Robert Whitcomb: PawSox Play, Watergate Summer De Luxe

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Robert Whitcomb, Golocal Columnist

 

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Robert Whitcomb

Brave Long-Term Bet on PawSox? Flag Down Canario’s Bill; Watergate Summers de Luxe

 

‘’Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others.’’

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-- Economist John Maynard Keynes


 

The latest proposal by the Pawtucket Red Sox for a new baseball stadium in that city is considerably better than previous ones. Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College economics professor who has frequently denounced taxpayer subsidies for stadiums, called the proposal “like a pretty good deal,” reported The Boston Globe. But, he added, he wanted more details before deciding whether to endorse it.

 

“To have that level of private participation is certainly above the norm in Triple-A baseball,” Mr. Zimbalist told the paper.

 

But there are very big questions. One of the biggest, to me, is the most difficult to answer: How popular will baseball  - and Minor League Baseball at that -- be over the decades of this public-private deal? Will changing demographics make the sport less popular (and soccer more so) in our region? If so, will the PawSox owners face what many big-store retailers face: the sort of existential change in consumer patterns that could lead to few if any stores in, for instance, Providence Place within a few years.  (Luckily, Providence Place is much more architecturally attractive and interesting than most malls and could work well for such functions as college classrooms and assembly halls, libraries and medical clinics.)

 

The state would have to pay about $43 million, the city about $29 million and the PawSox organization about $86 million in an overall cost of $158 million in bond principal and  interest over the 30-year deal.

 

What’s the opportunity cost of the total $72 million that taxpayers would cover? Would such an investment be better spent on fixing up transportation infrastructure and/or schools and/or parks, etc., etc.? Or on a baseball stadium to be used from April to October?

 

It would be very useful at this point if the public could be provided with rigorous, plausible projections of what the market for Minor League Baseball games could be over the next few decades of taxpayer exposure. But perhaps that’s impossible.

 

In any case, we need a rigorous independent study on the frequency of  possible nonbaseball uses of the proposed stadium to help pay for the project, especially given  the limitations imposed by that annual cool snap called “New England winter’’.

 

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PawSox Press conference

As for self-interested projections by Pawtucket (which, like the PawSox, is salivating for this project) and the team on the sales-and income-tax revenues that might be generated by the new stadium: Most such projections turn out wildly wrong. There are just too many variables. The late British Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s remark about politics increasingly applies to business, too: “A week is an eternity in politics.’’

 

Another point that I assume that the PawSox, the city and the state have  carefully considered: The Pawtucket exits on Route 95 are heavily used by people leaving or entering Providence’s East Side. What sort of plans are being made to handle the traffic on game days? At the same time, the new stadium could be a boon for restaurants in Pawtucket, Central Falls and northern Hope Street on the East Side.

 

My guess is that the Rhode Island legislature will pass and Governor Raimondo will sign a bill close to the latest proposal. They had better get as much solid information on it ASAP, especially given the high possibility that there will be a national recession starting this year or next, with plunging tax revenues. This will be a big, scary bet.

 

Back in the recession of the early ‘90s, Gov. Bruce Sundlun  bravely pushed through major and expensive improvements at T.F. Green Airport in the face of much opposition. It turned out to be a very good bet for the state’s economy. But transportation infrastructure is essential. A baseball stadium ain’t, as much as I love the PawSox.

 

Whatever, deciding to have the taxpayers help pay for a  baseball stadium for a private company in the end may be based more on romance than on economic rationality. But then, that’s true of many public-policy decisions.

xxx

 

 

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Department of Stupid Over-Regulation:

 

Rhode Island state Rep. Dennis Canario has filed a bill to punish drivers for going too slowly on roads’ left-hand “passing lanes.’’ 

 

But that isn't the problem. The problem is more cars speeding in right-hand lanes, failing to signal and haphazardly swerving diagonally back and forth across lanes. Sadly, you see even police cars engaging in these unsafe actions fairly frequently.

