By George P. Hassett

For three years, city officials and the Kraft Group, owners of the Major League Soccer team New England Revolution, have discussed building a new stadium in the Inner Belt district to raise the team’s profile and capitalize on nearby immigrant-rich and soccer-crazed neighborhoods.

“We have re-launched the process of examining [Somerville] as a stadium site. We were in a holding pattern for a bit while the city and MBTA worked out the details of the facility. During the next few months our architects and engineers will be studying the area to determine if it is possible to build a soccer stadium on that site given the footprint of the maintenance facility and other existing structures

New England Revolution Chief Operating Officer Brian Bilello said last week on the team’s Web site.

Getting the team into a soccer stadium of its own remains a top priority for the organization, which has invested more than $1 million to explore stadium options, including a $150,000 study that examined opportunities in Somerville, particularly in industrial areas between Route 93 and McGrath Highway.

The stadium would hold 20,000 to 30,000 and would be the ninth soccer-only stadium to open since 2000.

City spokeswoman Jacqueline Rossetti said a new stadium would raise parking issues in the neighborhood but city officials remain supportive of the idea, even as talks have slowed due to decisions on a Green Line extension through the area.

The stadium would hold 20,000 to 30,000 and would be the ninth soccer-only stadium to open since 2000.

Bilello said the team has recently begun looking at other options outside Somerville around Boston’s metro core if the Inner Belt plans don’t work out.

“These sites may not have been available to us in the past, but have recently shown potential interest in having our stadium,” he wrote on the team’s Web site.