Arena. It means that the Kraft’s made a real commitment to investing in the team. No way they get Arena to agree to the job without that. So expect the Revs to spend big in the next few years both on players and possibly even a SSS.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Cobean said:
More Revs stadium news/rumors:

https://nesn.com/2019/05/mls-rumors-revolution-close-to-securing-soccer-stadium-site-in-boston/

The only reason I am inclined to believe it this time is due to the recent hiring of Bruce Arena. It means that the Kraft’s made a real commitment to investing in the team. No way they get Arena to agree to the job without that. So expect the Revs to spend big in the next few years both on players and possibly even a SSS.
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Wow, I'm surprised that old news hadn't been posted here yet. That rumor came on the morning of the day that Mike Burns was fired (5/13). The next day, Bruce would be announced. And yeah, willing to believe anything is possible this time around because we've never fired Mike Burns before. We're in uncharted waters.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

datadyne007 said:
Wow, I'm surprised that old news hadn't been posted here yet. That rumor came on the morning of the day that Mike Burns was fired (5/13). The next day, Bruce would be announced. And yeah, willing to believe anything is possible this time around because we've never fired Mike Burns before. We're in uncharted waters.
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That NESN article was nothing more than clickbait that regurgitated a rumor presented in an Athletic story posted a week prior.

Nothing to see here for now.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

It's one of these six locations. Trust me; I'm psychic.

Where will the NE Revolution build a new stadium? One of these locations. (The stadium & parking lots cover ~20 acres of land.)

1. Hood Park
2. Suffolk Downs
3. Cambridge Crossing / NorthPoint
4. Gillette parcels (Gillette will sell & move)
5. Parcel 25 (Kneeland St)
6. Boston Edison (1165 Mass Ave)

Why? Single landowners for each, including two that are controlled by the same entity (HYM owns NorthPoint and Suffolk Downs).
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

JohnAKeith said:
It's one of these six locations. Trust me; I'm psychic.

Where will the NE Revolution build a new stadium? One of these locations. (The stadium & parking lots cover ~20 acres of land.)

1. Hood Park
2. Suffolk Downs
3. Cambridge Crossing / NorthPoint
4. Gillette parcels (Gillette will sell & move)
5. Parcel 25 (Kneeland St)
6. Boston Edison (1165 Mass Ave)

Why? Single landowners for each, including two that are controlled by the same entity (HYM owns NorthPoint and Suffolk Downs).
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hood park/suffolk downs/cambridge crossing These sites are all in the process of being developed with no soccer stadium.
Gilette parcels are way to valuable to use for a soccer specific stadium. The cost of buying that land and building would be prohibitive.
Not sure about 5. and 6. but I'd imagine they'd face the same issues as gilette site. Too expensive to buy and build.

I think putting it somewhere near Wellington and the Encore could be a good idea. If they could secure a site around there, by the time they finish building, there'll be a fairly decent infrastructure for visitors (off peak). That area of the Mystic becomes an entertainment hub.

It's all just day dreaming as there is absolutely no incentive for Kraft to take the revs out of Foxboro.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Ruairi said:
hood park/suffolk downs/cambridge crossing These sites are all in the process of being developed with no soccer stadium.
Gilette parcels are way to valuable to use for a soccer specific stadium. The cost of buying that land and building would be prohibitive.
Not sure about 5. and 6. but I'd imagine they'd face the same issues as gilette site. Too expensive to buy and build.

I think putting it somewhere near Wellington and the Encore could be a good idea. If they could secure a site around there, by the time they finish building, there'll be a fairly decent infrastructure for visitors (off peak). That area of the Mystic becomes an entertainment hub.

It's all just day dreaming as there is absolutely no incentive for Kraft to take the revs out of Foxboro.
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Well, the vision can't just be "a stadium" for it to make any sense in or immediately around Boston. Those days are hopefully long past where people are going to throw up a stadium in a cheap field surrounded by parking just off a highway... at least around here. That is a dead end kind of development and it has taken literally decades (and championships) for the Krafts to make Gillette stadium into its own standalone destination with retail at Patriot Place.

A stadium has to make sense as just one of the anchors to a mixed use development. The Krafts would have to have development/ownership rights to some of that surrounding development for it to make sense financially.

Otherwise they are putting in a lot of capital for merely ticket sales, onsite merchandising and a cut of concessions? That doesn't make financial sense with high property values. The stadium has to be a more general purpose venue with concerts and events integrated with more uses and so that restaurants and retail can benefit from the surges for games and events.

Given the previous pace of some of that planned development around Boston I think there is still some time to find a space for a new stadium. Some of the parcels have been talked about for development for literally decades and I could see a few of those large redevelopable parcels not changing use for another 20 years even if the current building boom continues.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

The real issue from Kraft's perspective is: he draws 18,347 people on average to each match at Gillette. That's pretty close to a sellout and in line with teams in soccer-specific stadiums (KC, San Jose, Salt Lake, New York, Montreal, DC, and Houston).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_attendance

Taking DC as an example since their stadium is urban, transit-accessible, and brand new, if he's outdrawing Audi Field today, how much more of a ceiling does Revs attendance have? Atlanta and Seattle draw tons to downtown venues, but those are NFL facilities and Kraft isn't building one of those - he's building between 20,000 and 25,000 seats.

