Boston, Everett mayors butt heads over building of professional soccer stadium

EVERETT, Mass. — The mayors of Boston and Everett disagree over how to move forward with plans to build a professional soccer stadium in Everett. The stadium would be the new home for the New England Revolution, built with private funding from the team’s owner, The Kraft Group.

“For us right now, it’s a dormant, blighted, contaminated, defunct power plant that’s sitting on the waterfront,” said Mayor Carlo DeMaria of Everett.

Mayor DeMaria is hoping this former power plant will be torn down for the new soccer stadium, but it’s taking longer than expected to negotiate a plan with the city of Boston.

“There have been far too many incidents, fatality, major injuries, crashes along this corridor because it is not safe for pedestrian access – it is meant to be part of an industrial corridor,” said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Mayor Wu is worried about the increased traffic that the new stadium would bring to the area and the impacts this would have on the residents of Charlestown, who live right across the water.

“The primary way for tens of thousands of people to access that site and potential stadium is going to be to make that walk back across the bridge and over to the Orange Line in Sullivan Square,” said Mayor Wu.

But Mayor DeMaria says this project would be a huge asset to the city of Everett, and they’re conducting traffic studies to make sure those issues are addressed.

“Now you’re looking across your window in Charlestown, you’re not gonna see smokestacks, you’re going to see a nice stadium lit with people working, and right now there’s no jobs here,” said Mayor DeMaria.

Brian Bilello, President of the New England Revolution, says he worries politics are getting in the way of this project and hopes all sides can come to an agreement soon.

Bilello says they’ve met with Boston city leaders more than half a dozen times since February while they continue negotiating a plan.

“I can only describe the tenor and tone of those meetings to be cooperative and cordial – so you can understand why it’s upsetting and frustrating to us that the only thing being said publicly about these meetings is negative,” said Bilello.

City leaders in Everett and Boston need to come to an agreement with the Revolution by the end of this year, and if not, they’ll go to court for a judge to decide what’s next in binding arbitration.

If this project is approved, it’ll still be a few more years before the stadium is actually built after getting approval from the state.

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