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Krafts look at Frontage Road for possible soccer stadium
By adamg on Tue, 11/18/2014 - 7:15am
The Globe reports the owners of the Revolution are talking to the city about possibly buying land along Frontage Road for a stadium that would get their team out of Foxboro and closer to where potential fans live. The city now uses the land for storing DPW trucks, salt and towed cars.
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Comments
Kraft High Chairs in the BRA Renderings?
I can't wait to see them. NBC's shot of "Mr. Kraft" and Jonathan having to lean back in regular luxury box chairs in Indy on Sunday was beautiful.
This is a great site and not much more in walking distance from Broadway as is Kenmore to the back side of Fenway.
Can we move the city yard to the Arborway Yard? You know centrally located with quick access to multiple neighborhoods?
Agree, except for last sentence
Arborway Yard is a good location for transit oriented development. It needs to be reserved for housing.
That's a nice thought, but....
Every house needs a place to put their vacuum cleaner and brooms. The Arborway Yard has been used for over a century to meet the needs of all of the city, mostly as a point to hold trolleys, then buses which shuttle people from JP, Roslindale, Hyde Park, West Roxbury, and dare I say, Dedham closer to the core of the city. It is a great place for a broom closet.
Despite the evidence of climate change, it still snows here, a lot, and streets need to be plowed. You need someplace to keep everything. Arborway provides quick access to JP, Hyde Park, Roslindale, West Roxbury, Mattapan, Roxbury, and parts of Dot. It would be a great site, level, in government ownership, and has been a noxious use since the Taft administration.
There are plenty of places with sites that could support TOD in the city. Let me think; Green Street, Stony Brook, Jackson Square, Roxbury Crossing, Andrew, JFK UMass, Savin Hill, Ashmont, Mattapan Square, Suffolk Downs, Sullivan Square, Community College. Very few of these places have the locational attributes of Forest Hills, which by the way is getting a good heap of TOD anyway.
Broom Closets
I completely agree, such facilities are necessary. But we still have some locations that would serve better. The area between Canterbury and American Legion Hwy, for example, could host such a facility. Or perhaps the area behind the Stop and Shop on American Legion. Neither location is well suited for front facing development, but could do very well for storage sheds.
Anyway, a replacement location would have to be found, but this one on frontage road would be great for the soccer stadium. It is two blocks from the Red Line, and also close to the Silver (which could even serve an events only supplemental routing). It is also close to two densely populated neighborhoods, likely generating quite a few walking fans.
Oxymoron
great [location] for the soccer stadium
Great and soccer NEVER belong in the same sentence.
As my football coach used to say (at the height of the Cold War) because we had to share the field with them:
Soccer is a communist plot to undermine the youth of America.
30 years later - It worked. Harumph :-)
Thanks, Hank Hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZaGWGAMjus
It's been quite some time since the Cold War, and if you stepped outside of the basement for the first time in 30 years, you would find that not only is soccer the most participated youth sport throughout the country, but also one of the most watched events on Saturday and Sunday mornings thanks to the Premiership broadcasting on NBCSN.
As a 33 year-old passionate for Chelsea FC, and as an athlete playing both semi-pro football and with an amateur over-30 soccer league, I'm thrilled with the rise of interest in international football over the past couple decades as my age group - a generation that grew up playing youth soccer - grows with and continues to follow the game, the clubs and the players. People like you, Stevil, who blindly bash something they cannot or will not even attempt to understand, are welcome to continue grumbling about "the good ol' days" from whatever sideline has you benched, or you can find the rest of us cheering our throats coarse at the pub on weekend mornings. Please feel free to join!
#KeepTheBlueFlagFlyingHigh
I can appreciate good sports
I've recently come to appreciate hockey late in life after someone explained it to me a little more. I LOVE lacrosse - even though I've never played it. I grew up playing a little basketball - and still hate the NBA (college is worth the watch).
Sorry - I've watched it - and have absolutely no interest.
As for viewership - lots of people watch NASCAR too - doesn't make it interesting to watch 40 drivers go around in circles for a couple hours. Pretty similar to guys in shorts running in circles for a few hours at 1/100th the speed.
How can you can appreciate something you don't understand?
