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Imagine this: You’re at one of the biggest Celtics games of the season — a home game. They’re ahead, and victory is in sight. There’s only one problem. Your game experience is tainted forever because instead of playing at TD Garden, they’re playing at Fenway. The impromptu court is usable, sure, but it just doesn’t feel right.

Sounds crazy, right? But for fans of six Major League Soccer teams — including our own New England Revolution — this is their reality.

MLS has grown in leaps and bounds since its inception in 1996. Team expansion, superstar players from abroad and an increase in the number of games nationally broadcasted have all helped make MLS a league American soccer fans can be proud of. So why do so many teams still toil without a real home?

The Revs are entering their eighth consecutive postseason. They’ve been in the MLS Championship four times since 2002. They won the inaugural SuperLiga against top American and Mexican teams and have fielded more than 10 players to the U.S. National Team. Shalrie Joseph, the Rev’s star defensive midfielder, has made the MLS Best XI in three of the past four seasons. New England players and fans deserve a home at least as much as FC Dallas, who have never made it past a conference semifinal but still manage to have a home at Pizza Hut Park.

During the MLS season, the Revs play at Gillette Stadium. For much of the summer, this works out alright, but once the NFL season starts, the team plays on a pitch marked with yard lines and end zones. The upper deck is closed, leaving the stadium feeling empty even with a great turnout.

Back in 2007, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone entered talks with The Kraft Group, owners of the Revs, the Patriots and Gillette Stadium. But according to October 2009 reports, no talks have taken place in more than a year. One has to wonder: why?

The Kraft Group has money. Somerville had the will to look forward to a future where the Revs have a home, at least at one point. So the fear must be that a new stadium wouldn’t be profitable, right?

MLS has seen the necessity of its teams needing soccer-specific stadiums for the league to be taken seriously around the world. If our league wants to attract world-class talent, increase revenue and boost TV viewership, it has to look, feel and act like a real league. That’s why MLS has required all future expansion teams come to the league with soccer-specific stadiums. We can look forward to Philadelphia Union playing their first home game at Union Field at Chester in the 2010 season.

The bottom line is that a soccer-specific stadium would be a boost for the Revs. A smaller, more intimate stadium like Toronto FC’s BMO Field, would dramatically improve the fans’ experience. It will bring them closer to the team and increase the energy in the stands. A Revolution Stadium would be a home not only for the team, but also for The Midnight Riders and The Rev Army, New England’s two supporters’ groups. And they deserve it. We all do.

• Men’s hockey team wins at home away from home (January 7, 2002)
• Softball team ‘excited’ to come home (April 10, 2003)
• Football team faces Villanova at home (November 13, 2003)
• Men’s soccer team loses at home to UMass, 4-1 (September 23, 2002)
• Softball team takes advantage at home (April 14, 2003)

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009, 12:05 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.