Assuming consistent sellouts in the new venue, that's still only about 2-5k more fans per game than he has right now, and he'd be missing out on parking revenue and revenue from pregame and postgame drinking and eating that's currently happening in Patriot Place. The stadium is expected to cost him $400 million to build, and he'll probably lose money per match relative to the current state. A new stadium simply makes no sense unless Revs fans start voting with their feet and staying home.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

BosDevelop said:
Is parking for Revs game not free? I went a few times and don't remember ever paying for parking.
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yea, I've never paid.
Still tho, bar 'a stadium down town would be great fun' there's no real incentives to move. The optimist in me hopes that they've promised Bruce Arena 'something fun'.
Not holding my breath tho.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

dshoost88 said:
Here's another thought: why not put a stadium at Wellington Station? A deck over the railyard immediately between the skywalk pedestrian bridge and Route 16 is probably large enough to accommodate a Major League Soccer stadium.
- Excellent transit connectivity to Orange Line and multiple major bus routes.
- Wynn/Encore transportation funds will mean some sort of improvement at Wellington Circle (Rt. 16 + Rt. 28 intersection).
- Stadium proximity to very densely-populated neighborhoods with presumably high number of soccer fans (large foreign-born population nearby).
- Mystic & Malden River bike path recent and ongoing improvements provide additional options for people to bike to the site.

I moved near Wellington Station in recent months and think a lot about the higher and better use potential of the site. The site is no further from Boston's Downtown than the Allston Pike or Bayside Expo sites, but that Orange Line connection is a pretty critical difference. Heck, it's only a 25-minute walk away from Encore Boston Harbor.
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Ruairi said:
I think putting it somewhere near Wellington and the Encore could be a good idea. If they could secure a site around there, by the time they finish building, there'll be a fairly decent infrastructure for visitors (off peak). That area of the Mystic becomes an entertainment hub.
Click to expand...

Good! I'm not the only one!
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Equilibria said:
The real issue from Kraft's perspective is: he draws 18,347 people on average to each match at Gillette. That's pretty close to a sellout and in line with teams in soccer-specific stadiums (KC, San Jose, Salt Lake, New York, Montreal, DC, and Houston).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_attendance

Taking DC as an example since their stadium is urban, transit-accessible, and brand new, if he's outdrawing Audi Field today, how much more of a ceiling does Revs attendance have? Atlanta and Seattle draw tons to downtown venues, but those are NFL facilities and Kraft isn't building one of those - he's building between 20,000 and 25,000 seats.

Assuming consistent sellouts in the new venue, that's still only about 2-5k more fans per game than he has right now, and he'd be missing out on parking revenue and revenue from pregame and postgame drinking and eating that's currently happening in Patriot Place. The stadium is expected to cost him $400 million to build, and he'll probably lose money per match relative to the current state. A new stadium simply makes no sense unless Revs fans start voting with their feet and staying home.
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The Revs are in the midst of a bad season, so it's not terribly surprising their attendance is down vs. last year. However, they're still either beating or on par with other cities that have soccer specific stadiums - Columbus, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas and Houston. Looking at the 5 teams above the Revs shows they're all at lower attendance numbers vs. last year.

Bob Kraft is a smart businessman - he's not going to throw down a larger chunk of money if there's no clear guarantee he'll recoup his investment and then start making money. He already has a modern stadium that he owns, surrounded by retail that he also owns. It's not a slam dunk proposition to ask him to build a 22-25,000 seat soccer stadium in an area where land costs alone can be into the 9 figures.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

Can we rename this thread as something else? Maybe "Revolution Stadium Discussion". It's a pet peeve that it's titled after one Globe article for a site that didn't end up working.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

sm89 said:
Can we rename this thread as something else? Maybe "Revolution Stadium Discussion". It's a pet peeve that it's titled after one Globe article for a site that didn't end up working.
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Also, technically it should probably be in design a better Boston or something because every actual stadium proposal that was ever made public has been shot down.

We might as well have an active thread about the Megaplex or the Olympics.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

mass88 said:
The Revs are in the midst of a bad season, so it's not terribly surprising their attendance is down vs. last year. However, they're still either beating or on par with other cities that have soccer specific stadiums - Columbus, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas and Houston. Looking at the 5 teams above the Revs shows they're all at lower attendance numbers vs. last year.
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The clubs you mention have soccer-specific stadiums, but Chicago's, Colorado's, and Dallas's are in outlying suburbs as opposed to a desirable downtown location that can maximize attendance like Orlando or DC United (two recently-built SSS, and the type that the Revs ostensibly want to build).

Columbus's stadium is downtown near the OSU campus, but they've had a lot of recent off-field ownership drama, including a near-relocation to Austin, which is the biggest reason for their poor attendance figures.

I don't know what's up with Houston.
 
Re: Site in Hub top choice for a soccer stadium

sm89 said:
Can we rename this thread as something else? Maybe "Revolution Stadium Discussion". It's a pet peeve that it's titled after one Globe article for a site that didn't end up working.
Click to expand...

This thread is 13 years old next week. Where's your sense of nostalgia?

Some things are meant to be unchanged.
 
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