FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Revolution play their home opener on Sunday afternoon. It will be the first time in about twenty years the team will play on grass inside of Gillette Stadium.
FIFA requires grass fields for World Cup games, so the Kraft Family had to send in sod to cover the turf for the massive games coming to Foxborough starting in June.
The historic blizzard in February pushed back the installation. The sod pieces weren’t able to be harvested from a farm in New Jersey, so the delivery was delayed. Once it arrived, the grounds crew laid the sod down in just over a week.
On Friday morning, the Revolution walked around Gillette Stadium to take a look at the new playing surface.
“It looks like a proper soccer stadium when we stepped there,” Head Coach Marko Mitrovic said. “I think the guys are also excited.”
He’s right about that. Goalkeeper Matt Turner said every soccer and likely every NFL player would prefer to play on grass instead of turf.
“It’s easier on the body, it’s easier on the joints,” Turner said. “What they put on the field is amazing. It’s not that classic, just lay the grass on top of the turf and let the chips fall where they may, but it’s rooted, it’s real. It’s got an irrigation system. It’s beautiful so it’s going to be nice to play our brand of soccer on that field.”
The new field is a nice little treat for Revolution Forward Diego Fagundez, who signed back with the team he grew up playing for. Fagundez was a teenager when he became New England’s first homegrown player back in 2011. He last played with the Revs in 2020.
“It’s kind of a nice treat, I got to say,” Fagundez said. “Playing on turf all these years is definitely different and coming back to grass is going to be amazing. I know everybody is looking forward to it. Especially the way the grass looks great. Just going out there, it looks really nice. Everyone is looking forward to Sunday and enjoying it.”
Turner even joked about a way to convince the owners to keep the grass after this season.
“The best part is if we win every single home game, we’ll have a good fight for keeping the grass on that field,” Turner said.
He also acknowledged that the venue is used for many events and understands why turf is preferred in the stadium.
The first team to play on the field will be Boston Legacy FC, the new women’s professional club in town. Their debut game is Saturday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
The Revolution play the next day in their home opener against FC Cincinnati. Brazil and France will play a friendly on March 26th at Gillette Stadium. That will be a preview of what we can expect from crowds during the World Cup this summer.
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