Rhode Island state legislators and the Pawtucket Red Sox are getting closer to a deal to keep the team from moving to Worcester, according to a Rhode Island NPR report.
Thursday’s report cited PawSox consultant Guy Dufault and House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, both of whom said progress is being made on a stadium deal.
The report comes just days after WBJ reported on discussions between Worcester officials and business leaders on a series of talks held this week to discuss the possible PawSox move.
Worcester officials have publicly acknowledged the talks and have singled out land in the Canal District for a possible ballpark location.
The Rhode Island State Senate in January approved an $83-million stadium deal with the city and state putting up a respective $15 million and $23 million, but the House never took up the bill.
Mattiello said the House is working with the team to negotiate a proposal shifting more of the risk to the team and away from the state’s taxpayers.
“And if the PawSox want to stay in Rhode Island, we’ll work on making that happen, and we’ll make a deal that is favorable to the taxpayer where a lot of the risk is shifted,” he told Rhode Island Public Radio.
Mattiello and Dufault both said they weren’t sure if the Worcester threat was real, and the latter said he wasn’t aware of any official proposal from Worcester.
