EDITORIAL

What is a night at the ballpark worth?

Posted 4/21/15

For decades, the Pawtucket Red Sox have been a summer staple in the Ocean State.

The experience of a warm night spent alongside friends and loved ones, cheering on aspiring Major Leaguers at McCoy …

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EDITORIAL

What is a night at the ballpark worth?

Posted

For decades, the Pawtucket Red Sox have been a summer staple in the Ocean State.

The experience of a warm night spent alongside friends and loved ones, cheering on aspiring Major Leaguers at McCoy Stadium, is one shared by thousands and thousands of Rhode Islanders across multiple generations. At a time when many in our state continue to struggle and remain anxious about the future, a trip to the ballpark provides affordable, family-friendly fun – a chance, as the slogan goes, to “Watch the Stars of Tomorrow Today,” just a few miles up the road.

Soon, the PawSox experience will permanently change. Whether it is for the better – and whether Rhode Island remains the team’s home – is far less clear.

The team will remain at McCoy this season and next, but the new owners have made clear they have no intention of keeping the squad in Pawtucket. They are instead eying a new waterfront stadium on the former I-195 land in Providence.

Recently, the ownership group – which includes the powerful Rhode Island lawyer Jim Skeffington as team president, as well as Boston Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino – unveiled its proposal for the 10,000-seat stadium. The project’s $85 million price tag includes construction of a parking garage and the relocation of utilities.

The artists’ renderings of the ballpark and its grounds are very appealing. The images evoke some of the most celebrated modern Major League stadiums, including Baltimore’s Camden Yards. One can imagine the vibrant atmosphere, the Providence skyline as a backdrop, and the sight of kayakers paddling to claim home run balls.

Far less attractive are the proposed financing terms outlined by the new owners. While they would pay for the construction of the stadium – and assume the related risks – they are seeking a commitment from the state of $4 million annually over the course of 30 years through a lease-sublease arrangement, bringing the total taxpayer subsidy to $120 million.

That figure, on its own, is enough to give anyone pause. As Gov. Gina Raimondo noted in a statement, while the Providence ballpark proposal is “exciting,” there are “very limited resources” available to address a host of priorities, including economic development. Projected state budget deficits running into the hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years further complicate the equation.

Of course, the debacle of 38 Studios – the failed video game company of former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, for which the state is on the hook for roughly $90 million – remains fresh in the minds of many. Rhode Islanders are justifiably wary of sinking millions more into another baseball-related venture, especially when the potential benefits remain fairly nebulous.

What differs in the case of the stadium proposal as currently constituted is that Rhode Island would, going in, have a far clearer picture of what to expect. We have, essentially, been quoted a price, knowing more or less exactly what we have purchased.

Within that context, the stadium must not be viewed as any sort of investment. 38 Studios carried the promise – however far-fetched – of creating the foundation of a new industry, of being a means to attract other, similar companies to the state. Moving the PawSox a few miles south and west to Providence would carry no such potential, and its economic benefits overall will be modest at absolute best.

What truly must be ascertained, it seems, is the importance we, collectively, place upon the team’s presence in Rhode Island – how much value we see in it as a part of our identity, as a recreational resource for our communities.

The team’s new ownership group, particularly Rhode Island native Skeffington, readily engages in rhetoric appealing to the sentimental bond between the PawSox and state. Yet their “all or nothing” approach to this point – pressuring state leaders for an answer before the General Assembly adjourns in June, while wielding a “Plan B” that would result in the team ending up in Worcester, Foxboro or elsewhere – speaks to the reality that in the end, they will be essentially indifferent to any concern but their own bottom line.

That, of course, is no crime. Skeffington and his partners are businessmen.

As they weigh their options and focus on how to best benefit themselves and their newly acquired team, so must Rhode Island step back and assess – honestly and completely – just what keeping the PawSox in Rhode Island is worth.

Comments

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  • patientman

    The Pawsox without Rhode Island have no brand equity outside ouir beloved Redsox. . If they move their only value will be from the fancy new stadium. They will have no history and no value. In short, they will draw crowds in relationship to the success of the sox. Much like here. Let them go.

    Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Report this

  • JohnStark

    Not so sure, patientman. The Red Sox were horrible last year but the Pawsox still drew well, as they have for a couple of decades independent of the parent club's success. I'm not sure that Skeffington and Lucchino would sink big dollars into an entity that had "no value" outside of Pawtucket, RI. Modestly-priced minor league baseball works well in Manchester, NH with virtually no relationship to the success of the Toronto Bluejays. Ditto Lowell and Bridgeport. And nobody flocks to watch the Portland Seadogs because the Red Sox are doing well. The Pawsox will also work well in a different venue, the owners know it, and it gives them some leverage.

