New England Soccer Today

Fall River Mayor: City ‘Ideal’ Location for Revs

Add Fall River to the list of cities in the Commonwealth hoping to someday host the New England Revolution.

According to a report from South Coast Today, Mayor William A. Flanagan issued a letter to club owner Robert Kraft, stating that the city is an ‘ideal’ location for the MLS franchise.

“It has come to our attention that you are looking for a new location to build a stadium for the New England Revolution. In that light I wanted to bring your attention to the City of Fall River,” Flanagan said in the letter.

Flanagan also asserted that the city, which sits 53 miles south of Boston, has a built-in passion for soccer given the high-concentration of residents with Portuguese ancestry.

“With a largely Portuguese population, soccer is a heavily watched and played sport in our City,” he said. “We also have one of the largest community colleges in the state as well as a University of Massachusetts satellite campus.”

Flanagan did not provide specifics for building a soccer specific stadium, but did say that the the city has “a number of locations…that would be ideal for a stadium.”

Another incentive cited by Flanagan in his letter is traffic access. Route I-195 runs through the heart of the city and connects with Route I-95 and Route 24.  However, the city is not connected via subway or even commuter rail, unlike Revere and Somerville, two other cities interested in hosting the Revolution.

Fall River has a rich soccer tradition dating back to the late-1800s. The Fall River Marksmen, Ponta Delgada and the Fall River Rovers were among the best clubs in the country during the  first half of the 20th century.

The city currently serves as the home base for the Ligas Unidas Soccer Association, a 10-team league that resides in the fifth division of the American soccer pyramid.

11 Comments

Leave a Reply to JimCancel reply