 

Mr. Canario’s proposal would encourage speeding, which is already epidemic these days; it often seems as if the police have mostly given up trying to enforce speed limits. This has become even more dangerous because of the texting-while-driving epidemic, which is fast raising the highway fatality and injury rate and increasing the cost of insurance coverage. And add a thick layer of stoned drivers as marijuana use becomes far more common, driven by pot entrepreneurs and states’ thirst for marijuana-tax revenues.

 

Russ Rader, senior vice president for communications of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told The Providence Journal that, as The Journal paraphrased him, “there have been no major studies that show drivers going slower in the left lane leads to crashes or any other problems….{but} there is significant proof that increasing speed limits can lead to more crashes and fatalities.’’

 

The main effect of drivers going relatively slowly (meaning more often than not, driving at the speed limit) in left-hand lanes is anger and frustration among impatient drivers, which probably means most drivers. Deal with it!

 

We need fewer, but better enforced, laws and regulations. Take Representative Canario’s bill off the road, please.

 

Xxx

 

Reading a column by conservative Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby (who agrees with me on this) got me thinking and changing my mind in this issue:

 

When totalitarian regimes fall, statues of the associated dictators are often pulled down and either destroyed or perhaps taken to museums. Consider those of  mass-murderers Lenin and Stalin in former Soviet satellites or Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Considering this makes me more sympathetic to the taking down of statues of Confederate generals and politicians in the South, most recently in New Orleans, with statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee in the news recently in a city that once had the largest slave market in the United States, to service the Deep South’s cotton and sugar plantations.

 

These historical figures represented a regime that sought to maintain a brutal system – slavery – that enriched an astonishingly selfish and feudal planter class. Conservatives who applauded the removal of Lenin statues defend keeping these reminders of oppression on public property in America.

 

Also, reminder: These Confederate leaders were traitors.

 

Move the statues to museums or cemeteries for Confederate Civil War dead.

 

As for “The Lost Cause’’ romance that especially surrounds Robert E. Lee because of his dignity, elegance and intelligence,  Consider Ulysses S. Grant’s observation about the Lee’s surrender at Appomattox:

 

“I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.’’

 

I must ask my Southern cousins what they think.

 

xxx

 

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President Donald Trump

Many of the people around Donald Trump are simply amoral climbers and operators (like him), united only by their desire for money and power. As Trump’s power seems to fade you’ll see an accelerating exit from his chaotic administration. Meanwhile, it will be amusing to see how well the oily pseudo-“policy wonk’’ and Sammy Glick-style House Speaker Paul Ryan and the very smart survivor Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell handle the challenges of dealing with a sociopath in the White House.

 

Given Trump’s at least 40-year history of fraud, interspersed with loans from some dubious people (especially Russian oligarchs in the past 20 years), and mental and emotional instability why would anyone be surprised by what has been happening?

 

The latest (?) exciting report, from The Washington Post:

 

 “A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

“’There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a California Republican long known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

 

“House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.’’

 

“Some of the lawmakers laughed at McCarthy’s comment. Then McCarthy quickly added: ‘Swear to God.’

 

“Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: ‘No leaks. . . . This is how we know we’re a real family here.”’

 

My hunch is that the Russians didn’t pay Trump directly but rather the secretive Trump Organization has continued  to get big loans and “investments’’ from people close to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Let’s hope that special counsel Robert Mueller will get to the bottom of it. As for Rohrabacker, who knows?

 

xxx

 

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President Richard Nixon and John McLaughlin

Lots of people are trying to draw similarities between Watergate and the Trump mess. There are some, but we should bear in mind the big differences between Trump and Richard Nixon, whom I’m more than old enough to remember “professionally’’.

 

I had a seat in the journalistic third balcony during Watergate, copy-editing the occasional story about the developing scandal and from time to time writing short items about it when I filled in as the writer of The Wall Street Journal’s World-Wide column on page one. I did this in New York, and then filled in at the WSJ’s Washington bureau shortly after Nixon resigned on Aug. 8, 1974 to avoid an impeachment trial.

 

I’ll never forget  coming upon the block print “Nixon Resigns’’ headline in The New York Times’s Aug. 9 edition at the newsstand at my steamy Brooklyn Heights subway stop. I still associate hot weather with Watergate since so much of the biggest developments came in summer or late spring.

