Revolution Stadium Search Based on Public Transit

Further news on the New England Revolution stadium front broke on Thursday as Adam Vaccaro of the Boston Globe published the results of a Freedom of Information Act request to MassDOT. Maps and work-ups indicate that Frontage Road remains very much a site of interest, and that the idea of building a new train station underneath a stadium at that location has been floated in meetings between the Krafts and the Department.

Documents presented to MassDOT serve to showcase exactly how important public transit access appears to be to the Kraft's efforts and stadium ambitions. Almost all of them highlight in some fashion the accessibility of the site within the current MBTA landscape and any future changes.

There is also a generic stadium mock-up for the location and a map highlighting the location of an adjacent parking area. These documents were delivered to MassDOT by engineering and architecture consultancy VHB.

As for the new train station, the maps indicate that it would be part of the proposed "Indigo Line," a new line, which would use trains powered by on-board diesel engines or diesel multiple units. However, as Vaccaro states in the piece, Governor Charlie Baker has taken office since these maps were presented and the Indigo Line proposal is on hold.

Officials from Kraft Financial Group have met with the city since November, when these renderings were presented, to discuss how to finance a stadium project. As many are already aware, Kraft suggested a stadium fully-owned and funded by the City, with Boston making its money back via taxes on tickets.

Unsurprisingly, this has not been received favorably by anyone.

Interestingly, a Globe piece from late May cited by Vaccaro (written by Shirley Leung) discusses other potential sites for stadiums within the MBTA's reach, including Suffolk Downs and Parcel 3 in Roxbury. Parcel 3 is interesting because it is the very site where the Revs were trying to build in 2007, but then-Mayor Menino nixed the deal. The land remains undeveloped, and there's always the possibility that the Walsh administration - much friendlier with the Krafts - could reconsider.

Leung also quoted Holy Cross Economics professor and former MLS referee Victor Matheson on public stadium funding, an idea the soccer-passionate professor felt was not in the city's best interest.

Mayor Walsh, for his part, has said that public funding for the stadium is "really an idea right now."