A new stadium for the New England Revolution near UMass Boston "doesn't appear feasible at this point," a university spokesperson said after talks halted with the MLS club's ownership.
The Revolution, one of the few MLS teams still playing in an NFL stadium, share the Patriots' Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, but have long eyed a move to downtown Boston, 30 miles to the northeast.
The latest target of The Kraft Group, which owns both teams, focused on a site the university owns on Columbia Point in South Boston, but talks over a potential stadium deal there have now ended, as the Boston Globe reported.
"I think it's well documented that there had been conversations over time about the potential for a stadium-anchored development at the site," UMass spokesman Jeff Cournoyer told the Globe. "It doesn't appear feasible at this point."
The deal would have given The Kraft Group a long-term lease at the site, with the club, led by chairman Robert Kraft, paying for construction. But public officials, including U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch, opposed the plan because of traffic concerns.
"Plopping down a 20,000... seat stadium would have made the problem that much worse," Lynch told the Globe. "Perhaps [the Krafts] will find some better locations that we can support down the road."
In response, the Revolution issued a statement from the Krafts on Friday, saying that they remain committed to investing in a soccer-specific stadium.
"In 2015, we were invited to put together a stadium proposal for the former Bayside Exhibition Center site. Since then, we have invested millions of dollars and thousands of staff hours to design and structure a venue that would benefit UMass Boston, the City of Boston and serve as an asset to the surrounding communities, with an operating plan that would benefit all local constituencies.
"We were committed to a fully-funded, privately-financed stadium that would have totaled an investment in excess of $250 million. There was also a full-value land lease to UMass that would have provided annual payments to the university.
"As is the case with any development opportunity, there were numerous hurdles to overcome and we regularly adjusted our plans to cater to the needs of the project. Unfortunately, and for reasons beyond our control, it has been determined that this project is not feasible to pursue on this site at this time.
"It is our goal to continue to seek development opportunities where we can invest in a soccer-specific stadium that will benefit its surrounding communities while giving our fans and our players a venue they will be proud to call home for generations to come."