The New England Revolution have one of the largest fan bases in Major League Soccer, but its stadium is almost an hour outside of the city of Boston. This hurts attendance and stymies ticket sales. Now, after two decades playing at Gillette Stadium, franchise owner Robert Kraft wants to bring the Revolution closer to the City on a Hill.

At a public hearing on April 2 with Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, New England Revolution officials unveiled preliminary renderings of a new soccer stadium in Everett, Massachusetts—a blue-collar city of almost 50,000 people just outside Boston city limits. The site Kraft Group has in mind is a 43-acre brownfield on the Mystic River where a shuttered power plant currently stands not far from Encore Boston, a casino that opened in 2019.

AN reported last November that Robert Kraft was interested in the Mystic River site. The announcement comes after Boston Mayor Michelle Wu gave notice last year that her administration hopes to repurpose an existing stadium in Dorchester’s Franklin Park into a new women’s professional stadium by Stantec.

To build a stadium at the site Kraft Group has elected to work with, local politicians need to convert it from a designated port area into a new zoning category that allows for stadium use. At the April 2 hearing, Everett State Senator Sal DiDomenico proposed a new bill to do so.

An architect for the New England Revolution’s tentative Mystic River stadium hasn’t been announced. Renderings shared by the developer and professional sports team show a gleaming white arena with an impressive cantilevered roof that hovers out over the sidewalk.

Brian Bilello, New England Revolution president, noted at the April 2 hearing that “the design is by no means final,” but the development team hopes to bring a four-acre public park with waterfront access and public transportation. Bilello also noted that his team is exploring “water transit” options.

At the hearing, Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria said the stadium project is of vital economic importance to his constituents. “There are some people who would lead you to believe this bill is about a soccer stadium,” DeMaria said. “Or that it’s being driven by a professional sports organization, but that is misleading. This legislation is about the financial harm that Everett is already suffering from the dwindling value of an outdated, environmental nuisance.”

In his statement, Mayor DeMaria noted that due to the power plant’s closure, the city of Everett stands to loose $55 million in tax revenue by 2026. He pointed to Assembly Row in Somerville and the Seaport in South Boston as examples of what he’d like to see on the Mystic River.

While the project is backed by Everett officials, Arthur Jemison, Mayor Wu’s planning chief, raised concerns about coordination. Sharon Durkan, a Boston city councilor whose jurisdiction includes TD Garden and Fenway Park, said that a soccer stadium on the Everett site could be a traffic “nightmare.”

Public transit doesn’t currently link to the site, but planners in Everett are committed to connecting the area with public transit options, Mayor DeMaria said.

A construction timeline hasn’t been announced.