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

Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

mass88 said:
A 70,000 seat stadium right in Boston would be used more than 10 times a year. Gillette as it stands now hosts more than 10 events a year. Between concerts, other sporting events (Brazil vs. Portugal for example) and meetings, there usually is pretty good use.


I also think with the infrastructure we have in place, getting to/from the stadium if it were located in South Boston would be a nightmare. The highways and main surface streets in Boston are far too small and narrow to handle the crush of cars that would flood the area. Mass transit would not be used that much considering most people tailgate (need a car) before the games.
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No, we don't want a large stadium. The whole point of having a soccer specific stadium (SSS) is to fill it and get the energy and hype high. Right now (while the energy last season was definitely an improvement) the overall energy of Revs games at Gillette is downright depressing and it's not because the fans aren't excited. 14,000 in a stadium that seats 69,000 is just a total mood killer, no matter how many sections you close to get people compacted in.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I've always wondered if the vibe at Gillette would be better for the Revs if they closed more mid level sections and tried to ring the field with people rather than keep everyone on one side.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

HalcyonEra said:
Regarding the Pats, I would disagree somewhat with the demographics of the NFL as I think Foxborough is horrible place for a stadium, especially in terms of infrastructure. Don’t forget how they got there in first place. Billy Sullivan was not your typical NFL owner in terms of wealth. They bounced around various venues in Boston during the 60s and he ultimately was able to build Schaefer Stadium, nothing more than a glorified high school field, for $6M.

In the mid 90's, Kraft, Menino and Weld wanted to build a stadium in the Seaport District (I still refuse to call that area the South Boston Waterfront). The Herald leaked the news along with a salacious headline of “Backroom Deal” or something like that. The old bats of Southie absolutely freaked out, and the local Pols slammed it down. 5 years later, the demographics of Southie had changed and most were then in favor of one. But by then it was too late.

I firmly believe that if they had been able to make a formal announcement about the project with all of the plans thought out, we would have world class facility in the city and close to public transit and the Pike extension / I-93. And I don’t think the typical “whiter, richer, older, suburban” crowd would be so prevalent.
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In 1970, then Owner Billy Sullivan wanted to build in South Boston. The local pols (especially Louise Day Hicks) drove Sullivan out of town on a rail. And the rest is history.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Did you answer Ron's question? I think the Sony/Loewes Theater (building + Parking lot) would be sufficient for a copy of the Red Bull Arena, and so the answer to Ron is "yes"

The Red Bull Arena (New Jersey) appears to have an outer dimension of 600ft x 450ft...which is also about the size of the Sony/Loews building plus its "front" parking lot. (Eyeballing it, the building is 600ft from north to south and about 200 ft wide. Including all its parking lots, the whole site is about 800' at its longest and 600' (but oddly shaped) but they should be able to fit a 600'x450' arena it in the middle of it.
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I think your dimensions are off. I'm eyeballing it at 530 feet wide and 660 feet long. And you aren't going to be able to fit that in that space.

I tend to believe that the Krafts are still looking for parcels in the area
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They aren't. The Revolutions front office has literally been copy and pasting the same statement about a SSS for years.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Proposition Joe said:
They aren't. The Revolutions front office has literally been copy and pasting the same statement about a SSS for years.
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Yup.

Every February.

You know why?

Its when they start their season ticket push.

EVERY YEAR.

MBTAddict said:
I've always wondered if the vibe at Gillette would be better for the Revs if they closed more mid level sections and tried to ring the field with people rather than keep everyone on one side.
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This is what Vancouver is doing until they get their own stadium.

whitecaps_final.jpg
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Proposition Joe said:
I think your dimensions are off. I'm eyeballing it at 530 feet wide and 660 feet long. And you aren't going to be able to fit that in that space.
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Joe? before you hold me up over a 10% difference on the longest dimension and declare "won't fit" how about using your measuring tools for collaboration instead of contradiction?

Work with us here. Taking your 660' max dimension, let's draw a 660' diameter circle on the Sony/Loews site (actually 0.1km radius, but basically right.). Note that the Red Bull Arena would fit in almost any orientation, but would go particularly well if its long dimension were North-South (it would have plenty of "margin")

http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-....08143031597137&r=.1&lc=FFFFFF&lw=1&fc=00FF00

And the nice thing about free map tools is that you can drag the circle around and resize. The Home Depot site even looks to be 575' curb to curb (.087km radius) so you could even fit your 660x530 stadium on the Home Depot site with a little bit of creative siting (start by turning the long dimension to be along the NW-SE axis), and especially if it were downsized from "NY size" to "Boston Size" (cutting the outermost 5 rows of seats?). On the Home Depot site, it would have no margin, but, in that, would look a lot like Fenway on its site with 20' sidewalks.

Revolution Drive seems aptly named.
 
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Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Just for the record, the building at the southern end of the "Sony/Loews site" is not vacant. It is an office building with current tenants that include Planet Fitness, Lincoln Technical Institute, and Cambridge Health Alliance among others. The rectangular former theater at the northern end of the site is the only vacant part.

Perhaps BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston would be a better approximation of a possible Revs stadium than Red Bull Arena would be. The Houston stadium is newer (2012 vs 2010), smaller (22k vs 25k), cheaper ($95 mill vs $200 mill), and more urban (Houston, TX vs Harrison, NJ) than its New York counterpart. Going off of Google Maps, BBVA Compass Stadium is approximately 630 ft by 500 ft. By my eyes, a stadium of that size would fit much better in the Home Depot/Circuit City site than the "Sony/Loews site".
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

JumboBuc said:
Just for the record, the building at the southern end of the "Sony/Loews site" is not vacant. It is an office building with current tenants that include Planet Fitness, Lincoln Technical Institute, and Cambridge Health Alliance among others. The rectangular former theater at the northern end of the site is the only vacant part.
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Yes, but neither is the Home Depot site vacant, so, in this, either site would result in displacing somebody. I agree that Home Depot would displace fewer (and result in tearing down a cheaper-to-acquire building). I took Ron Newman's question about it seriously because I think it shows that Kraft & Curtatone have enough good options that it pays for them to keep talking about a SSS in Somerville.