I understand your opinions and perspective, but simply "watching" a game - especially one you don't fully understand - is not the best way to form judgement or find interest. Like you said, after someone explained hockey in greater detail, you found a new appreciation for the sport. Come down to the Banshee in Dorchester one morning for a Chelsea match and watch the game in an environment as passionate as you will find in any fanbase for any sport, and I guarantee you will walk out of the bar with a fresh perspective. We're all friendly, knowledgable and approachable folks, and personally speaking, would be thrilled to discuss the game and its intricacies with you. Ask for Andrew!
p.s. I work for a company specializing in Formula 1 licensing and sponsorships. Before I started, I had no concept, tolerance or appreciation for motorsport until I attended my first event. I still wouldn't sit in front of a TV for a few hours to watch multimillion dollar toys race around a track, but immersing myself in that culture has certainly brought new appreciation for the sport.
formula 1 I like
If it's Grand Prix, not Indy cars. Cars going in circles is boring.
Andrew - really just kidding - I don't care if other people like one sport over another. I like to watch golf - but I can 100% understand how other people would rather watch paint dry (can't say watch the grass grow because that actually does happen during a round of golf-so much so that it can impact the outcome).
I also get that these guys are talented athletes.
I can assure you, no amount of explaining will get me to like the game though. I like games that have huge drama where even a seemingly insurmountable lead can be overcome with a game ending charge. It's rare and hard in any sport - but it's almost physically impossible in soccer (perhaps the same reason I'm not a huge fan of motorsports, nobody comes from 16 laps behind in the last 5 laps).
I'm sure you can cite me examples - but that's in history. You get that almost every night in baseball, football etc. Hell - just ask the Celtics about that over the last 3 straight games they played (what is wrong with those guys?!). Different strokes....
Got you, Stevil.
You don't like soccer for the same reason I don't like chocolate - millions of people might love it, but it's just not for me. Again, I completely respect your opinion, and the invite to The Banshee stands for as long as I'll be bleeding Chelsea blue, which is forever.
p.s. In regards to drama (and in spite of my dislike towards Liverpool), check out some highlights of the 2005 Champions Cup final if you have a few minutes.
p.p.s. This company is starting work with IndyCar, Nascar, Tudor, and MotoGP teams and racing series' in 2015. It took a lot of time for me to appreciate Formula 1, but the idea of watching these cars race on an oval track with no curves, hills or narrow streets to navigate... guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Everyone is entitled to their own stupid opinion...
...as i like to say!
the one sport where height doesn't matter (that much), where you don't get left in right field picking your nose or dandelions (running is part of it), where the objective is not physically decimating your opponent, where you don't need a stick or mask or court, or rink, or hoop of any kind, and where all it takes is two and something resembling a ball...the reason for it's popularity may have something to do with it's international flavor (see World Cup, albeit organized by a nasty organization)--dem commies... it's a pretty raw game without a lot of accoutrements. But I admit it may be an acquired taste.
Soccer is alive, Long Live Futbol!
Yawn
We are now generations into soccer participation. I'm pushing 50 and I played, and I coached a generation of kids now coming of age who participated in a massive expansion of Soccer teams and facilities.
Sorry, but, you're way behind the curve on this one.
Cover your mouth.
Did you have something to contribute to the discussion aside from reminding everyone how ahead of the curve you feel that you are?
Yawn
I'm not ahead of the curve at all. The market for soccer is there, and it is growing with each generation.
That was the point.
Your point being "HEY EVERYONE LOOKIT! I'M EMPLOYING LEVELING MECHANISMS AT AN UPPITY WOMAN. I'M SO COOL!"
Yawn. Give me three laps and go kick it against the wall for the rest of the round.
If that was your point...
... then just come out with it. My point was "why knock it it if you don't understand it?" until you chimed in with a comment impossible to determine at whom it was directed.
And just to continue fostering each other's festering uppityness, a (singular) soccer game is called a "match," not a round. I hope the generations you coached knew better than that, and to view running as part of training, not as a punishment.