    Wednesday, April 22, 2015 Report this

  • falina

    Not worth it. Bye!

    Wednesday, April 22, 2015 Report this

  • georgecarver

    Stark

    They might be agreeable to sinking big money in it particularly if it wasn't their money.

    Thursday, April 23, 2015 Report this

  • patientman

    John Stark, attendance at McCoy has more to do with the redsox success. Whether the team will find financial success or not I don't care. The people of Rhode Island will lose. Just like every other city or state that gives away tax money to ball parks.

    Thursday, April 23, 2015 Report this

  • Ken B

    First, it is impossible to predict what is going to happen in the next 30 years. Recessions, wars and catastrophic weather events would make all of Mr. Skeffington’s assumptions invalid. A hurricane might destroy the new stadium which will be built at the edge of the Providence River. Irene and Sandy have shown the power of hurricane storm surges.

    McCoy Stadium has a proven record of success. Over the last 10 years, McCoy Stadium has averaged over 8,400 fans per game. Hundreds of neighborhood homes are within walking distance of McCoy Stadium. If a bike path was built connecting McCoy Stadium to the East Bay Bike Path in East Providence along the unused P&W rail right of way, East Bay residents, Fox Point residents and East Side residents could ride their bikes on this new 5 mile bike path to see a game at McCoy Stadium. When the new Blackstone River Valley National Park is fully funded, McCoy Stadium could be leased to the National Park and used for pageants, historical dramas and band concerts. A steady stream of year round revenue would flow into McCoy Stadium. Thousands of tourists would be near or at McCoy Stadium. Soon, hotels, bed & breakfast establishments and mixed use shopping areas would be built in the McCoy Stadium area. Thousands of fans and tourists could walk or ride a bike to see a game at McCoy Stadium. Because the new National Park is coming to the Blackstone Valley, a 4 million dollar yearly investment by the State of Rhode Island would generate 36 million dollars of federal matching funds to improve the amenities and infrastructure in the Blackstone River Valley. This activity should make McCoy Stadium acceptable to the new owners of the PawSox. Pawtucket and McCoy Stadium have a lot of potential. Mr. Skeffington and the state of Rhode Island should realize this and keep the PawSox in Pawtucket.

    Saturday, April 25, 2015 Report this

  • Ken B

    First, it is impossible to predict what is going to happen in the next 30 years. Recessions, wars and catastrophic weather events would make all of Mr. Skeffington’s assumptions invalid. A hurricane might destroy the new stadium which will be built at the edge of the Providence River. Irene and Sandy have shown the power of hurricane storm surges.

    McCoy Stadium has a proven record of success. Over the last 10 years, McCoy Stadium has averaged over 8,400 fans per game. Hundreds of neighborhood homes are within walking distance of McCoy Stadium. If a bike path was built connecting McCoy Stadium to the East Bay Bike Path in East Providence along the unused P&W rail right of way, East Bay residents, Fox Point residents and East Side residents could ride their bikes on this new 5 mile bike path to see a game at McCoy Stadium. When the new Blackstone River Valley National Park is fully funded, McCoy Stadium could be leased to the National Park and used for pageants, historical dramas and band concerts. A steady stream of year round revenue would flow into McCoy Stadium. Thousands of tourists would be near or at McCoy Stadium. Soon, hotels, bed & breakfast establishments and mixed use shopping areas would be built in the McCoy Stadium area. Thousands of fans and tourists could walk or ride a bike to see a game at McCoy Stadium. Because the new National Park is coming to the Blackstone Valley, a 4 million dollar yearly investment by the State of Rhode Island would generate 36 million dollars of federal matching funds to improve the amenities and infrastructure in the Blackstone River Valley. This activity should make McCoy Stadium acceptable to the new owners of the PawSox. Pawtucket and McCoy Stadium have a lot of potential. Mr. Skeffington and the state of Rhode Island should realize this and keep the PawSox in Pawtucket.

    Saturday, April 25, 2015 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    Build it and they will come. Of course, they will come from Pawtucket and spend the money in Providence that they would have spent there.

    Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Report this

  • LarryGillheeney

    I'd much rather see lower taxes.

    Tuesday, May 5, 2015 Report this