PawSox Seek to Establish New Team Name for Worcester Move
Tuesday, November 06, 2018
GoLocalProv News Team
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PawSox ask for fans suggestions for new team name.
The
Pawtucket Red Sox are looking to create a new team name for when they move to Worcester starting in 2021.
In order to come up with a name, the team is allowing fans to submit ideas through the Polar Park website or through a series of ballot boxes starting on Monday, November 5 and running through Monday, November 26.
“To Woo or not to Woo, that is the question. We have heard from those who would like to call the team the WooSox, and we have heard impassioned pleas from others to not call them the WooSox. So we ask, ‘What’s in a name?’ We hope the flavorful conversation and creative juices flow right through the last drop of gravy at Thanksgiving dinner,” said club President Dr. Charles Steinberg.
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Submitting Suggestions
According to the PawSox press release, suggestions can be simple and traditional, or wild and wacky. Any nomination that ties into the state or the Central Massachusetts region is welcome.
“We’re eager to hear from fans around Central Massachusetts and all of New England, as we determine the ideal name for the Triple-A affiliate of the World Champion Boston Red Sox in Worcester,” said the team’s Executive Vice President/General Manager Dan Rea III.
According to the release, fans can also expect to see social media content that explores several of the nominations and their connection to Worcester.
Related Slideshow: Who Lost the PawSox? August 2018
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Owners' Error
Starting from nearly day one, the new ownership group of the Pawtucket Red Sox -- a collection of some of America’s most wealthy businessmen -- saw their investment in the team as a “gift” to Rhode Islanders and that their vision of a mega-stadium in Providence was a windfall.
The ownership group’s early strategy was to demand more than $140 million in subsidies and tax breaks and that led to strong public backlash.
The ownership group -- with a collective net worth of $6 to $8 billion, later blamed the late Jim Skeffington for the misstep, but the collection of owners all thought that for a small investment in the PawSox -- $2 million to $3 million per owner, reportedly, the windfall potential was tremendous -- and all financed by taxpayers.
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Raimondo’s Flip Flop
As the Providence proposal took on water Governor Gina Raimondo reversed field and went from supporter to opponent on the financing structure.
Raimondo, who had once chided critics about complaining about the move from Pawtucket to Providence, flipped on the ownership group and ultimately opposed the Providence financing deal. The implications were two-fold.
First, it raised questions with owners about who to negotiate with and how to negotiate with Rhode Island’s government in good faith. Second, it did tremendous damage to her already strained relationship with Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello. Her change left him the last official holding the political hot potato.
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Lucchino’s Demands
After Jim Skeffington’s death, former Boston Red Sox top executive Larry Lucchino took over the ownership effort to site a new stadium.
Lucchino, who had built stadiums in Baltimore and San Diego for major league franchises, had a formula. While his ownership group in Boston had failed to build a new Fenway Park in Boston due to public opposition, Lucchino put forth a series of demands and, more so than any factor, lead to the team’s stadium efforts failure.
First, he would not wait until after the 2018 election. Second, he refused to have the owners take on the final financial backstop. Third, he refused to acknowledge that times had changed — that minor league baseball’s popularity which peaked in the 1990s was long past.
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Public Support — No Millions for Billionaires
At the end of the day, Rhode Islanders, by an overwhelming majority did not want to invest taxpayer dollars in a public stadium.
According to two GoLocal polls conducted by Harvard’s John Della Volpe which asked, “The Rhode Island General Assembly is in the process of negotiating a $40 million public financing deal with the Pawtucket Red Sox for a new stadium, hoping to bring a vote before the House and Senate this summer.
In general, do you favor or oppose the use of public funds to help finance a new stadium for the Pawtucket Red Sox?”
Net: Favor 33%
Strongly favor 13%
Somewhat favor 21%
Net: Oppose 59%
Somewhat oppose 21%
Strongly oppose 38%
Don't know 8%
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Lack of Functional Leadership
In the end, the dysfunctional relationship between Raimondo, Mattiello, and Ruggerio doomed a viable solution — maybe from the beginning.
Instead of a united front by the three top political leaders, the owners got greedy and tried to manipulate the division of the state’s Democratic leaders.
Democrats Raimondo, Mattiello and Ruggerio are as aligned as Iraqi ethnic groups Kurds, Sunnis and Shias. Yes, they are all Democrats, but their trust and ability to co-govern often fails.
“Trust and reliability are the key ingredients in any public-private deal. Polls show about 60% of Rhode Islanders opposed the project which reflected in part a lack of trust in elected officials. The owners grew not to trust Rhode Island pols because of the way the process and negation unfolded at the State House,” Gary Sasse of the Hassenfeld Institute tells GoLocalProv.
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