If there is one thing that Major League Soccer loves it is a little bit of off the field controversy. Every year at the start of the season one team seems to go into a full tail spin. This season the New England Revolution are the unfortunate side who will bear the brunt of a close examination this season after having made a series of upper management decisions in the past week.
There’s a lot to unpack with what is going on with New England so here is a short breakdown of the last week:
- Thursday: After losing 5-0 last week to the Chicago Fire Revolution management announced that they had ‘relieved’ (i.e. fired) Brad Friedel of his responsibilities.
- Thursday: Club brings on Mike Lapper as interim manager, who was previously the assistant coach.
- Saturday, New England beats the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 and (which represents all three supporters groups) ends a four game losing streak. During the match New England supporters organization The Fort brings out a banner saying NE Deserves Better. Before the match another supporters group, The Rebellion, writes a letter calling for the resignation of General Manager Mike Burns and asking for a town hall meeting with Revolution management.
- Monday-Mike Burns is ‘dismissed’ (i.e. fired) as the Revs General Manager.
- Monday- At the same time, The Athletic’s Sam Stjeskal reported that the club is close to securing space in Boston for a soccer-specific stadium.
- Tuesday-Bruce Arena is announced as Sporting Director and General Manager
Everyone catch their breath? This isn’t the normal state of affairs for the Revs. Having covered professional soccer in the United States for the past ten years New England is a side that doesn’t really make a whole lot of waves. Even when they made it to the MLS Cup there really wasn’t much news coming out of the side.
Which is perhaps the problem. While their name may be ‘New England’ it is most certainly a Boston side. Yet when it comes to Boston sports the club might as well be across the country. While it has been said that the Boston media tends to focus most of their attention on the Bruins, Celtics, and Patriots sports like college hockey have also found a niche and an audience.
The mood at Gillette Stadium on Saturday was a bit more positive than it had been in recent weeks with the Revs defeating the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 (photo credit: Kari Heistad)
Like so many other ‘MLS original’ sides New England has struggled to keep up with the growth of new markets like Atlanta and Seattle. They aren’t alone-Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, New York Red Bulls, and D.C. United have all at one time or another struggled at the gates and on the pitch. Some have succeeded in redeveloping their image (Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United) while others have had mixed success (Both the Red Bulls and Dallas have impressive academy systems but still struggle at the gates. Columbus by retaining their franchise alone should be considered a success although we are mere months into their new ownership so we are going to give them a pass at this time.
But what makes these sides different from New England is that with each of these cases an attempt was made at improvement. From an outsider’s perspective there seems to be an air of complacency within the Revolution, that the club never finishes at the bottom and always can do enough (make a playoff appearance or a deep run in the U.S. Open Cup) to satisfy their supporters. That coupled with the yearly tried and true ‘We are this close to making a stadium announcement!’ seems to be a favorite strategy of the Kraft Family, the family that owns the club.
That should worry the front office of Major League Soccer quite a bit. New England is not a small market nor are they playing in a dilapidated stadium like RFK or old Giants Stadium. The Revs aren’t under some financially crippling stadium agreement with a third party like D.C. United was with RFK or the Chicago Fire are with SeatGeek Stadium. They own their own stadium.
Getting a soccer-specific stadium in Boston would be fantastic. But it isn’t necessary if the club offers accommodations for fans making the trek out of the city. The club already offers free busing to season ticket holders who attend matches in New York City and New Jersey. Going that extra step for their own home matches would be a positive step for the side.
Gillette could serve as a fine soccer stadium for the side but fans have to have a reason to come out and make the 20 mile trek. Sixth or seventh place isn’t going to cut it especially when they don’t see improvement. While winning silverware is important for Boston sports, it is also not necessarily the deciding factor if fans will come out to the park. Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox fans over the age of 20 will remember whole decades in which their teams didn’t win anything.
The Revs are a side in a major media market that, on the surface, appears to willingly accepting mediocrity and using the ‘new stadium’ chip as a means to keep supporters interested. They aren’t the only side to be doing this in the league but they have been doing it for close to a decade. It should also be noted that game doesn’t seem to be working anymore in MLS. With soccer fans having more opportunities than ever to watch matches at home and catch lower division sides that place an emphasis on courting fans it is a poor strategy to use. When D.C. United gambled that they can cut out two of their supporters groups with a brand new stadium, they lost.
The Revolution are gambling that increased talk of a new stadium and a big name hire can spin the momentum of this past week from a negative to positive. But that will eventually slow down and the same questions and same issues that have been around for upwards of two decades will still be there.
Adding Bruce Arena can, in theory, be a step in the right direction. Arena, despite having been at the helm of the worst moment in U.S. Men’s Soccer history, still seems to have a certain level of mystique and name recognition that could help this franchise get out of the bottom of the Eastern Conference. He’s also won five MLS Cups so he is at the top of the coaching mountain in American soccer.
A Revs turn-around largely depends upon whom he hires to run their Academy and what the pathway is from the USSDA to the senior team. The New England soccer market is teeming with talent and Arena has a good track record of building a staff that can find and identify young players. That too will help with rebuilding the perception of this franchise in the Boston market.
One thing to also note: Arena through his time in soccer has been known as a rebuilder. His 1996 D.C. United team was essentially rebuilt 2-3 times throughout the season and with the Los Angeles Galaxy he had to clear some dead weight as well. New England could probably use that so it will be interesting to see who sticks around after 1-2 transfer windows of action.
Boston sports fans are some of the most loyal and passionate sports fans in the country. But they are also wicked smart and can tell when things aren’t adding up. Revolution management have a chance to turn things around and show that they are interested in winning. Otherwise Bruce Arena is just a name and a new stadium is just an empty promise.
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