Revolution Stadium groundbreaking "12-24 months" Part III

Getting to Wonderland from major student /20 something hot beds in Boston:
Gov't Center: 20 minutes
Northeastern: 36 minutes
Central Square, Cambridge: 45 minutes
Davis Square, Somerville: 50 minutes
BU: 50 minutes
Alewife Station, Cambridge: 53 minutes
Brighton (Cleveland Circle): 53 minutes
Southie: 71 minutes
Riverside Station, Newton: 71 minutes
BC: 79 minutes

Are these transit times better than Foxboro for more people? Of course. However, if you're a driver from the south/west your best bet is probably to drive in to Gov't Center and take the T from there.

 

Why not just drive to the nearest station that has better scheduling for you. It would take to long to figure them all out, but if you know you are going to a game Sat you can make all sort of plans. The only option to Foxboro is to drove there from your house. I am driving all over Metrowest many Saturdays.

There will be parking, but expect to pay $20-$30 for privilege. Those that carpool will take that option.

If I lived in Framingham, I would drive and park somewhat close to boston that got me on Blue, Orange, Red lines.

 

Indeed, Boston's drivability compared to cities like NYC are an advantage. Don't forget the health benefits of public transportation.

 

Right you could of course do that but I was just thinking for people who come in from Framingham, Worcester, etc taking the commuter rail is closer rather than driving to Alewife or Riverside.

 

Good thing that you do bring it up. I live in Boston, but if the Redsox can play in Boston, I imagine the Revs won't inconvenience too many people at Wonderland.

I think Wonderland would sell out first year, so the fan base may change due to commute.

The Latino community might engage in a big way.

 

Oh come on.

This is like me saying

"Lets look at driving times from Framingham to Wonderland via the Ben and jerrys factory, look how annoying it is!'

Drive to riverside. Dont worry about schedules.

Pay $1.70 to reach wonderland.

And done.

How hard!



And once again, due to the magic of "density", by definition, for every fan in the suburbs, there are ten in the urban core.

So the team doesnt have to give half a damn about people outside the core MBTA system and still be able to sell more tickets than at foxboro.

 

Hey great - thanks for agreeing with me. I'm not arguing there are more people outside the GBA I'm talking about getting to the actual park. There really aren't that many Rev fans in the city proper right now so unless they are able to cultivate that 20 something fan base and convince them to go up to wherever the SSS is, the urban SSS will fail just like Foxboro has.

 

I don't care about current Revs fans. Most of them suck.

 

Wonder how many trains ran this past Wednesday for the sold out games in Kansas and Utah.

 

Oh, you mean cities that aren't built around, supported by, and rely upon a public subway?

 

Correct and in the case of a city like Boston, a city that will never have a soccer staduim no matter how hard people dream. The only question is where do the Revs wind up, Vegas, Orlando. Plenty of open cheap land to build

 

I'm glad there is at least one other loser trolling this thread on a Saturday night besides me.

 

KC's stadium lies in the H (Topeka) corridor for their commuter rail project. Excluding the Johnson county commuter rail that is already in the works, it would be after the Odessa and Pleasant Hill corridors. Unfortunately it's also a difficult project because that area has single-line rail and lots of freight traffic, so it would be capital intensive. Probably a long term option.

Arrowhead is along the Odessa corridor.

Meanwhile people in KC pretty much have cars.

 

This is one of the most convoluted posts I've seen on this collection of threads.

 

Thank you! Your opinions always make my day.

 

He's right. How do you know how many Rev fans there are in Boston? I know plenty.

 

I know a handful of people too, but I was basing my comment on NEVER seeing any rev jerseys around in the city, in the stores, or anywhere else. This leads me to believe the current fan base are still very suburban / non-Boston based.

Hopefully, the Revs will be able to cultivate a lot of fans who are in the city and translate this whole new fan base into active, rabid supporters.

 

When I go out in Boston after a game on Saturday, I get a lot of questions/ comments about the game. There is awareness.

 

There are no revs jerseys in the suburbs either. Other than seeing the few people you may know, or the random mom or dad with a Revs hat on at a youth soccer game, Revs brand reach is basically nonexistent regardless if you are in the burbs or in the city.

Also, making a judgement on demographic and geographic popularity by what you perceive, is one of the worst mistakes one could made in marketing.

The whole concept of moving to an urban location is not due to the teams current fanbase. It's clear that the current fanbase is too small to support the team. The franchise owns it's own stadium, and still loses money year after year. They have to find new and relatively untapped markets if they want to survive. It isn't about how many Revs jerseys you see in the city. It's about how many Revs jerseys you could see in the city.

How many viewing parties are the Revs holding in the burbs? That should be a clearer indicator to you of where the Revs feel their greater potential market is. Not by looking at some convoluted theory about how many Revs jerseys you see.

 

As an aside: As someone who has lived most of his life in Boston/Cambridge, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that there are tons of Revs fans, or potential Revs fans in the city. I know a lot of people who use to go to games, but got sick of driving to Foxboro every other Saturday during the summer to see a horrible product, in an empty stadium. A lot of those people, who weren't soccer fans before being Revs fans, now wake up at 6am on Saturdays and Sundays to watch the Premier League because they can take the T to the bar, have a few drinks, watch a compelling product, and take the T home and take a nap during the boring Revs games. That is not an indictment on them. It is an indictment on the entire Revs organization and their failure to tap a soccer market starved for the professional game.

What I'm saying is nothing new. People have been posting similar thoughts for years. It is just sad that the Revs continue to fail to capture the regions most densely populate, and potentially rabid fan base.

 

Well there are soccer fans and there are MLS soccer fans. There is an urban market for soccer fans who get up and go to watch the Prem at Phoenix Landing or the Banshee (side question: are there only 2 soccer friendly bars in Boston? I never hear anyone mention any others).

Is there a market for urban rev fans? Who's to say your friends aren't still going to take a nap rather than go see MLS soccer whether it's in Foxboro or Boston? That's your perception but your anecdote is just as convoluted as my "theory."

 

There's soccer bars, and there's "Bedside Baptist," where they have cold bottles of whatever it is you drink and a 52" plasma TV with the sound turned up to the point where you can hear it and fewer smelly drunk Brits.

 

The majority of people who are watching EPL games in Boston are former or current Revs fans. If the stadium was accesible to city dwellers via public transportation (the T, not the commuter rail) and the product on the field was decent, I'd be willing to bet that many of these people would return to supporting this team in a heartbeat.

 

The Blackthorne is where the Boston Gooners meet

 

I agree, it's about the product and genuinely hope it translates into success. My intention is not to argue the Revs shouldn't move to Boston; I'm naturally skeptical and going on what my eyes and ears tell me when I'm out in the city (all the time).

I will acknowledge that's probably a poor leading indicator but I'm still skeptical there are (or will be, with this ownership group) thousands of rabid urban MLS fans living under rocks and in crevices just begging to spend their money on this team.