FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Plans for a state-of-the-art training complex took a major step forward earlier this week when the town of Foxborough approved zoning changes, potentially paving the way for the New England Revolution to significantly expand and upgrade their current facilities.
“We still need to undergo the permitting process with the town and make sure we do all that in the right way,” said Revolution president Brian Bilello. “But the zoning change was really the first big step in doing that, and now we’re going to walk through the other process.”
There’s no firm timeline on when that permitting process could be completed, but Bilello said the Revs hope to move forward “as quickly as possible,” and their goal is to begin construction on the site at some point this year.
A site map released after the zoning changes were approved lays out the footprint of the proposed training complex, which would feature four training fields – three grass fields and a turf field – as well as a state-of-the-art training facility that would house both the first team and the Academy.
One of those grass fields already exists and currently serves as the Revolution’s first-team training ground, but the rest of their facilities – including their locker room, meal room, strength and conditioning room and coaches’ offices – are located within Gillette Stadium. This new complex, located behind the south marketplace of Patriot Place, would provide “an expansion and an upgrade of those facilities,” according to Bilello.
“It’s expanding those facilities to have a bit more in them, given how we’ve grown over the last decade or so,” Bilello said.
Part of that growth has included the Academy, which will have locker rooms, offices and study areas within the new facility. One of the grass fields will also be dedicated to Academy use, while they’ll continue to have access to the Gillette Stadium field and the space inside the Empower Fieldhouse.
“It’ll be the nicest grass field that any MLS Academy team is playing on,” Bilello said. “It’s a real step up for them in terms of access to facilities and the types of fields that they’re going to be able to train on.”
The two new grass fields, closest to the training facility, will be dedicated to first-team use, while the existing grass field will be taken over by the Academy. The turf field will be available for both, though it will likely be primarily used by the Academy.
Unlike some facilities around MLS, the private fields will only be used by the New England Revolution, and will not be available for public use or local youth tournaments.
Also unique about the proposed complex is its relative seclusion, with the fields and training facility nestled into the natural surroundings to create a distinct New England feel.
“When you see the site overlay map, you’ll notice there’s not just four fields carved out of a box,” said Bilello, noting that would’ve been the most efficient process. “It’s really integrated into the environment around it. We’re maintaining some preservation area for wetlands and there’ll be trees all around the site.
“It should be a really, really amazing place. Whether it’s the spring and the flowers are blooming, or whether it’s the fall and the colors are changing, we wanted our facility to really feel like part of our region, part of New England.”
The plan is for this new complex to serve as the Revolution’s long-term home for training, irrespective of the club’s continued quest to build a soccer specific stadium in the Boston metro area. As Bilello has noted in the past, New England’s training facilities were always to remain in Foxborough.
“We are still working on building a stadium project in the Boston metro area – that’s still an active project that we’re working on right now,” Bilello said. “This training facility has nothing to do with it.
“You think of the total acreage that we’re going to have at this site, and there’s no way to have anything like that in Boston or really even close to Boston … So having the team here gives us the space that we need for the Academy facilities, for all the fields that we want to have, and that’s really, really important to us.”
The club is currently in the process of finalizing plans for the training facility – including locker rooms, fitness facilities and office space – and will share those plans once they’ve been approved.
