Even though there's been little in the way of news on the issue lately, the New England Revolution continue to quietly pursue the downtown, soccer-specific stadium their fans crave, according to club owner/investor Jonathan Kraft.
The Revs are flying high after their 7-3 aggregate demolition of the Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, with the club's home leg drawing a club-record playoff crowd to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
But Kraft (right) made clear on a Boston sports-talk radio appearance on Tuesday that the team's long-term future lies away from Gillette, the 68,000-plus-seat facility the Revs share with the NFL's New England Patriots.
The club “belongs in Boston or the immediate surrounding area,” Kraft said in an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
“They belong in a city with public transportation,” he continued, “where new Americans and the 20-, 30- and 40-year-olds who played the game and live in and around urban areas want to go to it. And it’s a different kind of vibe than a suburban football stadium has.”
Kraft said he believes Boston Mayor Marty Walsh shares that vision, and will assist in the Revolution's long-running search for a suitable site for their future home. The club has played in Foxborough - roughly 30 miles from Boston - since their inception in 1996.
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“I think [Walsh] understands the power and the value to a community of one of these facilities,” said Kraft, who decrisbed himself as “hopeful” for a breakthrough in the “near future.”
“It’s something we’ve been working on for a while,” he said, “and we’ve come very close with a couple of situations over the past half dozen years and they didn’t happen. Because of that we’re just going to stay quiet until we have something.”
“So hopefully we’ll be able to do it and then create the special atmosphere that exists in many other venues around the league.”