Fine then
US Youth Soccer Annual Registration of Players
1974 - 103,432
1980 - 810,793
1985 - 1,210,408
1990 - 1,615,041
1995 - 2,388,719
2000 - 3,020,442
2005 - 3,050,465
2007 - 3,123,698
2008 - 3,148,114
2009 - 3,094,868
2010 - 3,036,438
2011 - 3,025,551
2012 - 3,020,633
This is only one of the organizations - between 1980 (when I started playing) and 2010 (last year that I coached) there was a three-fold increase in participation.
Even in 1980, when club soccer was less common than school teams, there were still nearly a million people playing.
Add in all the grandparents who came to every game, and people who moved to the US from countries where the sport is well established, and that's a lot of people who know the game in the US.
No longer second class sport.
fyi: we did "rounds" in practice - standard rubric in our league. I wouldn't bench a kid for a whole match unless he'd gotten in the grill of a team mate (and that included my hothead younger son).
Hooray!
Brilliant data to back up parts of our respective sentiments.
(For the record, I'm not being sarcastic in the least)
Like I said
Communist plot to undermine the youth of America.
It worked.
Damned kids today. Stay offa my lawn (and outta my luxury ice fishing yachts in the harbor).
La la la la la, la la la la la
Oops - sorry about your window. Can you give our ball back, please?
We'll get off your lawn now.
Andrew
Hey Swirley grrl don't worry about what this knucklehead Andrew has to say. He's Irish and living here on a expired work visa. The Banshee is all Irish Immigrants wearing soccer shirts pounding down Guiness at 8:15 AM. I live across from there and see them stumbling out on to Dot. Ave with puke on their soccer shirts.. Yeah i'd like to hang out with ANDREW down the Banshee so he can give me soccer tips while pounding down Irish Whiskey and Guiness at 8:00 in the morning. Can't wait to learn, NOT!
Shrug -- don't go then
I'm not a big soccer fan either, but I've taken the kids down to Foxboro a few times because it's cheap family entertainment. And coming from Rozzie, that's a pretty easy trip. This location will probably be less easy for me. But my lack of interest in soccer does not translate to a lack of interest in strong civic institutions, This will be a net good for Boston whether or not you and I make use of it.
That's an odd thing for coach to say
Given that the NFL seems pretty socialist. Where else in American business are you given the best recruits for being the worst in your industry? The NFL even has a salary cap.
Meanwhile, most soccer leagues (excluding the MLS) are viciously caplitalist. The best players go to the teams that can pay the most, there is no draft system, and in most leagues if you are the worst team they kick your loser team out. In the British FA you can even found your own team, start at the bottom level, and climb your way through the ranks. F.C. United of Manchester was founded basically as a protest team and has been climbing the levels ever since. Good luck doing the same with a protest football team.
If anything, soccer is a capitalist's wet dream.
Au contraire
The NFL is capitalism at its worst. Oligopolists preserving the status quo to enhance their own wealth (beyond anything any soccer team owner can ever hope for). This was also in 1980 before anyone over here knew there was even such a thing as a Premier League outside the local bowling alley.
It will create traffic tie
It will create traffic tie ups in the o'neil tunnel , very bad idea. It will be like the old days when boston had loads of traffic on the expressway, Mr Kraft and his grown children should look elsewhere. Why don't they buy Harvard stadium or lease the stadium from Harvard University.
traffic? in the city? well i
traffic? in the city? well i never.
*clutches pearls*
The Garden is on the other
The Garden is on the other end of the tunnel, it's not the end of the world anytime a Celtics or Bruins game ends
I would imagine
that Harvard does not want to sell or lease Harvard stadium. They don't really need the money.
Using this logic, events should never be held in the city again, because that will create traffic. Let’s just put them all in a suburb like, oh I don't know, maybe Foxborough. That's far enough away from the city, I'm sure traffic will be a breeze there.
Keep Soccer stadiums out of
Keep Soccer stadiums out of Boston neighborhood's!
Longtime Boston residents dealt with gridlock traffic throughout the 1970s 1980s & 1990s from Sumner Tunnel to the Southeast Expressway, Ask yourselve's this question South Boston residents, Do you want to sit in traffic in your own neighborhood?
Excuses, blaming that their soccer games are not selling out, because it's far from their fan base in Boston.
