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I agree that the team's attitude can change with the dynamics of the deal.
Whether Pawtucket could make a better offer than Worcester, or even sweeten the one they had made before so that Pawtucket was more attractive on balance, and have it accepted by the team, would depend in large part on any binding legal agreements the team may have made with Worcester. The team has signed a Letter of Intent with Worcester to relocate to the Canal District. I don't know how binding the letter of intent is, but they might be locked in if Worcester meets the terms of the agreement (unless they could find a way to break the agreement...). It's tough to know without seeing the LOI, and it is certainly a long shot as I am sure you agree.
They are on record saying they will stay at McCoy through the end of their lease, even though it has been reported that Lucchino is evaluating Fitton Field as a temporary home.
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Originally Posted by redplum33
No, they will stay at McCoy for 2019 and 2020. They said that during the press conference last week.
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Originally Posted by mp775
That's my point; "they said that" means nothing.
It was said in an official capacity. Could that change? I guess, but I don't see why it would. I believe the Fitton Field rumors were before that announcement. And Fitton Field has a capacity of only 3k.
It has been mentioned previously that Providence will in two years be the largest metro area without a professional baseball team. In addition to that dubious MSA honor, the state gains a new not so great distinction. Once the Pawsox depart, and if all else stays the same elsewhere, RI will be one of just four states without a professional team that plays America's pastime. Only Alaska, Hawaii, and Wyoming currently do not have a professional baseball team at the major or minor league level.
Location: Earth, a nice neighborhood in the Milky Way
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I don't equate city/state esteem with presence or absence of professional sports teams.
The Newport Gulls and the Ocean State Waves still play collegiate ball here. I am not claiming it is the same level, but it is still a family friendly baseball experience.
Yeah, I tend to agree that the reward typically isn't all it's hyped up to be and I also agree that Worcester mad a bad deal. However, I don't agree with all points here.
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Money spent at a ballpark is money a resident or a family would likely have spent otherwise at a bowling alley or a concert. A stadium mostly just moves money around from one entity in a city or a region to another.
This statement assumes that professional baseball is equal to all other forms of entertainment. Not true. I agree that there is probably truth to this in some cases (the family just looking for something to do to get out of the house), but there are also a lot of people to like sports and will go for that reason alone. There are people in the region who will go as opposed to going to Fenway due to cost, crowds, and traffic. And Fenway won't hurt because there's more than enough demand to keep butts in the seats. This is overly simplistic commentary.
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The same goes for a restaurant near a stadium that might benefit from added traffic on a game night, only to take customers away from restaurants farther away, they said.
Again, BS. We've been over this a bit, but this statement assumes that the market for restaurants is at capacity which is ridiculous. Americans are eating out/ ordering out (to take home) more than ever before. Restaurant districts are growing fast (see: Canal District, or Shrewsbury Street). There's plenty of room for new restaurants and additional diners.
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Related development – like Worcester is planning on with hotels, apartments and restaurants – rarely lives up to expectations in economists' view.
From what I've seen, it looks like the plans actually include a hotel and apartments, which is different from simply hoping the stadium spurs that growth. I agree that a minor league stadium alone is not a catalyst for that type of development alone, but including apartments and condos as part of the development is actually a good approach (you make the development active/utilized 24/7 which WILL help local businesses). Hotels and condos tend to develop in clusters near other hotels and condos. Including those as part of the stadium project is more likely to spur future development than the stadium itself.
Furthermore, you're talking about investment in an already improving neighborhood that's transit accessible (not far from Worcester Station), highway accessible, and near downtown. It will continue to improve with or without a stadium, but a major mixed-use development that includes apartments and a hotel and is anchored by a new stadium certainly won't hurt, and might be the one element that pushes pushes developers and investors over the top. The 35 million in infrastructure improvements alone are a win.
For the record, I think the deal is too much. I wish the team stayed in Pawtucket (or Providence), and I don't know how successful they'll be in Worcester. But i think some of the points in that article are kind of weak.
and if they fail or do badly on the field they will be the Woesox
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