 

(Ah, those were the salad days of journalism, including expense accounts. I was told to fly first class, and on my Washington gig, stayed in a suite in the oh-so-fancy Hay Adams Hotel.)

 

Nixon, like Trump, was often paranoid, but Nixon wasn’t a narcissist, of which Trump is an extreme example. And Nixon, who was very well read, had an idealistic streak that resulted in some thoughtful domestic policies and international initiatives. 

 

Finally, he had a far more intelligent and experienced staff than Trump’s, including, of course, some who got caught up in Watergate. Many of Trump’s, on the other hand, tend to mirror his amorality and ignorance.
 

One of Nixon’s key assistants, especially for domestic policy, was John Ehrlichman. When Mr.  Ehrlichman was asked, years after Watergate, what he thought of Nixon, who had basically hung him out to dry, he responded coolly:

 “Every man is a mix.’’  Indeed, including Trump, I suppose.

 

How will the expanding Trump scandal play out? Impeachment is wrenching and much of the GOP in Congress will be very loathe to take one of their own, as much as they’d prefer the very right wing  but apparently sane and stable Mike Pence. More likely is a semi-paralyzed administration that staggers along through Republican losses in next year’s congressional elections and finishes its term with few achievements. But that President Trump will continue to have control over the U.S. national-security apparatus is scary.

 

xxx

 

Hillary Clinton should fight her combative instincts and keep  a low profile so as not to take the oxygen out of potential Democratic presidential candidates for 2020, such as  the highly effective and popular Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. Then there are New York Sen. Kristin Gillibrand and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, both smart, articulate and fast on their feet politically.

 

As a general rule, it’s better to elect someone who has run a state than someone who has just served in Congress. Executive experience in a political and public-policy environment is invaluable for would-be presidents. It’s easy to spout off as a legislator, but a lot tougher to oversee administration.  The record of  people running a state government gives voters quite a bit of useful information in how they might run the federal Executive Branch.

 

The public’s immune system needs a rest from the Clintons.

 

 

xxx

The order of U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to federal prosecutors to ask the longest possible jail sentences for drug-related offenses is great news for the private-prison industry!!

His order reverses the Obama Justice Department’s “Smart on Crime” policy, which aimed to shorten sentences for minor, nonviolent drug offenders in an effort to reduce the prison population and save money. I suppose  that somebody will try to find out if Mr. Sessions or people close to him own shares in private-prison enterprises. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

 

XXX

 

I predict that the New England states, with the possible exception of Connecticut, whose southwestern corner is tightly connected with New York, will eventually adopt year-round Daylight Savings Time – or call it Atlantic Time, which is used in Canada’s Maritime Provinces. This will ensure more light year-round in the afternoon and address how far east New England is. In the past few weeks, legislators in all six states in the region have been more seriously looking at the shift.

xxx

 

One of my daughters lives in the middle of Bedford-Stuyvesant, in Brooklyn. Bed-Stuy, as it is usually called, has long been infamous as one of the most dangerous, highest-crime urban neighborhoods in the nation. But it has a superb stock of beautiful old brownstones and even some lovely parks.

 

Real-estate speculators developed most of these homes for the expanding middle to upper middle class from the 1890s to the late 1910s. Many have beautiful ornamental detailing inside and out.

 

As New York City has boomed in the past couple of decades, gentrification has spread  even to such areas as Bed Stuy. So now there’s even a fancy, over-priced French restaurant a few streets from my daughter’s apartment, epitomizing the cycle of prosperity, decline, poverty/crime and revival that seems to happen in virtually every American city. The downside of the economic revival, of course, is that people (usually of color) who could afford to live in what had become a slum are forced out by the much higher rents and housing-purchase costs that accompany gentrification.

xxx

As cold, wet weather turned into tropically warm weather in the space of two days, The Boston Globe reported that a roughly “10-foot-high snow mound was spotted wasting away in Chestnut Hill (part of Newton) this week.’’  Seasons on top of seasons.

