Jonathan Kraft on New Revs Stadium

From the fine folks at NECN:

“At the end of the day when you’ve got 15,000 people in a 70,000 seat building, you don’t have the energy that you get in a 20,000 seat building, and I think the scale of those buildings, which have really led to this growth, work in a city, too.  They don’t impact the surrounding areas the way a football stadium would, so we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to do that.”

I have two questions:

1. Who is that impersonating Jonathan Kraft?
2. What did he do with the real Jonathan Kraft?

Video of the whole conversation at NECN.com.

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Billelo: What’s wrong with Gillette?

If this isn’t a kick in the gut to everyone who has dreams of a new Revolution stadium, then I don’t know what is:

Revolution management is happy with the consistent number of fans in the seats and the legion of followers.

In a related story, Captain Edward Smith is happy with the RMS Titanic’s current heading and sees no reason to change course.

But why, they ask, should they move? The Revolution, under the Kraft Sports Entertainment group, own the stadium, own the surrounding land and parking lots and concession rights.

They also own an increasingly apathetic and shrinking fan base.  If they don’t recognize this, then I’m not sure there’s a lot of long-term hope for the future of the franchise.

It’s not that Revolution would not welcome a “soccer only” facility. But, some public and private financing would have to make it work “and why should we spend 100 million on a new stadium and have our attendance increase only 10 percent and have to pay that off?” asked Bilello.

So, the Revs are looking for public financing?  Seriously?  The Revs?  The Red Sox couldn’t get public financing for a new Fenway Park.  Bob Kraft has to give the Commonwealth a portion of his parking revenues.  This is simply never going to happen.

Ugh.

Jon Kraft talks with Gary Tanguay and Scott Zolak

We must be close to the start of a new season, because Jonathan Kraft is on Sports Radio talking about the Revolution.  The team owner/operator appeared today with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Tanguay and Zolak Show to discuss the new season.  Among the topics covered:

• Revolution games will be broadcast on 98.5 FM this year.  Nice move putting the games in stereo on a major station.  98.5 The Sports Hub is also the radio home for the Patriots and Bruins.
• If he could sign any one player in the world, it would be Wayne Rooney over Cristiano Ronaldo and someone named Messier.  I can only presume he wasn’t talking about Mark.  Jon also informs us that Mr. Rooney was recently stripped of the England captaincy for some off-the-field indiscretions.
• The club had some “nice” discussions with Somerville and some other places in regards to building a new stadium.  He thought they were potentially close to getting something done before the financial meltdown, but that things are probably a few years away at this point.
• He hopes to see Taylor Twellman up front at some point this year with Shalrie and Zack Schilawski.

Listen to the full interview

EOT Study Rips Proposed Stadium Development Site

In an apparent blow to the Revolution’s hopes of building a soccer stadium in the Inner Belt/Brickbottom district of Somerville, a recently published study from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works has blasted the city’s proposed alternative site for a new Green Line Support Facility.

Revs Links: January 5th, 2009

Could the Revs be making progress towards a Somerville Stadium?  The Somerville News thinks so:

The realty of a soccer stadium in the ‘Ville is getting closer and closer every day – according to more than a few sources, members of Bob Kraft’s planning team (the owners of the New England Patriots and the Revolution Soccer team) were having a sit down meeting with local business owners that just may either be selling their properties to Kraft or may become silent partners with the entrepreneurial giant.

You know, this whole thing could be much further along than many of us realize.

Old friend Andy Dorman’s been named one of the top five SPL signings of 2008 by Sporting Life.  We still miss you in Boston, Andy!

Bilello to Address Stadium Study

Revs COO Brian Bilello is currently accepting questions from Revolution fans on the state of the franchise on the team’s official Blog.

I’ve been told by a team employee that Bilello will use that forum to respond to our request for comment on the Inner Belt Brickbottom Scoping Study.

More from the Stadium Study

For those of you who haven’t had the chance to flip through the entire 55-page Inner Belt Brickbottom Scoping Study, allow me to point out a couple of interesting highlights:

Study: Stadium “Critical” to Somerville Redevelopment

A study into the future development of the Inner Belt and Brickbottom districts of Somerville has concluded that a potential 20,000-seat soccer stadium for the New England Revolution would be a “critical” component of any redevelopment plan for the area.