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AS Roma Owner James Pallotta Speaks About a Possible Revs' SSS in Somerville

According to Brian Straus, AS Roma owner James Pallotta thinks the New England Revolution are closer to getting a Somerville stadium than any of us believe. Color me skeptical.

By Abram Chamberlain

Perhaps it is a hope we're clinging to that we know will never happen - or at least not happen in our lifetimes. Whenever the whisper of a soccer-specific stadium for our beloved New England Revolution gets mentioned, we shrug it off. Yes, we want to get caught up in the fever-pitch of excitement that surrounded D.C. United's plan, or the San Jose Earthquakes ground breaking, but we don't believe it.

Bob Kraft's deal is to good. Gillette is rent free, and the games drive traffic to that oh so lovely strip mall, Patriots Place; so why even bother to build in Boston? Sure Brian Bilello has stated that the team has spent millions looking for a spot. Yet, at the same time, we are approximately two years past the date that Jon Kraft originally gave us on groundbreaking. Last year it seemed like Revere, Somerville - as well as Fall River and another small South Shore town whose name I'm forgetting - were falling head-over-heels to essentially give Kraft and the Revs land for a place to build.

However, it always seems that the news for any SSS comes right around this time: mid-August to September. Sometimes, if we're lucky we'll even get a word or two in November. So with that in mind, it is with great skepticism that many supporters found this particular tweet from Sports Illustrated's Brian Straus about Somerville on Monday:

AS Roma partial owner, and Bostonian, James Pallotta is talking Revolution. He's not just talking Revolution, he's talking stadium. He's not just talking stadium, he's talking Somerville. Somerville, lest we forget, is the location that has been linked to the Revs since forever. Somerville is also, generally speaking, a far more desirable location than Revere.

Perhaps - and this is complete speculation - Pallotta and Kraft were sipping fine wine in the sauna of some ritzy Boston millionaire club (I want to say billionaire, but don't know the net worth of either) and Kraft let word slip. Or perhaps this was just a big "my junk is bigger than yours" contest between the two. Who knows?

Interestingly, this story not only comes relatively close to the good vibes around DCU's recent plans, but literally the day after the Rebellion sent an open letter to the FO about lack of SSS progress. Frustratingly, the owner of a team in Italy has now seemingly said more about the Revs SSS progress (albeit in a non-committal way) than the actual owner of the Revolution. Normally, this could be completely shrugged off, but being as the news is not coming from an "unknown source", not coming from someone in the FO, but is coming from someone with no connection with the team and is being reported by Brian Straus, makes me want to give it some credence.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, I might be gullible. Fool me quince, what's wrong with you, buddy?

The question is: should we just ignore this "news", which frankly sounds more like gossip? Or should we start getting overly excited, like we do every year around this point?

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