 

Related Slideshow: Pawsox Stadium Timeline

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1938-1942

Depression Era Public Works

The stadium's construction was started in the midst of the Great Depression as a public works project.

The champion of the project was then-Mayor Thomas P. McCoy. After World War II the building was named in honor of McCoy.

PHOTO: RI Historical Society
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1990s

Pawtucket Power Brokers Deliver Millions for Rehab

The demands for public money is not new. In the mid-1990’s, the PawSox under the ownership of Ben Mondor leveraged an offer by Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld to build a $40 million public stadium in Worcester, MA to lure the PawSox to central MA.

In response, then-Speaker of the House John Harwood and House Finance Chair Tony Pires — both of Pawtucket to realize a total rehab of about $18 million. Mondor provided a reported $4 million dollars to the project to rehab the state owned facility.

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November 28, 2014

PawSox To Be Sold To Some Red Sox Owners.

According to a report in The Boston Globe, The Pawtucket Red Sox will be sold to part of the Red Sox ownership group. The price and names of the owners purchasing the minor league franchise is not yet known. 

For the full story click here. 

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January 10, 2015

Leaders Make the Case for PawSox to Stay in Pawtucket

Support is mounting from city and local sports industry leaders to make a case for keeping the 2014 league champions at McCoy stadium, which it has called home for over 40 years.  

For the full story click here. 

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January 12, 2015

Raimondo’s First Test, Keep The Pawsox in RI

Days into the Governorship of Gina Raimondo and she’s already tasked with a tall order—find a way to keep the Pawtucket Red Sox where they belong—in Pawtucket.

For the full story click here. 

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February 24, 2015

City Council President Aponte “Excited” at Prospect of PawSox Coming to Providence

City Council President Luis Aponte reacted with excitement Monday at the prospect of the Pawtucket Red Sox moving into Providence.

For the full story click here. 

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February 24, 2015

Pawtucket Mayor Says PawSox Move is “Devastating”

Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien confirmed to GoLocalProv that the new owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox plan to move the team out of the city.

For the full story click here.

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February 24, 2015

New Owners Don’t Rule Out Public Funding For New Providence PawSox Stadium

The new ownership group of the Pawtucket Red Sox hasn’t ruled out using public financing to fund their proposed new stadium in downtown Providence, according to comments made by new principal owner and team president James Skeffington.

For the full story click here.

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February 26, 2015

Jencunas: Providence PawSox Stadium - Boon or Bust?

GoLocal contributor Brian Jencunas writes, “the proposed move of the Pawtucket Red Sox to Providence is either the next Providence Place Mall or the next 38 Studios.”

For the full story click here. 

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March 2, 2015

The Ten Biggest Questions Facing the PawSox Coming to Providence (Slideshow) 

If the new ownership of the Pawtucket Red Sox want to build a new stadium in Providence, a number of questions need to be answered.  The potential for a major contruction project in the state's Capitial city touches upon a number of issues, from money, to politics, to jobs, and development.

For entire slideshow click here. 

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March 2, 2015

David Brussat, Dr. Downtown: The Red Sox and the PawSox

GoLocal contributor writes David Brussat writes that his “heart says stay, but “stay in Pawtucket” may mean “leave Rhode Island” unless it means “move to Providence.”

For the entire article click here. 

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March 2, 2015

Moore: Will PawSox Move be a Sweetheart, Insider Deal?

GoLocal contributor Russell Moore explains that, “if you think that the shrewd, savvy, group led by renowned Rhode Island political insider James Skeffington and Red Sox boss Larry Lucchino bought the Pawtucket Red Sox without the framework of a deal with the state in their back pocket, I've got a video game business idea I'd like to pitch to you.” 

For the entire article click here.

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March 4, 2015

City Councilors Make Pitch for PawSox to Come to Worcester

Worcester City Councilors Gary Rosen and Phil Palmieri proposed that the city of Worcester makes a pitch for the Pawtucket Red Sox, or another Major League Baseball-affiliated team, to move to Worcester.

For the entire article click here. 

