Soccer Stadium at Bayside Expo? Wait…what?

1.8 min readBy Published On: January 12th, 2017Categories: News7 Comments on Soccer Stadium at Bayside Expo? Wait…what?

Remember last spring when it was announced that Bob Kraft and the New England Revolution were in negotiations to potentially build a new stadium at the old Bay Side Expo.  Don’t know where the old Bay Side Expo is?  Well, it’s behind the State Police Barracks near Day Blvd. near the circle of hell that is know as Kosciuszko Circle.  

Some residents went bananas over the thought of a 25,000 person stadium right in the middle of two neighborhoods in an extremely congested area.  We’re all familiar with the gridlocked nightmare at the rotary, right? 

Then the subject was eerily quiet.  Nothing.  Until this week.  

On Wednesday, Shirley Leung wrote a column in the Boston Globe about the fact that the deal may be be dead in the water.  It seems that the Teacher’s Union is holding out for more money for the property – $17.5 million in cash plus costs of relocating and rebuilding their union hall – so a cool $30 million –  and Kraft ain’t having it.   It seems like it was so close to being a done deal with proponents like Governor Charlie Baker, Mayor Marty Walsh and UMASS president Marty Meehan pushing for it.

This made us scratch our heads and say – was there any public process for this giant undertaking? We know there were a lot of people opposed to the idea of a soccer stadium, so were the concerns falling upon deaf ears while negations continued.   Well, Representative Nick Collins must be wondering the same thing.  He released the following statement:

“The Bayside Expo Center property is the gateway to Dorchester and is pivotal toward the vitality of Columbia Point and the city as a whole.  A thorough community review involving all stakeholders is necessary to ensure that this valuable public asset is developed responsibly to maximize economic and social benefits.  We have one shot to get this right and we need to have an open, public process that considers what’s best for UMass, the neighbors and area businesses and the city of Boston.  I stand with my fellow elected leaders in calling for transparency and thoughtful planning as we consider next steps.”

What do you think, Southie?

7 Comments

  1. Steve January 12, 2017 at 12:21 pm - Reply

    I think the stadium would be an incredible ammenity for Southie and Dorchester but I honestly never use that rotary to get anywhere. I would be even more excited about the proposal where it goes behind the convention center (pretty much in my back yard). Of course these large venues should get community input but I do fear the communities response. A vocal and passionate anti-growth and anti-change minority typically flood these meetings while the majority of people who are happy to have a stadium stay at home because dealing with the unfriendly/hostile community meeting process is not their cup of tea.

    I’d be pumped to be able to walk to a Rev’s game and I’m not even a soccer fan.

    • John January 21, 2017 at 4:27 am - Reply

      Completely agree. I hated neighborhood meetings for exactly they reasons you stated. Bring on the change! Bring on the revs!

  2. Kenny January 12, 2017 at 4:10 pm - Reply

    A soccer Specific stadium and concert venue would be an amenity that will benefit all. We all know that The Harborlights is being pushed out for continued Seaport development.
    The Revs and the Breakers could share the space giving access to many families in the city affordable sports entertainment. Many current Revs fans are from Southie and Dorchester. This would enable us to share the sport with many that are unable to attend games due to no public transit access to Gillette. The Revolution Charitable foundation does so much for our city it would be nice to show gratitude for their support and welcome them to our community.

  3. Rose O'Toole January 12, 2017 at 5:41 pm - Reply

    A soccer stadium at this location would be a nightmare for traffic purposes . It will eventually be used for I’m sure concerts as well and to navigate traffic around that rotary will not work . It doesn’t work at rush hour am or pm and it will cause significant backup traffic to South Boston and Dorchester .

    • Matt January 12, 2017 at 8:42 pm - Reply

      It’s really not that big of a nightmare. The revolution get like 15,000 people to a game, at max. It’s less than a TD Garden event and they play their games in the spring into summer when there is far less traffic in the city. Not to mention it looks like 75% of their games are played on Saturday nights. Us residents would not be severely affected by this. As Nick Collins mentioned, if they can somehow swing some public benefit to this project by improving transportation in the area, it could be a win/win for everyone. You’ve got public transportation nearby as well with the JFK stop less than a 5 minute walk away. The alternative probably ends up being a shopping mall…

  4. Donna January 12, 2017 at 8:01 pm - Reply

    Ridiculous idea! South Boston is already bursting at the seams. There’s really not much more we can take by way of development. I love Marty Walsh and Governor Baker but they are dead wrong on this and it will hurt them tremendously if they side with a billionaire over the people who elect them to represent us. UMASS should stick to their mission of offering affordable education to urban families and get out of the development business.

  5. Dave January 19, 2017 at 7:30 pm - Reply

    100 % build the stadium at Umass Boston, People will complain about traffic no matter what you put at this site. A stadium for soccer games and concerts would be a great use of the space.

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