Revolution Owner Robert Kraft and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh "have been talking steadily" about a new soccer-specific stadium for the team, with the two having "met several times, at City Hall and at Patriots games in Foxborough," according to Shirley Leung of the BOSTON GLOBE. While they "aren’t close to a deal, new details are emerging about the proposal." A source said that one scenario Kraft "has floated" is having the city build and own a $200M soccer stadium, with the debt "repaid by a tax charged on tickets." The advantage to Kraft "is that the city can borrow money at lower interest rates than a business." Another source said that Kraft "is assuring city officials that he would structure the deal so Boston would not be at risk for any cost of the building." But Walsh's administration "has not warmed to the idea of using public funds" to build a stadium. Walsh said that it is too early to "talk about whether the city would hand out incentives for Kraft’s project." Even so, Kraft "is already on much better terms with Walsh than his predecessor," Thomas Menino, whom "twice spurned Kraft’s efforts to build a sports venue -- first in the late ’90s for a football stadium in South Boston and later for a soccer stadium in Roxbury." The Revolution plays at Gillette Stadium, which "is considered by fans to be too cavernous for soccer games" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/29).
SIZE MATTERS NOT: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Ryan Wallerson noted after five NYC FC home games at Yankee Stadium, players have said that the pitch quality "doesn't affect the game," but "the smaller dimensions are a different story." NYC FC’s pitch measures 110 yards long by 70 yards wide -- the smallest field in MLS, and the smallest allowed by FIFA’s int'l guidelines. Besides NYC FC, DC United and the Timbers are the only MLS teams that play on fields as short as 110 yards; only NYC FC and the Dynamo "play on fields as narrow as 70 yards." In NYC FC’s case, the "tight confines are the result of a stopgap stadium situation, with Yankee Stadium playing host to the team only temporarily" as it tries to find a site to build a soccer-specific stadium (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/29).
