The Revolution yesterday "held an official opening event" for their new $35M training facility located on 68 acres behind Gillette Stadium, according to Frank Dell'Apa of the BOSTON GLOBE. The facility "includes a 30,000-square-foot administrative building with locker rooms and three training fields, one with heating coils to allow year-round play." The venue will be "used by the Revolution, the Revolution II squad that will play in the USL next year, and the Development Academy." Revolution Sporting Dir and coach Bruce Arena said, "This is the best facility I've ever been in in my career." Dell'Apa notes the Revolution have "ramped up investment in the team" in recent years, which led to the club last season "qualifying for the playoffs for the first time" since '15 (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/10). In Boston, John Connolly notes the new locker room is "decked out in Revs' blue-and-white colors" and its location on the second floor "allows players the luxury of walking directly out to the new natural grass practice fields." Other aspects of the facility "include a gym with weight training equipment powered by a hydraulic air system; a 5-table sports medicine training room" and a "hydrotherapy room with three pools." The top floor of the building will be the "domain of the First Team while the Academy and USL team members will use the ground floor." Revolution President Brian Bilello said that the facility was "designed to incorporate the surrounding environment which is interspersed with wetlands and natural forest" (BOSTON HERALD, 12/10).
