New England Revolution dealt blow in hopes of new stadium

New England Revolution has received some disappointing news regarding plans to build a new stadium. Team owners have essentially wanted to move into a new soccer-specific arena for over a decade now. Plans, however, have slowed down to a screeching halt in recent months. The Revs currently share Gillette Stadium with the NFL’s New England Patriots. Both teams are owned by the Kraft Group.

It was previously reported that the Revs picked out a potential spot for a new stadium along with Mystic River. The 45-acre piece of land is in Everett, Massachusetts. Although the property would work for the Major League Soccer side, there are issues with zoning restrictions. Current state law claims that a stadium cannot be built in a specific area. The land sits in a state-regulated zone that only currently permits marine industrial uses.

Local lawmakers were previously thought to be open to changing the zoning restrictions to appease the Revs. Nevertheless, the club has now hit a snag. According to The Boston Globe, Senator Sal DiDomenico was able to get the issue included in the latest version of the economic development bill. Massachusetts House reps, however, failed to incorporate it in time. Formal sessions of the legislators officially ended for the year on Thursday.

Revs owners lash out at lawmakers over delays

There will still likely be discussions regarding the proposed stadium in the future. But the continued delays are discouraging for the Revs and their fans. Among the most disappointed by the news is the Kraft Group. The team’s ownership issued a scathing statement to lawmakers on Friday regarding the holdup.

“This legislative session, our commonwealth missed a vital opportunity to clean up a brownfields site for an environmental justice community, robbing the city of Everett and its community of the ability to remove a dilapidated and decommissioned power plant and remediate a site contaminated over the decades and replace it with a public park, waterfront access, and a privately funded soccer stadium – which was just one piece of this very significant project,” proclaimed the group.

“This inaction on language that had no financial commitments from state or local government has halted the public process to determine the feasibility of this project before it could even begin and passing this legislation was strictly about allowing us to start the process of determining the viability of this project for Everett.”

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Environmentalists previously opposed the new New England Revolution stadium plan

The lack of movement by the Massachusetts House could very well be due to environmental concerns regarding a new stadium. The Conservation Law Foundation previously opposed to rezoning the land to build the arena. In fact, the foundation’s president, Bradley Campbell, even went as far as to call the plan a “backroom deal” in a previous interview.

Gillette Stadium opened in 2002 and is about 22 miles southwest of downtown Boston. The area for the proposed arena in Everett, however, sits just a few miles north of the major city, and team owners are hoping to build a 25,000-seat stadium for the MLS side.

Nevertheless, the news means that the Revs will likely remain at Gillette Stadium for at least the near future. The club currently sits at the bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference standings. They have 11 more regular season top flight games remaining on the schedule, but only four of these fixtures will be at home.

Photo: IMAGO / Agencia-MexSport.