MLS: Revs' Dorchester stadium plans stall

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Apr 28, 2017

Talks between the Kraft Group, owner of the New England Revolution, and the University of Massachusetts to build a 20,000-seat soccer stadium in Dorchester, not far from South Boston, have ended, reported the Boston Globe and Dorchester Reporter.

When D.C. United moves into Audi Field, which it is building in in Buzzard Point in Washington, D.C., the Revs will be the lone MLS founding member without its own stadium. They continue to play at the Krafts' Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots, in Foxboro, 28 miles away from the proposed site.

Columbus (1999), the LA Galaxy (2003), FC Dallas (2005), Colorado (2008), the New York Red Bulls (2010) and Sporting Kansas City (2011) all have built their own stadiums.

The Revs would have leased the property from UMass and then privately funded the $250 million cost of the construction of the stadium.

UMass spokesman Jeff Cournoyer told the Globe and Reporter the stadium project "doesn’t appear feasible at this point.” Several reasons were cited for the collapse of talks:

-- Local opposition to the influx of traffic into an urban neighborhood;
-- Local concerns about not being included in talks over determining the best use for the waterfront property;
-- Failure to come to an agreement on a price for an adjacent owned by the Boston Teachers Union and needed to build the stadium; and
-- Internal issues at UMass-Boston, which is losing its chancellor and faces a budget deficit.