Why don't they knock down some Mansions in Chestnut hill, Waban, Newton, and build it there.
The best way to reduce
The best way to reduce traffic for things like this stadium would be to locate it near a transit stop (like this), make a nice safe walk from that and other stops (needs to be improved in this case, especially coming from South End, but totally doable), and limit the number of parking spaces. People who really want to go will predominately take the T (or walk/bike if they live closer).
Olympic speculation
Presuming Boston is truly on a short list for 2026 or thereabouts, might this be speculation on creating an Olympic venue ?
Hmmmm......
Too small
MLS says even their playoff attendance was only about 20,000 and the Krafts specifically want something smaller than Gillette for the Revs - I'd see it being 25k max. For an Olympic stadium you'll need to hold 60k-100k.
Don't forget there's a
Don't forget there's a methadone clinic there, too. What neighborhood is willing to accept displaced zombies and the bs problems that follow them?
Fenway
There used to be a methadone clinic in Kenmore. *poof*
I support this.
American soccer fans are not your typical suburban meatheads like fans of the Pats, Bruins, Cs and Sox.
I support this only if not one cent of taxpayer money is used. Krafty has plenty of cash.
- The Original SoBo Yuppie
Meatheads?
Because soccer fan are so peaceful! Cant remember the last time Bruins fans murdered a ref, soccer on the other hand.......
Yes, because something in Brazil is very relevant here
A little closer to home:
The worst a Bruins fan can be: Leafs fan punched out at Garden after Bruins loss.
..and people
...can't figure out why I root against all the local team and want their stadiums/arenas built in New Hampshire. sigh....
Its Plural Challenged Anon!
Hi plural challenged anon! Bring you absolute statement from complete oblivious fact-free viewpoint!
Your bizarre punctuation is kind of cute, too.
To Be Fair, Soccer Fans Come In Many Shapes And Sizes
Adorable
n/t
Because being a suburban fan has any relevance
Huh?
No shortage of meatheads within the city limits
there is a controversial..
..recycling facility working its way through city approvals for a building contiguous to the site. In the Globe rendering, it is the square building just to the south of the stadium site. I wonder if the two are compatible?
Would Love Rev In Boston
I'd love to Rev in Boston. I will probably never go to a game in Foxboro because I don't want to deal with the drive & traffic. MBTA doesn't run the special service trains for soccer games that they run for the Pats.
I'd love to see the Pats play closer to the city too, but that's probably more of a pipe dream (Unless we get the Olympics? ). I'd actually hate to see the traffic in the city for that, but I'd love to be able to just take the subway.
I went to a few this summer
I went to a few this summer and there wasn't much traffic. With the gates opening two hours before game time, head down early, grill some hot dogs and enjoy some beer (of the root variety, of course!) and soak in the sun.
Even the last playoff game wasn't awful, and I got there about 30 minutes before game time and I had enough time to drive around the entire stadium (not by choice), get back to the movie theater parking lot, down a growler (of root beer!) and buy tickets.
No way in hell they can fit a
No way in hell they can fit a stadium there without either relocating the Amtrak and MBTA maintenance facilities as well, or building it on top of them. Good luck doing either.
The renders show them not
The renders show them not touching either. The BTD lot and the proposed recycling center are the only issues. The BTD lot can go somewhere else, and the neighbors didn't like the recycling center anyway.
I know, and those renders
I know, and those renders make me think either the stadium is going to be absolutely tiny, or the renderings are not to scale, and this don't show the true size, because honestly that lot is barely even wide enough for the field, much less a stadium surrounding it.
begs to ask
Kraft has enough money, but I can't help but wonder how much is he expecting the tax payers to kick in. He already tried to get a pedestrian bridge installed at Gillette to connect his stadium to his parking lots, and wanted the tax payers to foot a good chunk of the bill.
I support this idea if he pays for it himself with no tax payer money.
Bostonians are too smart...
..to allow him to get any taxpayer money.
(or at least I would like to think so).
He paid for Gillette out of
He paid for Gillette out of pocket. Not sure why he wanted money for the foot bridge, but there's precedent for him paying the cost of the stadium.
Well, yes, but ...