JumboBuc said:
Perhaps BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston would be a better approximation of a possible Revs stadium than Red Bull Arena would be. The Houston stadium is newer (2012 vs 2010), smaller (22k vs 25k), cheaper ($95 mill vs $200 mill), and more urban (Houston, TX vs Harrison, NJ) than its New York counterpart. Going off of Google Maps, BBVA Compass Stadium is approximately 630 ft by 500 ft. By my eyes, a stadium of that size would fit much better in the Home Depot/Circuit City site than the "Sony/Loews site".
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Thanks for this! A very persuasive use of data! A more-recent, more-urban stadium at half the cost...any smart owner would certainly want a stadium that fit your data points, and it is heartening to think that it could be slotted on the Home Depot - Circuit City site.

Personally, I prefer the HD-CC site for the SSS, in part because it also seems a slightly easier walk from a Washington Street (Brickbottom) GLX stop (~3/4 mile), and Sullivan Square (~1/2 mile) and a better use to butt up against I-93 (being an "inward facing" building that nobody would complain if it turned a blank face all along I-93.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Rebuild the Home Depot under the stadium. The Revs would have to change their color to orange.


I am of course, mostly kidding. It would be kind of cool though.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

davem said:
Rebuild the Home Depot under the stadium. The Revs would have to change their color to orange.

I am of course, mostly kidding. It would be kind of cool though.
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From comments upthread, it seems like the HD isn't the essential utility I thought it was (enough people go to the newer Everett Store), and I'd guess it wouldn't come back (or else move farther from Everett, and deeper into Somerville, like as a re-use of the Target site or Twin City Plaza, should a slot at either become available)

I'm sure Kraft would put an interesting year-round "team store" retail on the ground floor (such as the Celtics-Bruins have at North Station)
 
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Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

davem said:
Rebuild the Home Depot under the stadium. The Revs would have to change their color to orange.


I am of course, mostly kidding. It would be kind of cool though.
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Fun fact: The soccer-specific stadium where the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA play was called "The Home Depot Center" from 2003 to 2013. Bring back the name?...
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

the building at the southern end of the "Sony/Loews site" is not vacant. It is an office building with current tenants that include Planet Fitness, Lincoln Technical Institute, and Cambridge Health Alliance among others.
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And it's a building left over from First National Stores, which I believe built it as a warehouse.

I'd rather not tear it down, but the parking lots surrounding it are surely dispensable.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

I don't think the Krafts would build a stadium for the Revolution in an urban location unless a municipality gave them a lot of public funding to do so. Because that's never going to happen, the Revolution will not have an urban stadium until the team passes to a different ownership group.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Balerion said:
I don't think the Krafts would build a stadium for the Revolution in an urban location unless a municipality gave them a lot of public funding to do so. Because that's never going to happen, the Revolution will not have an urban stadium until the team passes to a different ownership group.
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Kraft wanted to build Gillette in...(Say it with me, folks)...the Seaport with NO tax dollars. Obviously didn't happen, but talks have been in the works in Somerville for a while.

Personally, I like the location. It's close to the North End where ACTUAL Football has a strong following. Plus in Somerville, you have a lot of Brazilians. Not just hipsters who would fill that place. Don't believe me? Take an excursion out to Portland, Oregon. The Timbers sell out...EVERY TIME!!!
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

kingofsheeba said:
Kraft wanted to build Gillette in...(Say it with me, folks)...the Seaport with NO tax dollars. Obviously didn't happen, but talks have been in the works in Somerville for a while.
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Exactly. I'm not sure what the heck Balerion was talking about, but he/she doesn't seem to know much about the Kraft family and its history of being among the owners who have relied the least on public funding of its stadium and other projects. In fact, they turned down a billion dollars plus from Hartford to build in Foxboro with only $70 million in road infrastructure from the state. Not exactly what a strict capitalist would do.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

shmessy said:
Exactly. I'm not sure what the heck Balerion was talking about, but he/she doesn't seem to know much about the Kraft family and its history of being among the owners who have relied the least on public funding of its stadium and other projects. In fact, they turned down a billion dollars plus from Hartford to build in Foxboro with only $70 million in road infrastructure from the state. Not exactly what a strict capitalist would do.
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I think that Balerion was looking for a wee bit of attention.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

If the Revs move to Somerville, they should obviously change their name to Somer Villa or the SomerVillains.
 
Re: Somerville Soccer Stadium

Interesting that there's some soccer media that's following the Revere casino vote. There's a theory that suggests should the Suffolk Downs casino become a reality, that a soccer stadium at Wonderland would eventually follow. Not sure I buy that theory, but it's out there.

Kyle McCarthy ‏@kylejmccarthy 3h
Relevance of Revere casino vote to Revs SSS: casino project occupies municipal attention and energy until decided + uncertainty in market.
6:09 PM - 25 Feb 2014 · Details

George Griffin ‏@nhrevfans 2h
@kylejmccarthy We need more information about the possible synergy of the two projects

Kyle McCarthy ‏@kylejmccarthy 2h
@nhrevfans At the moment, it's a matter of figuring out how the chips will fall first.
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Original Fox25 tweet was also retweeted by former Revs' forward Taylor Twellman, now an analyst for ESPN. Twellman has somehow become exceptionally well connected and has a tendency to be somewhat cryptic with his tweets while wanting his followers to piece the puzzle together.
 
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