Incoming Everett Mayor Voices Support For Revolution Soccer Stadium

But the mayor stated he will be aggressive when it comes to fighting for his constituents

Photo Courtesy of The Kraft Group

The New England Revolution’s long and winding road to having their own soccer-specific stadium is marching forward, but a new character has entered the fold.

Robert Van Campen unseated longtime Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, and the new mayor will eventually take over for DeMaria when it comes to the talks between The Kraft Group and the various municipalities that are looking to reach an agreement prior to December. If an agreement isn’t reached, the matter will move to arbitration.

While Van Campen won’t be officially in office until January 2026 — after the deadline has passed — he noted that while he is supportive of the project, he will be making sure that Everett residents will benefit from the stadium coming to the city.

The excerpt below is from a Q&A Van Campen participated in with Commonwealth Beacon.

CWB: You’ve said that you plan to carry forward with plans DeMaria laid for a soccer stadium to be built in Everett. How might that project fit into your residents-first approach to development?

VAN CAMPEN: The New England Revolution has been kind enough to have some community meetings recently, and there’s going to be a whole [Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office] process that has to be followed at the state level to ensure that any environmental concerns are mitigated. I will simply take a more aggressive approach to make sure that the voice of the people of Everett is the primary voice at the table when those issues are discussed. Even folks in our state delegation have said that if the infrastructure is not built, the stadium cannot happen. That infrastructure has to happen, and I want to make sure that the people of Everett have a voice in designing what it looks like.

Additionally, Van Campen spoke with WCVB ABC 5 about the stadium project.

“At the end of the day, the people of Everett have to be put first,” he said.

Van Campen also noted that the project is transformative, but infrastructure and access concerns need to be addressed.

Revolution fans will be anxiously waiting to see if the club can take another step towards having a stadium of its own, or if one more hurdle will be put up in the form of waiting for arbitration to occur.