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March 5, 2015

Bishop: Keeping the Pawtucket Red Sox Without Seeing More Red in Providence

The Speaker of the House seems to have rushed to judgment, favoring the move of the Pawtucket Red Sox to Providence and decrying critics as unduly pessimistic and unwilling to see us invest in ourselves. 

For the full store click here. 

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March 10, 2015

RI GOP: $450 Million Spent on Convention Center Red Flag for PawSox Deal

Members of the Rhode Island House Republicans are warning about "lessons learned" from the Rhode Island Convention Center lease agreement that has cost the state nearly a half billion dollars over the last twenty years, as the new owners of the PawSox eye Providence for a new stadium.

For the full story click here.

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April 8, 2015

Providence PawSox Proposal Asking For Greater Public Support

The new owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox are asking for more public support to finance moving the team to a parcel of land in downtown Providence on former I-195 land. 

For the full story click here. 

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April 13, 2015

Is the PawSox move to Providence a distraction to growing real business?

Rhode Islanders look to a 43-year-old woman to lead the state out of one the worst economies in its history, and hope that Governor Gina Raimondo will begin the process of transforming the economy into a modern and functioning era.

For the full story click here. 

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April 16, 2015

PawSox Ask for More Than $100 Million in State and Local Aid

The Pawtucket Red Sox today unveiled their plan for a new ballpark in downtown Providence, which would cost taxpayers over $100 million.

For the full story click here. 

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April 17, 2015

PawSox Consultant’s Findings in Other Cities Often Very Rosy

A GoLocalProv review of reports written by consultants hired by the PawSox new ownership group finds similarities in the methodology and the findings of many of the reports that the consultants have delivered across the country.

For the full story click here.

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April 17, 2015

PawSox Consultants Overestimated URI Ryan Center Attendance by Millions

The consulting group hired by the new ownership group of the Pawtucket Red Sox was the same one retained by the state to conduct the business plan for the University of Rhode Island's Ryan Center in 2000 -- and furnished attendance projections for the Center which proved to be overinflated by nearly 30% over the course of its first ten years.

For the full story click here. 

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April 20, 2015

Bill Introduced to Require Voter Approval for PawSox Stadium Deal

New legislation has been introduced that would require voters to “approve any financial arrangement that obligates the state to fund the debts of others with respect to a baseball stadium.” 

For the full story click here.

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April 20, 2015

John Loughlin: PawSox in Providence – A Counter Offer

Here is John Loughlin’s “counter-offer” to the new owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox. 

Click here for the full story. 

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April 20, 2015

Moore: A Preposterous PawSox Proposal

After the jaw-dropping proposal from the Pawtucket Red Sox ownership, that would, among other things, force Rhode Islanders to pay the team $120 million for an $85 million stadium they'll build was released, former State Representative David Segal took to Facebook to ask a question: Why wouldn't the state just buy the team itself?

Click here for the full story. 

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April 20, 2015

Leaders’ Reactions Mixed to Providence Sox Stadium Proposal

The new owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox have announced their proposal to build a $85 million stadium in Providence  -- and while many Rhode Island elected officials and leaders have taken a wait-and see approach, a number have voiced their outright opposition to the plan as presented.

Click here for the full story. 

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April 21, 2015

PawSox Owners Have Given Hundreds of Thousands in Political Contributions

The new ownership group of the Pawtucket Red Sox has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to candidates and elected officials in Rhode Island -- and its lobbying and communications team have donated over six figures combined on top of that.  

Click here for the full story. 

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April 26, 2015

Opposition Mounting Against Providence Sox Stadium Proposal

The 195 Commission reversed its decision to hold its meeting on the proposed Providence stadium Monday in closed session, announcing Friday it would now hold Monday's meeting open to the public, but public opposition to the proposed deal continues to grow.

For the full story click here. 

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April 27, 2015

Dr. Mazze - Asking the Right Questions Now on PawSox

The PawSox stadium proposal is on a fast-track to obtain financial support in one way or another from Rhode Island and the City of Providence. Various studies have been presented on the viability of a new stadium in Providence, and another study of about $150,000 has been commissioned. 

For the full story click here. 

