Recap of The State of Soccer in Massachusetts

Hear what Jennifer Epstein, Mike Loynd, and Brian Bilello had to say about the current state and future of soccer in Massachusetts and in the United States!

© J. Alexander Dolan

Day Two of The Boston Globe’s Globe Summit saw an interesting panel for soccer fans in the region as The Boston Globe’s Hayden Bird sat down with Boston Unity Soccer partner and NWSL Boston co-owner Jennifer Epstein, FIFA World Cup Boston President Mike Loynd, and New England Revolution President and Chair of the Board of Boston Soccer 2026 Brian Bilello.

Like every major sporting event, the 2026 World Cup is expected to provide a major boost to the Boston and Massachusetts economies come the summer of 2026. According to Loynd, he expects the spectacle to create $1.1 billion in economic benefit to the community.

On top of the economic growth, the panel believes the event will boost soccer fandom not just in the Boston area, but across the entire United States. While he thought the 1994 World Cup was massive, Loynd believes 2026 will be even more impactful.

“I would say that the World Cup in 94’ was obviously a massive international event, but in the US, probably wasn't as understood as it could have been,” he said. “Now the scope and scale of the event as well as the fact that spectators have grown up playing soccer, watching soccer, it puts a different context on the events.”

Brain Bilello was also optimistic that the 2026 games will see an influx of fandom in the sport throughout the country.

“We went from about 60 million soccer fans in the United States before the World Cup in 1994 to 80 million after…We have roughly 100 million soccer fans in the United States today and we’re anticipating that’s going to be in excess of 140 million fans after the 26’ World Cup,” he said.

The conversation then shifted to Jennifer Epstein and how and why the ownership group decided Boston was the place to bring a new National Women’s Soccer League franchise. While Epstein applauded the efforts of the Boston Fleet and Renegades, she pointed to the research finding a noticeable gap between the men’s and women’s sports scene in Boston.

“There is a hunger for professional competition at the same caliber as the men’s teams, and our data showed that there is an above-average interest, 23 percent higher than the national average, in women’s sports and women’s soccer in particular,” she said.

When launching, Epstein revealed one of the many things the ownership group thought about was what their year-round impact on the city could be.

“We thought about how our team could have an impact well beyond our 20 or so home games,” she added. “We wanted this team to have an impact 365 days of the year. We understand the value of building this team in the fabric of our community.”

One way the NWSL Boston ownership group is acting on that thought is the first of its kind partnership with Boston Public School to share the grounds of a soon-to-be-renovated White Stadium.

“This public-private partnership to revitalize a cherished community asset and usher it into the next chapter of Boston’s youth…We’re just thrilled to bring this team into the heart of the city…it’s a real win all around,” she stated.

Over the past decade, with a recent spike, talks of a soccer-specific stadium in the Boston area have been a focus of not only the fans but the Kraft family as well.

When asked why there was such an eagerness to find a permanent home close to Boston, Bilello said, that if you look at MLS, and where clubs exist in a number of cities, they are in the heart of downtown.

Bilello also added how being in Boston helps with relevancy.

“It’s a relevancy game, right? It’s an issue of being present as part of the heartbeat of the city and the heartbeat of the state…For us, to really get that next level of relevancy, we think we need to be close to Boston, in that urban core,” he said.

While attendance numbers have increased at Gillette, Bilello, and the organization want to look past that.

“We’re drawing great crowds in Foxboro, and that’s been fun and exciting, but I think we want to take the game beyond just the people that are coming to the stadium,” the Revolution president said. “I think we’re talking about all the people that are watching on TV, engaging in the sport beyond just the people in the stadium. We want to make a footprint larger than just the people that are at games. You want to be everyday relevant. We are super relevant to a lot of people, but I think the next stage for soccer in this country, men’s and women’s, is to become more of a mainstream sport.”

Bird then directed the conversation to the current form of the Revolution, who see themselves on the verge of missing the playoffs.

“I think overall, we continue to be very bullish on the club,” Billelo said. “The fans have shown great support over the last number of years and we’ve been able to grow our fan base…I think what we’ve shown over the years is a lot of investment from ownership…We had our biggest window ever this summer…There’s certainly still a commitment from the club to put money into the team to try to improve the performance.”

While the club has spent money in the past two windows to get the roster to Caleb Porter’s standard, the job is not done.

“Caleb’s one of the very few coaches that have won two championships with two different clubs, so that was a big factor in bringing him in,” Billelo added. “Certainly, we’re still working to get the team in place where he wants it to be, the types of players he wants. We made a lot of those both in and out this summer. We’ll certainly be looking to make improvements with the club in this next winter transfer window.”

During Billelo’s response, he talked about the Revolution Academy, which prompted Bird to ask Epstine about the possibility of NWSL Boston having an academy of their own.

“We really believe in youth development,” she said. “Not only are we renovating White Stadium, we’re building our own training facility. One of the main considerations is thinking about land costs and the size of what we want to build is how we might incorporate academy and youth development into our playing. It’s very much top of mind.”

To wrap the panel up, Bird asked all three what the next steps were for their respective entities.

Epstein stated there is more work to do to get NWSL Boston off the ground. That includes finalizing and beginning White Stadium renovation plans, hiring staff on the business and sporting end, and building an identity, which is coming in the “very near future”.

Loynd says the next steps involve working with local and state agencies to ensure Foxboro and Boston are ready for the World Cup come 2026. He also adds that the organization has begun building the events commercial program.

Bilello gave Revs fans a little bit of excitement as he confirmed that grass for the World Cup will be installed at Gillette in January or February. That means the Revolution will play on grass for approximately the first half of the 2026 MLS Season. Yet the future of full-time grass at Gillette remains undetermined following the end of the World Cup.

With the New England Revolution invested in improvement, the arrival of NWSL Boston, and the 2026 World Cup in Boston, interest and excitement in soccer in the region has certainly reached a peak that will continue to grow as we inch closer and closer to 2026.