There's no definitive timeline on when the New England Revolution are going build a new soccer-specific stadium in the city of Boston, but investor-operator Jonathan Kraft says he's still very much committed to the project and reiterated that he believes it can take the club to a whole new level.
Speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, Kraft said he still sees moving the club's home games into the city as a preeminent game-changer as far as how the club is marketed and will appeal to fans.
Kraft said that the club has looked at the success of fellow MLS clubs LAFC and Atlanta United, and is hoping to follow similar blueprints in order to maximize attendance and enthusiasm. The Revs currently play their homes games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which they share with the NFL's New England Patriots.
"In our minds, we have a lot we want to do with the branding and the fan experience that really can't happen until we come to the city," Kraft said in quotes reported by The Boston Globe. "When we come into the city, I think you'll see the brand and the way we market the team, and what we try to create in the venue, that will be very different than what exists in Gillette. We will definitely take a lot of what we've seen at LAFC and Atlanta and other cities and try to improve on it."
That's a continuation of the message Revs ownership and head coach Bruce Arena have been conveying in what they say is a new era for the club — which started with the hiring of Arena last May and the opening of a state-of-the-art $35 million training facility in December.
In July 2018, Kraft said in an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub that he felt the idea of a new centralized soccer-specific stadium was getting support from the leadership of the city of Boston, and that he thinks it will spark enthusiasm around the club that will rival what can be found in the league's most successful markets.
"I think when we have a soccer-specific venue, in a city like Boston — that's both so sports crazy, but with the young, millennial population, who love and understand this game — I think you're going to see the energy and excitement level rival any of the other cities in this country where soccer has been totally embraced in the mainstream sports culture," Kraft said.
Upon unveiling the club's state-of-the-art training facility in December, Revs owner Robert Kraft said that "getting a stadium in the city remains our priority, but this is New England and things take a little longer."