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April 27, 2015

New PawSox Stadium Location Emerges in Providence

A new stadium location in Providence has emerged as an alternative to the proposed 195 Commission land, GoLocalProv has exclusively learned.

For the full story click here. 

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April 29, 2015

Owners of Potential New PawSox Site Issue Statement As Alternative to 195 Land

The owners of the Victory Plating site that GoLocalProv unveiled as an alternative site on Sunday have issued a statement regarding their site as the potential new home of the PawSox.

For the entire story click here. 

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May 1, 2015

Dr. Mazze - New PawSox Stadium v. 38 Studios Lessons Unlearned

Dr. Mazze writes, “Bringing up 38 Studios as the discussion for public financing and tax forgiveness continues for a new PawSox stadium in Providence gets the immediate response……we have to move forward.”

For the full story click here. 

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May 1, 2015

RI GOP: Convention Center Contracts Warning Sign for PawSox Deal

The Rhode Island House Republican Policy Group continued their investigation into the state's spending on the Convention Center Authority (CCA) at a meeting on Thursday, releasing findings from an Auditor General report that showed massive contact cost overruns in the 1990s that they said serve as a warning sign.

For the full story click here. 

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May 11, 2015

Moore: Mattiello Must Leave Pawsox Fate Up To Voters

GoLocal contributor believes that “Rhode Islanders should be asked directly if they want to spend tens of millions to pay for a new stadium for the wealthy men who now own the Pawtucket Red Sox.”

For the full story click here.

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May 12, 2015

PawSox Want $120M, South Carolina Lands Volvo for $200M in Incentives

The Pawtucket Red Sox new ownership is asking for $120 million in incentives from Rhode Island and a tax break from the City of Providence voiding property taxes for thirty years. The PawSox employ less than 30 full-time employees.

For the full story click here. 

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May 14, 2015

Economist Says PawSox Leverage Over RI is Overstated

Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello’s (D-Cranston) recent Pawtucket Red Sox talking points make it seem like the state of Massachusetts is waiting in the wings with financial incentives to lure the team away. Victor Matheson, a prominent economics professor from the College of the Holy Cross, poured cold water on that notion.

For full story click here. 

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May 18, 2015

PawSox President Jim Skeffington Dies

Jim Skeffington, the PawSox President and driving force behind the proposed move of the team to Providence, has died of a heart attack at age 73.

For the full story click here. 

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May 18, 2015

PawSox Release Statement on Jim Skeffington Passing Away

Pawtucket Red Sox President James Skeffington passed away of a heart attack early on the morning of May 18th. The Pawtucket Red Sox have released a statement regarding his passing. 

For the full story click here. 

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May 19, 2015

What’s Next for the PawSox?

The passing of Pawtucket Red Sox President James Skeffington raises new questions about the future of a Providence stadium, as the ownership group was in the midst of negotiating a new deal with Governor Raimondo and state leaders -- and embarking on a community tour to hear from residents of the city, spearheaded by Skeffington.  

For the full story click here. 

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May 26, 2015

Pawtucket Fights to Keep PawSox: Mayor Grebien’s Letter to Larry Lucchino

Just days after the passing of Pawtucket Red Sox owner James Skeffingon, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien wrote a letter to Boston Red Sox owner Larry Lucchino.

For the full story click here. 

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June 5, 2015

Bill to Require Voter Approval for PawSox Stadium in House Finance

The Rhode Island House Finance Committee is hearing testimony Thursday afternoon on legislation to require voter approval for any financial agreement the State of Rhode Island may make with any professional sports franchise -- including any new PawSox stadium in Providence.

For the full story click here. 

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June 8, 2015

Tens of Thousands Sign Petitions Against PawSox Providence Stadium Deal

Petition signatures opposing the Pawtucket Red Sox moving to Providence have totaled over 10,000 signatures to date, with two petitions -- one to keep the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium and one to call for no financial aid from Providence -- slated to be delivered to leadership this week.

For the full story click here. 

