State money for Worcester stadium
Standing in front of a crowd of cheerful onlookers on Oct. 26 at the announcements of a $36-million renovation to two downtown Worcester office towers and of 500 UMass Memorial Health Care workers relocating downtown, Lt. Gov. Karen Polito was all too happy to tout all that had been done to improve the city.
“We are transforming this city block by block,” Polito said at the announcement.
We challenge Polito and other state officials to take a much bolder step in the revitalization of downtown Worcester: Help the city fund a minor league baseball stadium development.
The Pawtucket Red Sox already have expressed interest in relocating their AAA minor league baseball team to another New England market, with at least a passing interest in New England's second largest city — Worcester. While city officials have said they are willing to have a conversation with the team about such a move, the flash point is around funding, since it would take upwards of $50 million or more to build a new stadium complete with all the trappings necessary to entice the Pawsox from their current home.
However, Worcester alone does not a have the resources or the appetite to fund the development on its own. How much public side money is needed to clinch a deal? It is hard to say, but a conversation with the Pawtucket ownership will go nowhere unless the city works up a competitive package. Without state help, a deal will simply not get done.
A state-supported bid to wrest the Red Sox AAA franchise from neighboring Rhode Island would clearly be a coup and add immeasurably to the momentum the city already has going.
The last AAA minor league baseball stadium to be built was the 10,200-seat BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, N.C. That cost $54 million in North Carolina dollars. Given Massachusetts' prevailing wage and the necessary agreements with unions that go hand-in-hand with using public funding, Worcester could well pay an additional premium to get a similar stadium built.
Is the city truly interested? Do our civic leaders want to see a deal happen for the Red Sox AAA franchise? We'll see. The former Wyman Gordon site sits as an obvious choice for a stadium to be located. Clearly the city, state and local business leaders as well as team owners should all contribute to making it happen. Whether that can turn into a winning bid is far too early to tell, but if Worcester wants to be in the game, it needs to grapple directly with the stadium funding question right out of the box. Clearly the Baker-Polito administration has expressed a strong interest and engagement in seeing the Worcester area succeed. Perhaps that interest can extend to a stadium deal as well. Let's hope they are already talking. n
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