Worcester woos Sox
• PawSox announce plans to leave Pawtucket, move to Worcester, Mass. • Team intends to start play at new, state-of-the-art park in 2021 season • State officials express shock, point fingers over loss of R.I. institution
Larry Lucchino had a polite response for Worcester city manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. when initially approached about the potential of taking the Pawtucket Red Sox across state lines.
“No thank you,” Lucchino, the PawSox chairman, told Augustus. That conversation took place last summer. At the time, the Triple-A franchise was just about to announce that its deadline of exclusive negotiations with Rhode Island had passed. Despite declaring themselves a free agent, Lucchino felt compelled to see if things could work in the state that has been the club’s home since the 1970s.
But Augustus wasn’t at all discouraged by Lucchino’s initial rebuff, and continued his pursuit throughout the past 12 months. That determination was just one of several factors that led to the PawSox on Friday signing a letter of intent to move the team to a new ballpark in Worcester’s Canal District.
The deal portends the end of Pawtucket’s long-running and highly successful relationship with professional baseball. The PawSox will still call McCoy Stadium home until the conclusion of the 2020 season, which is when the team’s lease with the ballpark will expire. Beginning with the 2021 campaign, the PawSox will be known as the Worcester Red Sox and play their home games at a 10,000-seat stadium that Lucchino hopes will be named Polar Park.
“You go where you are wanted and the people of Massachusetts are happy that we are here,” said Lucchino before an overflow crowd featuring media outlets, PawSox club officials, Worcester and Massachusetts politicians, and interested spectators that gathered inside the Levi Lincoln Chamber room at Worcester City Hall.
Lucchino was the last person to address the room. When he was done speaking, he smiled as he held a can of Polar Seltzer, a beverage whose maker is based in Worcester.
The speeches delivered by Augustus, Worcester Mayor Joseph M. Petty, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, and Worcester City Council member Candy Mero-Carlson were all bound by a common thread. It was a collaborative effort that helped lure the PawSox out of Rhode Island, a willingness to work together – as opposed to pitting one group against the other.
“It was a team effort all the way around,” Petty said.
Lucchino was especially grateful to Augustus, he said, who he said “worked relentlessly while leading a process that contained few bumps or bruises, few delays or abrasions.”
When asked by The Times/ Call if the Massachusetts po- litical process – from flexibility to a willingness to problem solve – represented a stark deviation from how things where handled by Rhode Island, where the PawSox encountered numerous twists and turns, Lucchino replied, “I would say there were very serious differences.”
Those differences were readily apparent when Lucchino thanked Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien – both in a team-issued press release and during his address inside Worcester City Hall. Grebien was the only Rhode Island politician singled out by Lucchino.
“I thank the Mayor of Pawtucket, Don Grebien, who is a wonderful partner, an honorable public servant, and an heroic champion of his city.” Lucchino said. “We continue to wish him well and will remain supportive of his efforts to improve his city. We also thank the fans of our region, who have loyally supported this baseball club for decades.”
Besides putting the PawSox through a relentless series of public hearings that took place around the state last fall and winter – the purpose of which was a puzzlement to Lucchino, who helped build new ballparks in two major league cities – Rhode Island’s bid to keep the team also came up short as it relates to the infrastructure needed to build the new ballpark.
In Worcester, the ballpark project will be accompanied by the development of apartments, a 150-room hotel, a second boutique hotel, and 65,000 feet of retail and restaurant space. The entire project that will be overseen by Madison Properties is expected to cost between $8690 million with the state of Massachusetts committing $35 million that will go towards infrastructure.
These are concrete items that were never once mentioned by Rhode Island, yet another blow in the state’s ultimately failed attempt to keep the PawSox in Pawtucket.
“There was a lot going on in Worcester and things were already in motion,” Lucchino told The Times/Call. “We were expected to kickstart [development in Pawtucket] if, and I underscore if, the city could obtain the land from a rather stubborn landowner.”
Lucchino was referencing Apex owner Andrew Gates, who as The Times/Call previously reported never agreed to sell the land for the proposed Ballpark at Slater Mill at a price that Pawtucket could afford.
The decision to move to Worcester was made at 11 a.m. on Thursday, per Lucchi- no. Before that, the PawSox ownership group on Tuesday evening gave Lucchino the authority to enter into an agreement with Worcester.
“We were determined to explore all possibilities and go to the edge of the diving board before deciding,” Lucchino said.
Lucchino noted there are still a few approvals the PawSox need to obtain – from the Worcester City Council, to the International League, to Minor League Baseball. At this point, none of those groups appear to pose major roadblocks.
“That’s why it’s called a letter of intent,” Lucchino said.
International League President Randy Mobley toured the proposed PawSox ballpark site in Worcester as recently as last week. From the league’s vantage point, each team owner must vote and approve the lease agreement between the PawSox and Worcester. Mobley’s office has yet to receive those documents but has seen the drafts.
“There’s no question that Worcester is excited for this opportunity and it showed through,” said Mobley in a phone interview on Friday. “Minor League Baseball won’t render an opinion until the league has done so.”
As for the next two seasons and how the PawSox are received at McCoy Stadium, Lucchino hopes that support will remain even with a move to Worcester on the horizon.
“It’s hard to say. I hope the fanbase will come out and we’ll continue to treat them with respect and affection,” Lucchino said. “We want to embrace Northern Rhode Island as part of our market.”