Kraft wants to build a stadium-village on land along the Mystic River.
The owner of Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution franchise, Robert Kraft, could be one step closer to landing a new home for his business. The Massachusetts State Senate has passed an economic bill that opens a pathway for Kraft to get land in Everett by dropping the “designated port area” status of a 43- acre piece of property that sits in Boston and Everett along the Mystic River “for the purpose of converting the parcel into a professional soccer stadium and a waterfront park.” But Kraft should not be hiring a construction company yet. The measure has to be passed in the Massachusetts House and then Governor Maura Healey has to sign off on the bill. But for Kraft, it is one step at a time as he continues his attempt to build a stadium for his soccer business.
Kraft has been looking for a soccer-only stadium in the Boston area for more than 15 years. The Revolution franchise plays its games at Kraft’s National Football League New England Patriots’ venue in Foxboro. In 2007, Kraft’s MLS business wanted to get a stadium built in Somerville but nothing came of that. Two years later Kraft looked at Somerville again but nothing happened. In 2014, Kraft wanted a stadium in South Boston. Nothing happened. Kraft eyed Dorchester in 2017 but negotiations to build a stadium fell through. In November 2017, Kraft’s son Jonathan, who is the president of the Kraft Group said, “we’re as optimistic as we’ve ever been that in 2018 we will have a piece of land that is in downtown Boston and we will be able to build a home for the Revolution on it.” That never happened. In 2022, Kraft started targeting Everett as a site for his soccer business. He is now one third of the way there.
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