Jonathan Kraft on Revolution Stadium in Providence: “We Are Open to Doing Anything in RI”

GoLocal has learned that Providence is in play with the Kraft family for a potential site for a soccer-only stadium for the New England Revolution.

GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle caught up with Jonathan Kraft, President of the Kraft Group, who said they are moving forward with the effort to develop a soccer-only stadium and anticipate having the stadium plan completed by the end of the year.

Recently, the Krafts' New England Patriots entered into an agreement with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation and Jonathan Kraft was in Providence to discuss a new lottery campaign.

Kraft on Record

“We are open to doing anything in Rhode Island with any of our businesses. The leadership of Governor Raimondo and Secretary Pryor who I have dealt with on some things has been exceptional from a business perspective. I think it is a great time for any business person to look at the state," Kraft told GoLocal.

Major League Soccer (MLS) has been pressing teams to move to build soccer-only stadiums. The Revolution had been working to develop a soccer-only stadium in Boston -- but on April 28, 2017, Kraft announced that that stadium plan had collapsed.

This is not the first time that the Revolution have looked at Providence. In 2013, then-Providence Economic Development Chief Jim Bennett toured multiple sites with Revolution officials.

After the initial Providence review, the Revolution refocused on Boston. An effort began in early 2013 led by Boston business leaders Dan O’Connell and John Fish. The Olympic effort would potentially allow the Revolution to realize a stadium as a part of the Olympic movement. The actual Boston 2024 registration papers had names like Fish, O’Connell, Steve Pagliuca (future Boston 2024 chairman) and Robert Kraft on it.

But, the Olympic effort drew tremendous public opposition due to the cost and potential impact on Boston's existing traffic problems. By the end of 2015, elected officials succumbed to public opinion. The once popular effort to bid for the Olympics had inverted and public support dropped from 51-33 favoring the effort to 36-51 in just months, according to polling conducted by WBUR.

“In 2015, we were invited to put together a stadium proposal for the former Bayside Exhibition Center site. Since then, we...invested millions of dollars and thousands of staff hours to design and structure a venue that would benefit UMass Boston, the City of Boston and serve as an asset to the surrounding communities, with an operating plan that would benefit all local constituencies,” said the Patriots in their announcement.

The Patriots when on to say, “We were committed to a fully-funded, privately-financed stadium that would have totaled an investment in excess of $250 million. There was also a full-value land lease to UMass that would have provided annual payments to the university. As is the case with any development opportunity, there were numerous hurdles to overcome and we regularly adjusted our plans to cater to the needs of the project.

Unfortunately, and for reasons beyond our control, it has been determined that this project is not feasible to pursue on this site at this time. It is our goal to continue to seek development opportunities where we can invest in a soccer-specific stadium that will benefit its surrounding communities while giving our fans and our players a venue they will be proud to call home for generations to come.”

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In August, the Patriots announced the purchase of two 767 Boeing wide-body jets. The planes are housed at T.F. Green in Warwick, and the Patriots are the first NFL team to buy their own planes to fly to games. On the outside of one of the planes is the Patriots' logo and five Lombardi trophies on the tail.

The Kraft Group negotiated the deal between with the RI Airport Corporation and the Raimondo Administration.

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