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June 22, 2015

PawSox Stadium Opponents to Up Pressure at State House this Week

The Rhode Island General Assembly might be in the waning days of the 2015 session, but opponents to a Providence PawSox stadium are planning to ramp up their efforts to let lawmakers know they oppose a new deal if put forth -- or a special session to consider one. 

For the full story click here. 

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June 26, 2015

PawSox Stadium Opponents Rally at RI State House

Opponents to a Providence stadium for the Pawtucket Red Sox rallied at the Rhode Island State House on Thursday, June 25th -- GoLocalTV was on location to get the scoop.

For video footage click here. 

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June 29, 2015

David Norton: PawSox Owners Trying to Buy Support

Why are the PawSox owners buying support with a catered dinner at a Salvation Army food pantry in South Providence?

For the full story click here. 

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June, 2016

Pawtucket and PawSox Hire a Consultant

The Pawtucket Red Sox along with the City of Pawtucket announced in the summer of 2016 that they issued a request-for-proposals for a McCoy stadium feasibility study. 

The study was to "determine the needs, upgrades, improvements, and the associated costs, of McCoy Stadium, as called for within the existing lease between the Pawtucket Red Sox, the City of Pawtucket, and the State of Rhode Island."

READ THE STORY HERE

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Dec, 2016

ABC6’s “In The Arena” - Debate Subsidy for Billionaire PawSox Owners

The panel on this week's episode of ABC6's "In the Arena" debate the need to provide subsidies to the owners of the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Moderator Joe Paolino leads the discussion and former Governor Ed DiPrete, former Attorney General Arlene Violet, former State Representative Ray Rickman, and GoLocal CEO Josh Fenton appear this week.

WATCH HERE

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Jan, 2017

National Stadium Expert: Public Should Not Subsidize PawSox to Stay in Pawtucket

A leading sports economist is saying that he would personally advise no public money be spent on rehabbing - or rebuilding - McCoy Stadium for the Pawtucket Red Sox, after a report released this week showed that it would cost $68 million to renovate McCoy, and at least $78 million to construct a new stadium.

“As an economist, I would personally advocate for no public money beyond a provision to infrastructure around the stadium to fans can get to the games,” said Victor Matheson, who is a Professor of Economics at Holy Cross, whose focus is on sports. “That being said, there are certainty sports fans who think that having a AAA team in town is a nice amenity for local residents so might be worth some public money. So, some level of ask might be able to get public support.”

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March, 2017

Apex is the new favorite

The new preferred location is the Apex department store site in downtown Pawtucket. It has great highway access, has the potential to be an economic spark, but has numerous environmental issues.

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March 2017

RI Commerce's Stefan Pryor Talks PawSox on GoLocal LIVE

Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor talked with GoLocal about Commerce's role in facilitating development of the dormant Superman Building, how he feels about the ownership of the Pawtucket Red Sox looking for assistance with keeping the team in Pawtucket, and how Commerce increased its $1 million budget to $2 million to help businesses across the state with upkeep improvements. 

WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE
 

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April, 2017

PawSox’s President Steinberg Talks New Park Potential, Saturday Fireworks, and More on GoLocal LIVE

Pawtucket Red Sox President Dr. Charles Steinberg talked with GoLocal about the team's upcoming season, the recently announced Hall of Fame list, the prospects of the future of McCoy and whether the Apex building location presents a viable option. 

WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE

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April, 2017

PawSox Chair Lucchino: Vision is for “Public Park” in Pawtucket

Pawtucket Red Sox Chairman Larry Lucchino told a crowd of over 100 at Slater Mill on Monday that the ball club has a "strong preference" to stay in Pawtucket.

Lucchino's remarks came during a forum hosted by Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien along with the Pawtucket Foundation, to discuss Pawtucket’s "20/20 downtown development vision" with local business and property owners to get their input. 

“Pawtucket is experiencing a revitalization and a renewed sense of optimism. The commuter rail is on the horizon, new businesses are moving in, and our existing businesses are growing. Pawtucket is truly evolving,” said Grebien. “Now is Pawtucket’s time, and we want to align the efforts of the public and private sectors to capitalize on the momentum that these exciting projects are generating."

 

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