Only after his attempt to blackmail the state by threatening to move to Hartford didn't work and he suddenly realized that he was going to be stuck with a team in Hartford if he didn't build a new stadium on his own in Foxboro.
Quite simple
You can't get it if you don't ask for it
Suffolk Downs
Put the stadium at Suffolk Downs and forget this pipe dream of Boston hosting the Olympics.
Exactly!
I've been saying that for years!
Call Me Crazy
But it just seems to make more sense than Southie. The venue exists, the T is accessible and it could probably be built in half the time it would take to build it in Southie.
Wonderdog Location
Revere has been talking about building a soccer stadium at the abandoned Wonderland Dog Track location. It's situated directly between the Wonderland Blue Line Station and the Commuter Rail tracks. A new Commuter Rail station has been suggested, with a bridge connecting the two together as part of the development.
Since the dog track closed, the vast parking lot is apparently used by mysterious alien spaceships. One moment, the lot will be completely empty, then, seemingly a few minutes later it'll be completely filled with cars. Bizarre!
Like this
I like this location, except for one thing.. its already on a crowded section of 1A. The wonderland rotary just blows and all the traffic gets stuck on N Shore Road (1A) at Bell Circle. Then again... hard to avoid traffic no matter where the stadium is..
I only go to one or two revs
I only go to one or two revs games a year now, cause the commute to foxboro is awful. If this actually happens, I'll be one of the many jumping in line for season tickets. Marty, make this happen, and make it happen now.
Lateral move
Parked trucks and a salt pile are about as interesting as a soccer game
Thanks Deep Thinker
When I watch Steven Gerrard set up a shot by tweaking one past a defender to Daniel Sturridge or Raheem Sterling who then fires it past Joe Hart, I find it a beautiful thing.
Granted the Revs are a AA to AAA form of soccer, but you appear to have a rookie league to Low A form of thinking when it comes to the game based on your comment.
Uh huh
What? Is it time to renew for next year's tickets?
This story is like clockwork. Above the Green Line, somewhere in Somerville, maybe Assembly Square...
I'll believe it when I see the project....
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
kick off.
*YEEEEAAAHHH*
well
it going into Assembly is dead. Partners Healthcare now owns/leased that entire empty lot from Broadway/28/Maffa Way to the-former IKEA Way... (which btw, is funny because on Gmaps its called "Revolution Drive") and will be consolidating facilities to that one location.
But yeah you are right.. this pops up every year around this time. I seriously wonder if Kraft wants the tax payers to pay for it because its brought up every year and nothing is done. I wonder if the pol's said "sure we'll kick in XXX Million to make this happen" if Kraft would bite and it would no longer be a pipe dream.
You can plan your year around
You can plan your year around the day the Globe pushes a new "Revs stadium in the works" article. By mere coincidence, its right when they need to sell next years season tickets.
I liike soccer. I have never been to a Revs game
because I am not interested in spending the time and money associated with driving to PatriotLand to see one.
I would, however, go to see the Revs several times a year if a stadium is built in town (e.g., Suffolk Downs, Frontage, near Foss Park in Somerville, all of which have been suggested over the past few years).
I think that they would sell out nearly every game, and we would very quickly have a super-dedicated fan base for the local side.
I, for one, would much rather have this in town than a casino, but the votes have been cast on that.
And right next to the new
And right next to the new homeless shelter!
That would be a plus
Employment available.
Is there a shortage of land in Boston?
Why does everything have to go in just one space.
So, we'll have:
Olympic stadium
Amtrak facility
Tow lot
Homeless shelter
Soccer stadium
Sand & gravel facility
DELIGHTFUL
No
Boston is full of vast quantities of open, unused land. That's why it's so cheap to buy property in the city.
/s
/s
Land is cheap
Land is cheap outside of the 6 square miles of downtown.
Do you need a lesson in supply & demand and Economics 101?
Tell that to anyone in the following towns:
Newton, Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, yadda yadda yadda.
Land is cheap once you cross into Maine. Or over the Hudson.
Or trains?
MassDOT/MBTA is looking at that same land for a rail car storage yard. It's on their short list under current long-range plans as published at the web site.
This will be interesting.