Somerville Stadium?

Somerville's incumbent mayor, Joe Curtatone, looks to be cruising towards re-election in November having won the preliminary election by a landslide. This could prove to be good news for Revolution fans looking for the team to move into a stadium of their own, especially for those in the Boston metropolitan area.
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The Revolution have stated their desire to eventually move into a 20,000 seat soccer specific stadium. Learning from their botched attempt to build a stadium for the Patriots in South Boston, they are keeping their dealings under wraps. However, an article appeared in the Boston Herald in August suggesting the Revs were developing a stadium deal with the city of Somerville, MA. Now, I don't know a whole lot, and I'm going to tell you even less (loose lips sinks ships). However, one thing I do know is the current administration is very excited about the project. We'll know a lot more as to the validity of the mayor's commitment in the months that follow the election in November.

Let's back things up for a minute. Would this be a good thing for the Revs and, more importantly, the city of Somerville?

The answer to the first half should be obvious: yes. The prospective location, while not technically in the city limits, enjoys many of the amenities that Bostonians enjoy. Let's look at an overhead view of the site:





The key strength to this location is the easy access to two different T (subway) stops. Having light rail access will open up the exceptionally large portion of the Boston population that doesn't own an automobile. It also moves home games to a much more densely populated area than Foxboro. The drawbacks would include a longer ride for those coming from Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut. There would also likely be a lot less on-site parking for tailgating, but the total size of the area slated for redevelopment is 121 acres so who knows? All in all, though, this would be a very positive move for the Revs and it's fanbase.

The crucial question is whether or not this would be a good deal for the city of Somerville? Somerville, like many municipalities in Southern New England, is dependent way too much on property values when it comes to it's balance sheet. This is the result of the region's citizens demanding a relatively high standard of living which makes a competitive business environment tough to come by due to higher costs. Thus, major companies are usually only lured to the area by specific tax breaks. That's the usual trappings associated with urban regions in the Northeast.

So, to get a major deal like this done, you need to win a series of political victories. In this case, you would need to get funding, both city and state, approved while dismissing claims that the negatives will outweigh the positives. The major negative being excess traffic on game day.

Such a project could nab state funds. The good news is that Mayor Curtatone was one of the first elected officials to endorse Governor Patrick at a time when he was an underdog to receive his party's nomination. The governor has seemed ambitious about several projects, especially on the casino front. Although the casino endeavor may stall in the Assembly, it shows the executive branch is keen to support entertainment venues. Getting back to traffic, state funds would be mandatory for infrastructural upgrades needed to handle the excess traffic coming off I-93. Having a friend in the Governor may come in handy for the Mayor.

This project is still in it's infancy and few things are known for sure. If this develops into the Revs' future home, it would be a dream location.

Hopefully, I'll have more on this in months to come...